Blog Assignment 2: Writing in a New Context--Online

This image has been copyrighted by of Derek Lee and appeared as part of Elizabeth Daley's article "Expanding the Concept of Literacy" in the March/April 2003 issue of EDUCAUSE. The article for those who find themselves curious about multimodal literacy can read the full article.

If we were to stop and think--to analyze--what this image means, what perhaps would we come up with?

What "items" make up the image--clearly there is a lot to this picture, it is more than just a "picture." I can see a projector screen, a cd or dvd, a speaker, keys, a computer icon hand, a computer hard drive, all just in the "head region" of the "profile silhouette" portion of the image. And, like texts--if I just add or subtracted just one from a sentence, then the meaning of it would change--if took away or added a part of the picture I wouldn't be able to understand the message the creator of the picture intended for me to understand.

Again, and we have spoken about this in class, these concerns comes discussion of context. In this context the images that are next to the other images convey a meaning. For instance, if we stuck an apple in the head, the meaning of the picture would change, or perhaps the picture would make no sense at all to us.

Think about that for a second. Use your thoughts as a way to get thinking differently about what it means to write in a new context, the internet. It can be a great and horrible place like every where else in the world, but what is most scary to some of us is that anyone can read what you write (providing they have access to a computer and the internet).

Thus, this comes to the assignment portion of this blog. I would ask for you, as Blog Assignment 2, to address the the following questions in a minimum of 150 words:

What does writing mean to you? When you think about writing do you think of the internet or do you think of a pen and paper? Why do you think that is so? What aspects of your authorship change as you move from one type of media (print vs.text) to another? What do you think you'll get out of blogging this semester? What expectations/preconceptions/prejudices do you have from this assignment?

I'll leave you with a quote from the article by Elizabeth Daley that I linked above for you. In her article she makes the following statement:

No doubt, young people today have less fear of the computer and more technical ability with software for rich media; multimedia is indeed their everyday language. However, they have no more critical ability with this language than do their elders--perhaps less. They need to be taught to write for the screen and analyze multimedia just as much as, if not more than, they need to be taught to write and analyze any specific genre in text. Generally, they have had instruction in text at the secondary level, but rarely have they received similar instruction for multimedia. Multimedia, so ubiquitous to their experience, often seems to be particularly hard for them to analyze or deconstruct. 37

You may want to consider what you think Daley is saying, and if you agree or disagree with her perspectives on "young people today" and their skills with literacy and multimedia as you begin this assignment. Remember this is due by next Tuesday's class.

See you all tomorrow.

All the best,
tra