Sue Thomas and Kate Pullinger today announced the formation of The Transliteracy Research Group, a research-focused think-tank and creative laboratory. They define transliteracy as the ability to read, write and interact across a range of platforms, tools and media from signing and orality through handwriting, print, TV, radio and film, to digital social networks. The public face of the group resides on a new blog.
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A Project of the Institute for the Future of the Book
I wonder how much improvement has been made over the ol’ “Multiliteracies” initiative launched in 1996 by the New London Group. And of course Librarians are pushing for their own “Information Literacy” which seems no different then these other two.
I guess “drastic changes” call for “drastic new literacies”–but it seems that people already know how to use orality, writing, computers, the Internet etc. What they don’t know is how to think clearly and express themselves cogently, which is over and above any one technology.
Steven, I agree that critical thinking will never go out of style.
However, different media call for different modes of expression. You don’t express yourself the same way (I’d imagine) in a letter as on the telephone, for instance.
I think there’s real learning to be done about how to use different media, and how to communicate effectively in each.
Shirley Behrens has argued, that information literacy is the library profession’s project to keep itself meaningful. That’s a very thought-provoking statement.