#140WaystoTelltheWorld Proposal

#140WaystoTelltheWorld

In 2006, Evan Williams, Jack Dorsey and Biz Stone changed the way the digital world communicated. Entering the social media world after social giants Myspace and Facebook (each aligning how an entire generation communicates today), Twitter challenged the way digital and community literacy practices were conducted- if you had to express yourself in 140 characters or less, what would you say?

            In the essay #140WaystoTelltheWorld, I intend to discuss the changes that Twitter Literacy, or “Twitteracy” (Greenhow and Gleason 2006) has impacted how readers receive and exchange information, and how it changes and supports current literacy practices. How have community literacy and digital literacy integrated into one large exchange of information and culture? What are some of the challenges to maintaining traditional literacy practices while incorporating current literacy practices? Who are the readers who are utilizing these new forms of literacy? What are researchers and scholars saying about the shortened language use on Twitter and other social media? Does this shorthand affect how we use language outside of these forums, or is there actually a motive to take caution?

            As a digital native and participant in social media, I have lived inundated by the world of digital literacy, and I have been part of the constant shifting. Also, my own literacy education has taken me through scribal literacy (learning at a young age to write, and using it as a main form of expression), print literacy with books, newspapers and magazines, and has integrated these more traditional forms of literacy with digital literacy-- a practice that takes place on a screen. My goal is to now study the some of the effects of digital literacy through the platform of Twitter.

I look to compile the studies and ideas of various researchers, scholars, participants and reporters and make connections to the various methods of practicing literacy. I will use my personal experience as a frame for the essay and connect my observations in my own Twitter literacy practices to other points-of-view and studies on the effect of Twitter on literacy.

I am researching to discover how Twitter can be considered a new literacy practice by using Greenhow and Gleason's essay as a secondary source for support. My primary source will be the actual interactions that I find using my own Twitter account, which I use mainly for the receipt of news media and current events, this will be an opportunity to evaluate how my own literacy practices have changed. Other reports include John Brydan, Sebastian Funk, and Vincent AA Jansen’s article “Word usage mirrors community structure in the online social network Twitter” to show how digital literacy has also taken on the many traits of community literacy, and touches on cultural literacy.

Works Cited

Bryden, John, Sebastian Funk, and Vincent AA Jansen. “Word usage mirrors community structure in the online social network Twitter.” EPJ Data Science 2.3 (2013): n. pag. Web. 6 Nov 2013.

            Bryden et al did a research study to test the language and social network structures reflected the already known transmission of information of language functions social contexts. By connecting vocabulary patterns in member communications, they were able to find proof of an “heirarchy of communities”. Through this, they can find relationships between human language and social networks and how technology has maintained these same traits.

Greenhow, Christine and Benjamin Gleason.  "Twitteracy: Tweeting as a New Literacy Practice" The Educational Forum, Vol 76 (2012): 464-478. DOI. Web. 6 Nov 2013.

           

            Greenhow and Gleason discuss how the literacy practices that occur on Twitter can be considered a new form. Following the definiton outlined by Coiro et al in their essay “Central issues in new literacies and new literacies research” Greenhow and Gleason argue that Twitter fits the definition provided, and that it should be considered as a new literacy. As a forum for language development in ELLs and exchanging information, Twitter has been found to be a useful tool, although moving it into the classroom many pose a greater challenge.

Margerison, Jill. “Online discussion forums in the classroom: can the principles of social media benefit literacy and enhance engagement with learning?” Literacy Learning: The Middle Years 21.2 (2012): 19+. Academic OneFile. Web. 6 Nov 2013.

            Jill Margerison discusses the expanded possibilities for readers to engage in new forms of communication via technology. As the screen becomes the dominant form of interactions between teens, the way they read follows that very same trend- the incorporation of non-linear and non-sequential reading paths. Through these new online platforms teen readers are new ways to build and construct identity and belong to a group.