David, and colleagues,
Thank you for the timing of this article. I began my English composition class with some articles that appeared here, I believe, about the impact of technology on reading, and most particularly on newspapers. My students didn't seem terribly bothered about this, or about the fact that they may be reading in "sound bytes" (to mix a metaphor.) Coming now to the end of the course, I'm convinced more than ever that this is true for the majority of the students, who seem unable (or unwilling?) to sustain reading enough to trace an argument, or to perform analogous operations in writing. Of course, it sounds as if your article implies that the manipulations of a fluent text reader should be available to the fluent screen reader as well. But, as we approach Black Friday, I wonder if we've become consumers of the text as much as of the screen without doing more than scratching the surface. I gave the class an exercise of describing in detail an object in their
 possession. Most of them waxed eloquent about their cell phones: how "cool" they were, extolling their features to the extent that these descriptions became little more than product specs for the latest gadgetry. Far be it for me to decry the convenience of the cell phone; I'm the owner of a Smartphone, which I use to manipulate the texts of my daily life: schedules, memoes, and, if I could get Documents to Go to work, of actual texts and spreadsheets as well. Are we suggesting that visual literacy should proceed to critical literacy, analyzing these images, or learning to manipulate the technology to create yet more images? I can't wait to read the article to find out. I intend to use this text to end the class. Thanks for helping me come full circle.
P.S. Some of these students are superb writers, or would be if they could shed their consumerism of both language and "stuff." Not the "stuff" of adult literacy, but many of our students are "underperforming" (how I hate that word) which means we as teachers need to meet them where they are.
Gratefully yours,
Bonnie Odiorne
Post University Writing Center

--- On Tue, 11/25/08, David Rosen <DJRosen at theworld.com> wrote:

From: David Rosen <DJRosen at theworld.com>
Subject: [Technology 1802] People of the Screen
To: "The Technology and Literacy Discussion List" <technology at nifl.gov>
Date: Tuesday, November 25, 2008, 8:13 AM

Colleagues,

Can you read fluently? Of course, you say. But maybe not. Although I  
meant, can you read text, I also meant, can you read screens? Very  
few of us can. Some of our younger students are more screen literate  
than we are. Is screen literacy important? If getting to meaning, and  
to the truth, is important, screen literacy is as important -- some  
would argue more important -- than reading. However, "If text  
literacy meant being able to parse and manipulate texts, then the new  
screen fluency means being able to parse and manipulate moving images  
with the same ease. But so far, these 'reader' tools of visuality  
have not made their way to the masses."

I hope I have tantalized you to read this short and fascinating  
article on screen literacy by New York Times writer Kevin Kelley:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/23/magazine/23wwln-future-t.html?_r=1

I would also like to invite you, when you read -- or see -- something  
that we in technology and literacy might be interested in, to post  
the URL to this discussion list. If we are a community of practice on  
this discussion list,  then let's help each other to learn new  
things, think in new ways.

Your thoughts on the article?

David J. Rosen
DJRosen at theworld.com




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