Reading Notes 1/29/07

Trusting Writing -Michael Clanchy

• Evolution of trust in documents: 12th century England
• People had to be persuaded that documenting was a "sufficient improvement"
• Assumption: "modern literature tends to assume that statements in writing are more reliable than spoken word"
• Writing = secondary importance (over oaths and public ceremonies)
• No stability in early charters
• Truth existed on the good word of one's fellow
• Customary law quietly passes over obsolete laws vs. written records which do not die peacefully
• Memory will no longer be exercised if we become dependent on written records -king of Egypt (Thamuzz)
• Hard to tell what was forged and what was not
• No system of safeguards to prove documents (or at least these principles were not followed in medieval England)
• Date omitted vs. various systems to date a document
• Even "time" was written on document
• "More precise forms of dating began in the last decade of the 12th century"
• Pg. 301 explanations for not dating documents
• In 13th century, dating becomes "less self-conscious" and more "uniform"
• "What constituted a valid signature?"
• "Qualified notaries were not used much in England"
• Training for notaries = "haphazard"
• Seal (pictorial symbol and legend)
• Seals=more efficient
• Earliest seals, middle of 11th century
• Portablility of seals
• Crosses over seals = "primitive" and "unprofessional"
• William the Conqeror and improvements to the seal
• The cross (or form of wax impression) plus the seal = "to signify a sacred undertaking"
• Seals were more to show a "status of power"
• Phrases began to be used to justify seals
• Antique seals (w/gems) become popular in 12th century
• "Before being offered printed books, the public had to be persuaded of the value of writing itself (317).
• FORGERIES!
• "The purpose of forgery was to produce a record in a form which was acceptable" (318).
• Very hard to tell fact vs. fiction
• Italians in theory has a way to eliminate forgeries; however, this was not practiced in England
• Innocent III (scrutinizer of documents)
• English courts became skillful in detection of forgery
• "In this bewildering world...it may seem surprising that written record ever got a good name at all or established itself as a reliable form of communication" (326).
• Writing acquired prestige
• "A new technology usually adapts itself at first to an existing one" (237).

From Pencils to Pixels: The Stages of Literacy Technology -Dennis Baron

• Does the computer promise or threaten to change literacy practices for better or worse, or is a change already in progress?
• The computer has "left its mark on the way we do things with words"
• Could computers one day replace books?
• Baron's point of his article: 1. To acknowledge the importance of the computer 2. To predict that in the future the computer will be put to communication uses we cannot now even begin to imagine
• Baron tried to write on paper, but it felt awkward.
• Baron states, "writing itself is always first and foremost a technology"
• New communication strategies go through similar stages that the pencil did: 1st-restricted communications function (available only to a few) 2nd-begin to mediate the technology for the general public 3rd-cost decreases and the technology mimics familiar communication and a new literacy spreads across a population
• New technologies = opportunities and fraud possibilities
• "Literacy technologies, including writing itself, were initially met with suspicion as well as enthusiasm." (the suspicion part is similar to Clanchy's article)
• Humanists a.k.a. writers/scholars of liberal arts (also people who have long been considered out of technology loop)
• The pencil developed into a "tool [technology] so universally employed for writing that we seldom give it any thought" (during my interview with my grandma, she said she did not consider a "pencil" as a technology)
• Progress: pencil (writing), printing press, telephone, electric power, radio, typewriter?, television, computer
• "Computer gurus offer us a brave new world of communications where we will experience cognitive changes of a magnitude never before known"
• I agree with Bolter in what he is saying about the shift brought about by the computer.
• "Cuneiform geeks" - no pun intended
• First forms of writing for record keeping
• Speech vs. Writing...two very different forms of communication
• Reference to Clanchy's article and human witnesses
• Monks responsible for forgeries (as also mentioned in Clanchy's article)
• Digital age: we are also faced with the "task of reinventing appropriate ways to validate"
• Pencils originally used for measuring
• Pencil manufacture/production (Thoreau and Co.~ironic since Thoreau did not value pencils)
• From telephone to e-mail messages (and privacy)
• Interesting discussion about use of words "hello" and "good-bye" on the telephone
• "Personal computers were not initially meant for word-processing"
• Not so easy going with computers at first (for both programmers and writers)
• Digital fraud (figures 8 and 9)
• "A lot of text is still accepted on trust"
• Digital text is easy to corrupt using scanners
• Ways to establish expertise of author (bicycle example)
• Information and the WWW
• More concerns with newer technologies (old become invisible with time)
• It's not computers that divide haves from have nots, but literacy itself
• Sledd's view about computers reducing literacy
• Will the computer one day be taken-for-granted like the pencil? Is this theory already in motion?

The Effects of Computers on Traditional Writing -Sharmila Ferris

• 3 Great Communication Revolutions: symbolic language, writing, print
• No. 4 = computers
• "Writing enabled societies...to communicate across the boundaries of space and time"
• What is incorperated in "writing" (ex. alphabetic word, vocabulary, relationship to spoken word etc. It's both abstract and analytic thought)
• Writing has permanent quality about it, and print made writing even more permanent
• Print enabled development of modern educational system
• Printing Press-------->Computer
• Computers are unique because of participation and interactivity
• "Computers re-introduce many oral characteristics" (and beyond)
• "Roles of writers and readers...become unclear"
• Electronic writing jargon
• More focus on group thinking than individual
• There are similarities of traditional writing as well
• Electronic writing has "brought about a 'significant increase in the artifacts of literacy"
• Ferris argues, "ideas are expressed in a logical, linear fashion" (what about stream of consciousness?)
• Hypertext=non-linear=the way the mind works
• "Electronic text is always fluid; it is never fixed" (dynamic)
• Interpersonal relationships
• Vanishing words on a screen (I see as not much different as vanishing words from turning the page of a book)
• But no one communicates in binary code?
• "Non-discursive reading...electronic writing opposes the standardization of language encouraged by the traditional text"
• Interactivity among reader, author, medium
• Hypertext=navigate using links (or how about navigate a book using chapter titles or index)
• Electronic writing must be visually appealing and utilize interactive features
• "Electronic writing requires a knowledge of computers and software," as does electronic reading
• Anyone can "publish" on the Internet
• "What common standards or criteria can we judge content in cyberspace?"
• "Any writing that leads the reader to seek it out can be called good writing." Wow, really???
• Electronic writers have the potential to shape "the development of standards and norms of writing."
• Is electronic writing more oral than like print? (Ferris is perhaps leaning more toward oral)
• Fish metaphor made me laugh! Where'd that come from?

-AAK

Reading Notes 1/23/2007

Accumulating Literacy: Writing and Learning to Write in the Twentieth Century
-Deborah Brandt Oct. '95

• Story of Genna May (born 1898) and her great-grandson, Michael May, (born 1981) and their differences in accumulating literacy in a changing world (650)
• As Lauren Resnick puts it, today, "everyone now has to develop reading and writing skills that used to be used to belong only to an elite" (650).
• "Challenges faced by all literacy learners in a society whose rapid changes are themselves tied up so centrally with literacy and its enterprise" (651).
• Seems Brandt is saying, what used to be one or even two dimensional learning is now more like three dimension learning or even higher. "Literacy learners...find themselves having to piece together reading and writing experiences form more and more spheres" (651).
• "Diversification of literacy" (651)
• Amalgamate-to combine into an integrated whole (651)
• Brandt collected accounts of 65 Americans in regards to their literacy development (651)
• Trying to identify "major effects of 'accumulating literacy' that are especially pertinent to teachers of writing and reading" (651)
• Literacy aside, in the "real world," now "documentary practices" play a role (652).
• "One's world is almost totally organized by a system in which one can have no real say" (652). Hmmm, interesting point
• A notion called "'piling up' quality of literacy...sets up interpretive problems for people learning to write" (653).
• Based upon two personal examples, we see how "ruling institutions control literacy and use literacy to control the population in different historical periods" (654).
• Transformation=explains dynamic literary shifts (however, Brandt sees continuity in these changes) (654)
• 1. Transformations in literacy are complex 2. There will be resistant strains of literate practice (655)
• For Sam May (born 1925), "literacy learning was about acquiring manners" (655).
• Arrival of radio at first inspired and enhanced writing; however, it also brought in new abstract genres (657).
• Intensified writing after enlisting
• Old literacy forms don't disappear, they shape "future interpretations of reading and writing" (659).
• From her interviews, Brandt believes what she is seeing is that "literacy in an advanced literate period requires an ability to work the borders between tradition and change" (660).
• Charles Randolph (born 1948), African American, growing up in Tenn (660).
• Watched his dad and won various writing competitions (661)
• Charles also did well in school and learned essay and topic sentence writing (661).
• Writing was "a vent" for Charles (663).
• Went on to teach at a public school and then became the first affirmative action officer, while working toward his PhD
• "He said his fascination with writing throughout his life has resided 'in the power of it'" (663-4).
• Both Sam and Charles "memories exhibit residual influences of the educational experiences of previous generations" (664).
• How could accumulating literacy be better accommodated in school? Brandt answers, "simply by beginning to recognize the historical conditions of literacy" (665).
• It should not so much be anymore about "disseminating literacy" (665).
• From Brandt's perspective, we see how "school-based" and "home-based" literacy function together, "within larger historical currents" (666).
• Important: how literacy materials come into people's lives (666).
• "Literacy is always in flux" (666)
• Layers of literacy=past,present,future (666).
• "Being literate...has to do with being able to negotiate the burgeoning surplus" (666).
• (In layman's terms, succeed in managing the rapidly growing surplus)
• In summary, what themes about literacy accumulation does she identify?
• A: learning manners, upward mobility, imitating a higher class, father to son, books collected at home (manuscripts, Life of Poems, etc.), grads from excellent colleges as teachers, focus in school on essay writing and topic sentences.

Literacy in Three Metaphors -Sylvia Scribner Nov. '84

• How do we define literacy? "We have yet to discover or set its boundaries" (6).
• "Literacy...is a social achievement...an outcome of culture" (7).
• Literacy described in terms of individual abilities (7)
• Boundary problems in all metaphors (8)
• Certain assumptions apply to each metaphor: "social motivations for...this country, the nature of existing literacy practices, and judgements about which practices are critical for individual and social enhancement" (8).
• Literacy as adaptation-"the necessity for literacy skill in daily life" (9)
• Problem 1: it is not logical "to define this universe of behaviors...which compose functional competence" (10)
• Problem 2: there is really very little uniformity in these skills (9)
• "Today's standards...need to be considered in the light of tomorrow's requirements. But not all are agreed" (10)
• Are technologies new systems of literacy? (11)
• Literacy as power-"relationship between literacy and group or community advancement" (11)
• "For the poor and politically powerless groups to claim their place in the world" (11)
• Problems arise in developing countries; rapid changes seen in mobilized countries (12)
• Problem: possibilities and limits are not clear with this metaphor (12)
• "How are communities best mobilized for literacy?" (13)
• Literacy as a state of grace-endows the "literate person with special virtues" (13)
• This metaphor deals with people who are "cultured," knowing the "sciences, arts, and humanities" (13).
• (Literacy) not bounded by politics or economics but by the individual (14)
• "A great divide" b/t those who have and "who have not mastered written language" (14)
• Problem: "how widely dispersed is book knowledge...in our society?" (14)
• There is a boundary of "value of literateness...across social classes and ethnic and religious groups" (14).
• "book cultures" (14)
• "What implications does it pose for our educational objectives?" (14)
• All three metaphors have "validity" (15).
• Case Study: Vai people of West Africa
• For Vai peoples, "Literacy is not a necessity for personal survival" (15).
• Based upon Vai lifestyle and core values, we would need to use all three metaphors to develop a worthy education program. (and that's not even totally worthy)
• What is literacy? 1. "skepticism for 'one best answer' approach" 2. "urges the need for understanding the great variety of beliefs and aspirations" (17)
• implications analysis has for literacy policy (18)
• ***"minimal literacy standards would serve a useful function" (18) (could we compare this to Indiana State Standards?)
• ***"diversity of educational approaches" (18)

-AAK

Reading Notes 1/14/07

"Technology and Literacy: A Story about the Perils of Not Paying Attention"
Feb. '99 -Cynthia L. Selfe

• Technological literacy-ability to use computers and other technology to improve learning, productivity, and performance
• CCCC-Conference on College Composition and Communication
• By allocating the responsibility of technological decisions (often times to a single staff member), the result is that computers are rapidly becoming invisible
• Computer technology=cultural strangeness
• Organizations deal with technology in a piecemeal fashion, creating little focus being paid to technology
• PAY ATTENTION to how literacy is linked to technology
• Not paying attention to technology is an unfair system (in my opinion-for students especially, it is doing them the injustice)
• what's are role in all this...
• One idea that might be a release for us to not pay attention is the fact that literacy and computer technology is deemed a socially progressive movement
• American Narrative: Clinton-Gore administration '96
• Getting America's Children Ready for the Twenty-First Century
• Document refers to use of computers for reading, writing, and communicating as well
• Plans shortcomings: not enough $ allocated and not enough to the correct places per state
• Also, not enough allocated to the correct places by government. Lack of punctuality on allocations (and generation of funding) AND not enough guidance to teachers and students
• ***Must do a better job of paying to attention to technology issues that affect us
• Lessons created from the different perspective on literacy that technology issues provide
• 1)Efficacy of large-scale projects/myth of literacy
• Primarily schools serving poor students and students of color have less access to computers
• Literacy and Technology link: race and socioeconomic status
• (this opportunity) will "help give all young people the opportunity to grow" is erroneous. It "deflects attention from the complexity and real political difficulties"
• 2) Literacy is always an political act (motivated by political agenda) as well as an educational effort
• Global Information Infrastructure (GII) and the national one (NII)
• Not so much the plan it self but a spark of the nation would help the expansion of technological literacy
• The plan's downfall in Selfe's eyes: not a consistent production of individuals acquiring technological literacy
• These deemed "illiterate/unskilled" individuals are necessary to sustain the American economical system
• Teachers who are teaching students how to "use" technology in the classroom, and those who virtually see it as "just another instructional tool" are both missing the point.
• Situated knowledges-approach
• It will also takes societies and schools working together
• Typical sites for critically informed action on technological literacy:
• Curriculum committees, standards documents, and assessment programs (diverse range of literacy practices and values)
• Professional organizations (activism)
• Scholarship and research (keep the research coming)
• In LA and English classrooms (learn the technology and become critical thinkers about technological issues and social issues surrounding its use)
• Computer-based communication facilities (serve as teaching environments for both students and teachers to learn)
• In districts that have poor schools and students of color (more equitable distributions of technology)
• In our voting
• In pre-service and in-service educational programs for teachers (or soon to be teachers)
• In libraries and public places
• As for teachers (and for everyone), make a commitment to literacy and technology everyday.
• Do the best to our personal abilities

"'Among the Greatest Benefactors of Mankind': What the Success of Chalkboards Tells Us about the Future of Computers in the Classroom" Spring 2000

-Steven D. Krause

• Basic question: will computers take the lead as chalkboards have?
• Technologies that have profound influences on how we teach: pens, paper, desks, chalkboard
• Chalkboard not viewed as technology but as natural (Krause arguing this is not actually true-chalkboard is a technology just as a pen is)
• Chalkboards don't push the envelop to change how writing is taught
• Writing = humanism; technology is something that gets away from that enterprise
• Krause finds himself agreeing with Cynthia Selfe (technology is inevitable, but, at times, negatively affecting our literacy)
• Will we consider computers "natural" in a school setting in the future, like we now view chalkboards as natural?
• Chalkboard=innovation of early 19th century
• In Lancasterian schools in Philadelphia, chalkboards facilitate large group instruction (usually a teacher/student ratio of 1 to 284)
• However, this was good compared to a past in which there was an absence of any previous systematic approach to learning (many went to school who would not have originally had access)
• Chalkboard's 20th century cousin=the overhead
• The chalkboard was here to stay
• Praise for chalkboard, why not so much for computers?
• Chalkboards (easy to operate/low-maintenance); Computers, essentially the opposite
• Chalkboards don't do, they enhance what teachers are already doing
• 1. We are not willing to change how we use computers (right now we are just interested in using them for enhancement)
• 2. It is pedagogy that motivates the use of technologies, not the technologies that motivates improvement in pedagogy.
• ***Computers are not universal yet because teachers do not see how computers enhance pedagogy
• Technology misuse (computer)=not training the teacher computer-based writing pedagogy
• Forcing teachers to use computers in the teaching of writing will do little good without changing the way writing is taught!
• Definition of computer will continue to change
• Future for computers and writing pedagogy is still unclear
• If computers are to become "natural," we need to work harder in our pedagogical approaches

"Time's Person of the Year: The Computer" Jan. '83

-Otto Friedrich

• Just in the first paragraph, I realize this was the extent of our computer knowledge by this date.
• "This passion is partly fad, partly a sense of how life could be made better, partly a gigantic sales campaign" (interesting take)
• Friedrich argue the personal computer is the "end result" of the technological revolution. Is that so, or is it just the beginning?
• The computer is now accessible to millions...here comes the information revolution
• What affect will all of this have? Dehumanization and unemployment? Or a spark in new industries?
• Comparing telecommunications to canals, highways, and railroads
• End of WWII ENIAC, the first fully electronic digital computer was built in U.S., costing $487,000. Today (1982), a personal IBM computer costs $4,000.
• Looking ahead, the computer industry sees pure gold.
• Estimate: 80 million personal computers in use by end of century
• In '82, the surface has been barely scratched for the computer industry.
• Video game...a teenage fad, doomed to go away like the Hula Hoop and Rubik's Cube (not to sure about that)
• Argument that these games have educational value
• These games promote the "user-friendliness" of the computer
• Personal computer: help with the idea of working from home
• Electronic mail, databases via dial up (I almost forgot that's what we used to have to do. I don't believe it has its name as WWW yet.)
• A doctor says that one day he accessed the computer 3x's in 12 minutes (imagine that!)
• Farmers are even jumping on the bandwagon
• The office is even giving way to the computer and joining the network. No more typewriters
• Office professionals a could save 15% of time if they used technology now avail.
• Electronic message system could eventually make "paper" obsolete
• "Suspicious" of this new equipment, and scared to death of it
• Why should anyone have to go to work in an office at all? Is the great megalopolis about to be doomed by technology?
• The Third Wave -Alvin Toffler (The home will become an "electronic cottage)
• Work is more about the social intercourse, a community
• Personal computer, robots, customization
• Advance of computers in medical field
• Computer crime
• Unemployment: get more work done by fewer people
• "It is a tool to help the rich get richer." -Katherine Fishman (I think we can say that is not necessarily true)
• The user will be able to carry out many functions simply by pointing to a picture of what he wants done rather than typing out instructions
• Quality electronics coming from Japan
• Use of computers to teach children about computers
• Will the the computer change the very nature of human thought? (higher IQs, higher level of thinking?)
• The personal computer can "greatly increase the forces of both good and evil." -Nils Nilsson

"Time's Person of the Year: You" Dec. '06

-Lev Grossman

• The few, the powerful, the famous shape our collective destiny as a species
• Individuals we could blame for a disturbing 2006 (Bush???)
• Community and Collaboration!!! (Wikipedia, You Tube, MySpace)
• Helping one another for nothing (wow, what a concept, seems to be it's been around for quite sometime). This will change how the world changes
• Tool making the possible=THE WEB or Web 2.0
• It's telling us about how Americans live.
• An explosion of productivity and innovation from the masses
• Grossman calls this a passion (is it truly that?)
• You: seizing the reins of the global media
• Web 2.0=a massive social experiment (w/ no road map)
• Staring at a computer screen, who's out there looking back at you?

AAK