The title to Rich
Mitoko’s article is a pun on the subject of modern literacy: “Literacy Debate –
Online, R U really reading?” It is
written in “text language.” As an
assistant professor at a college, I cringe when students write in text language
on essays and exams. Besides
substituting “R” for “are”, some students use the number “2” for the words
“to”, “too” and of course “two”. To the
traditional reader these are 3 different words, but to some college students
the singular character “2” represents them all.
This title sets the tone for the rest of the article. Mitoko exposes the modern student who has
grown up with internet access and explains why this student is different from those
of us who grew up reading print material.
As the title also suggests, the author engages in a literacy debate – is
this new literacy good for the individual or for society? This essay will draw examples from the Mitoko
article, personal experience and other relevant material to answer the
following questions: What counts as literacy? How does literacy change in
response to the new media? What value should we ascribe to new forms of
communication that continue to emerge and evolve online?
What counts as
literacy? According to the Merriam
Webster online dictionary, literacy is defined: “the ability to read and write;
and knowledge that relates to a specified subject.” (Merriam Webster, 2015) This definition, as
it is evident in Mitoko’s article, is open to interpretation. To Mitoko’s credit, he writes a balanced
article that provides different points of view on what exactly counts as
literacy. The author makes reference to
statistics and “experts” weighing in on the subject. Many propose that the modern teenagers’ preference
of digital media over traditional print is leading to declining reading test
scores. This point of view believes that
the immediacy of the information on the internet makes people less
literate. This is juxtaposed to the 3
teenagers who represent a new literacy, in a new reality that cannot be denied. They read, write and exist in an information
environment that is different than the one we grew up in. They may not be interested in reading a long
novel, but they will spend hour’s online consuming information that they are
attracted to.
How does literacy
change in response to the new media? First we must explore the “old” literacy
the younger generation is moving away from.
In Mitoko’s article, experts chime in on the benefits of print
reading. A printed book by nature has a
beginning, a middle and an end; and is generally read in this order. This type of reading, experts say, increases
intention span and encourages linear thinking.
The different capabilities of computers allow the younger generation to read
differently. The teenagers in the “R U
really reading article?” are attracted to reading on a computer screen over a
printed book. They may have multiple
screens open at a time. For example, the
Columbia University bound Zachary Sims often “stays awake until 2 or 3 in the
morning reading articles about technology or politics – on up to 100 Web
sites.” Instead of reading the point of
view of 1 author on a topic, Zachary is reading multiple opinions on a
subject. This type of reading is not
linear in nature and may be disjointed. This
indicates a new literacy skill set, “locating information quickly and
accurately, corroborating findings on multiple sites. These skills can be cognitively
demanding.” According to statistics and
the focus group of 3 teenagers, this is the type of reading the internet
generation is engaged in.
This is relevant to the next focus question: What
value should we ascribe to new forms of communication that continue to emerge
and evolve online? With the advent of
the internet and the ease of digital publishing, we are presently inundated
with vast amounts of information. This
is one of the issues discussed in the Information Literacy course. Anybody can publish on the internet. This
includes credible information as well as the unreliable. There is very little censorship on the
Web. Racist, violent, sexist and
ignorant material exists on the Web alongside scholarly journal articles. Of course you have everything else in between
these 2 extremes. Because of information
overload, there has to be more efficient and effect methods of finding the
information you need through the vast ocean of information. This involves not only information access,
but also evaluation of information. The
example used in the article is of a spoof website; in this case most students
miss the joke. I have a similar lesson in
my class where we look at a couple spoof websites that are professionally done. I use the websites: http://www.malepregnancy.com/ and http://manhattanairport.org/, among
others to have some fun with the students.
This is to show that you can’t believe everything published on the
internet. In order to figure out the
value of new forms of communication we must first evaluate the information.
When we look for the value of information we must look at the quality. There are many qualities such as: authority,
currency, relevancy, subjectivity and objectivity.
This topic challenged
me to brainstorm the following questions: What is literacy to me? Why do I read and write? I read and write to communicate ideas,
thoughts, opinions and facts. Reading
gives me the ability to possibly comprehend the world around me. Through writing, I have the potential to
articulate my thoughts and feelings to others.
Literacy allows the reader the ability to understand and writing gives
the power to be understood. According to
my definition of literacy, these 3 teenagers are satisfactorily literate. I believe that it would be a great follow up
article to find where Nadia, Hunter and Zachary are now. I would be curious to find out if their
reading habits changed, reverted or progressed 7 years later.
