Technology.... Literacy skills or not?

This post is about certain literacy skills. Some people think literacy skills are simply books, and words, but is this true? Our world has become so technologically advanced that some people have become literate in things such as gaming, computers, and computer programming. Certain people (mostly the old people who don't know anything about technology) do not consider these things as literacy. One question that was raised in this article is why aren't the people teaching us using the technology we use to teach? This world is technologically advanced, books will more than likely be obsolete soon, so the only thing we can do is conform to this changing world, including teaching in a more effective way. In my post I touch on this subject, and how we use technology for communication.

Brainstorming Journal 4

            In today’s society we are heavily dependent on technology. Back in Aristotle’s time communicating a message had few aspects such as body language, eye contact, speaking, and writing. These aspects are still relevant in today’s society however we are far more advanced now. The writers of this article state we “compose meaning not only with words but also with digitalized bits of video, sound, photographs, still images, words, and animations” (183). This statement is very true; in our society technology is our crutch and this statement means that not only are words important in communicating a message, but also using technology to help us better express our true meaning through pictures, sound, and videos. Some examples of “composing” a meaning are, creating a video game that has clues to lead you to an ultimate goal, making a television commercial for a campaign, showing someone your meaning in pictures so they can have a better understanding of what you are trying to communicate, and using sounds to set the “mood” of a situation.

            Danielle claimed to learn literacy skills such as visual, kinesthetic, and interactive components of gaming, through her experiences in computer gaming (185). The authors of this article argued that this was indeed literacy skills, however others may argue otherwise. Personally, I do believe these examples are literacy skills, mainly because one must be literate in relation to the technologic world we live in. Also, I would like to point out that everyone is different, we as individuals learn in our own unique way, Danielle happened to learn through technology, and gaming. I personally have literacy skills that could be debated as being classified as literacy skills. I use technology to perform everyday literacy tasks whether it is texting, Facebook, or e-mail. I use pictures, sound, and video to communicate my messages as well. Some debate that technology cannot possibly be considered literacy skills, but since we are such a technologically advanced world, it is a necessity to be literate in terms of technology. In a sense, we have created our own classification of literacy skills through technology.