Chapter 1 of Understanding Digital Literacies by Rodney Jones and Christoph Hafner was basically an overview and introduction to what the rest of the book will be discussing, and an explanation of what some of the terms they will be using mean in the context of the book.
I felt like the text was very repetitive, and long winded, but some of the points they made were valid. I was annoyed as a reader that they had to keep repeating the same phrases about doing, meaning, relating, thinking and being so many times. It was overkill. We get the point.
What was very interesting to me was the section about timekeeping devises and their portability. It was mentioned that back before the mainspring was invented there wasn't much need for people to be constantly aware of the time. I agree with that in a sense, but before portable time keeping devises were popular and affordable people relied on the sun to tell time. When I was touring with Drum Corps International having a watch at rehearsal wasn't allowed at all times because it would have us counting down the minutes through a rough rehearsal, but we could still tell approximately what time it was because of the location of the sun and how hungry we were. These were comparatively primitive ways of keeping time, but they worked well in this context.
It was then noted now that time is so portable, there is a more strict notion of being on time and running late. Although time wasn't supposed to be the focus in a rehearsal, being on time to a rehearsal, bus, meal, etc. was of the utmost importance. If you 'lost track of time' and were late, you were running your butt off to make up for it, and hurting your team. I also started thinking about time as we think about it in the classroom setting. Back before portable time, 50 minute classes and 10 minutes of commuting time between classes would have been very impractical. Nowadays, we measure time in even smaller increments, and that has definitely added stress to society and individuals. The world as we know it is constantly in a hurry.
There were a lot of things in this chapter that I could pull out and dissect and give my opinion on, but there are too many to mention in this blog post. One of the things that really stuck out to me was on page 12 about digital literacies. I agree somewhat that " Literacy is not just a way of making meaning, but also a way of relating to to other people and showing who we are, a way of doing things in the world, and a way of developing new ideas about the solutions to the problems that face us". If we think of literacy traditionally, as the ability to read and write, I would like to make the point that yes, reading and writing does make these ways of communication easier, but it is fundamentally unnecessary to be able to read and write to think of a solution to a problem, to do things, or to relate to people. I actually believe that it would be better for people to break from the technological world more frequently, and stop reading and writing and just get back to the earth and spend more time in a pure and natural world.
Although there are plenty of affordances that the digital world has brought to us, some of the constraints are must more permanently damaging than many people can even imagine. I look forward to unveiling some of these constraints in later chapters, hoping that knowledge and the transfer of that knowledge between people can help reverse some of the negative side effects of the digital world on a person before it becomes too late.
I could not agree with you more about the long-winded thing. Boy was this chapter repetitive.
ReplyDeleteI said this on Lizzie's blog, but I think it's worth repeating.
You bring up the fact that you believe people should be wary of technology and not rely on it so heavily, but I think that the time for that worry has long since past. Technology has become so ingrained into our daily lives that I think it would be not only almost impossible, but probably extremely crippling to return to a world without so much technology.
I see what you're saying and it's very valid, but I still think it would be a good think if people weren't so attached to their phones, facebook, etc. I know I am, and I hate it.
ReplyDeleteI'm kind of going to go off of what Tiffany has said, I completely agree that the chapter was very repetitive and I found myself losing focus and interest at certain points. One thing I have a different opinion on is when you state that reading and writing are an unnecessary aspect of every day life. As an English Education major it is my belief that reading and writing are two crucial aspects of a person's life. It's one thing to look at a word and be able to spell it and say it, but it's another to be able to understand the meaning and be able to use multiple words to get a point across. As for technology, it is inevitable that our world is changing into a more technologically advanced society, and there's nothing that is going to stop its progress. The combination between technology, reading and writing opens up an entire world full of possibilities that the human brain could never even imagine. As a future teacher, I am struggling to break away from the traditional values of reading and writing. But being able to accept the fact that the world is changing is the first step to effectively being able to utilize technology to our advantage. I think that it would be wonderful to refer back to how things used to be, but facing the facts, technology is becoming a part of our every day life and we cannot get away from it.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your statement about how our world is always in a rush due to technology. Everything happens in an instant and can be done with a simple click of a button. And because of this, we have lost the intimacy of communicating with another person. Face-to-face conversations and even writing letters have been replaced by video chat, texts and e-mails. All of these advancements replace the close connection that one would feel if they were to confront someone in person. In this aspect, I believe that technology hinders our ability to be able to communicate and speak to one another on a more personal level. We run away from confrontation through technology, making it easier to avoid our problems instead of being up-front, like how it used to be.
Time was measured by the rising and setting of the sun untill the industral revolution. Now people had to be at work at a certain time or unpleasent consquences would result. It was a big change. Time was not enen standerdized untill railroads. At first there was "railroad time". It was important because you did not want to miss your train, or have trains run into one another! It makes a mess.
ReplyDeleteI really like the point you bring up about time because that is not an issue people normally bring up when discussing the various technologies. I definitely agree that portable time keeping devices have changed the way our society works and the way people feel in regards to time. Last semester I studied abroad and none of the classes had a clock in them and I did not have a phone at the time. I started wearing a watch because it gave me a slightly panicky feeling to not know the time. After I adjusted I realized how liberating it could be to not have to stress about time. Strange how such a 'simple' thing affects people so much.
ReplyDeleteI must disagree with your idea about breaking away from reading and writing. Yes, it would be a great thing for people to get back to the natural world (although I am not sure our definitions would be the same), but I believe that reading and writing can help (or even heighten) the experience. Just think of works such as Thoreau's Walden, Krakauer's Into the Wild, or Wordsworth's poem "Ode on Intimations of Immortality." These works reflect on nature and the feeling of tranquility it brings to people. Writing and reading prompt critical thinking, and I shudder to think what a world without deep thought would be like.
I really like your realtion of time to your personal life. I don't even remember the last time I was in a situation where I couldn't check the time! It's interesting to think that back when portable time was a new thing, they would probably be disgusted to hear me say that I know what time it is basically all the time... just like today, people may be disgusted to hear how often I check my phone. Everything is relative and I think in 200 years when they talk about us and our use of technology, they will think nothing of our habits, because there habits will most likely be completely absorbed into whatever the next technology will be.
ReplyDelete@bskye7 I wasn't talking about not critically thinking and having a world without deep thought. My point was that it is not necessary to read and write to be deep in thought. ie. autistic children have different complex thought processes and may not be able to read and write. Also, I did not mean we need to get away from all of these technologies for ever, but that it would be beneficial to take a step back, and take a break from all of these things once in a while to re-center ones self.
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