The article in one of the first
modules “R U Really Reading” first got me thinking about what new literacy
really meant, and the final readings in Davd Crystal’s “Language and The
Internet” brought the message into more light. We are in an age of multiple
literacies. Text is neither all there is, nor enough in a day with an
oversaturation of media.
Marshall McCluhan’s first assertion
that in a television age, children will be bored with simple text lessons.
Although he was not found of the idea of “new media” taking over, he was aware
that we would need to adjust and to include new media to be able to compete.
In Crystal’s Language and the
Internet, he discusses the new languages of email, chatgroups, virtual world
and the internet. These new skills come easily to digital natives who adjust go
new languages, and new norms seamlessly. It’s a bit harder for digital
immigrants who often get caught up with how the languages are incorrect.
I realized that I use transliteracy
all the time at work using multiple platforms and technology, each with their
own specific language. Text based, imaged based, synthesized down to the
essentials for web and chat. I had not initially realized the extent to which I
was engaged in these various “languages” and literacies.
