Near the end of the article "Made Not Only in Words", Yancey addresses Leu's three sources of deixis in technological literacy:
1. transformations of literacy because of technological change,
2. the use of increasingly efficient technologies of communication that rapidly spread new literacies, and
3. envisionments of new literacy potentials within new technologies.
Source three is illustrated with an example: someone wishes to send an e-mail, but decides to compose it in a word processor. The article makes a point of mentioning that this is an "unexpected" use of a word processor, and earlier in the article Yancey cites Leu, who defines envisionment as using technology for purposes "at odds" with its original intention.
This seems to imply an overly-narrow definition of various technologies. The word processor in question might suggest by its name that it is for "processing words," but its feature set is far more complex than the rather bland label would have us believe. It is fair to say that composing an e-mail from within a word processor was "unexpected," but less fair to declare such a use "at odds" with a word processor designer's intentions.
I agree, however, with the idea that the advent of the Internet and the wider "digital age" allows for this third source of deixis to be practiced at levels heretofore unknown. The number of technologies that exploded onto the scene in recent decades has allowed for unprecedented user-generated creativity and user-defined evolution.
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9 years ago
I agree in part and disagree in part. I agree that the internet, via email, blogs, etc; profoundly propagates the power of the word processor, beyond the original expectations of its inventor, to transport the written word into a coherent, accessible medium. However, I also think that the development of certain internet innovations descends into a conflict with the original premise of the word processor. The addition of internet tools can both enhance and degrade the efficacy of the word processor. Written works, composed in word processors, have drawn us into the realm of the internet and it is within this realm that I believe the conflict between the word processor resides. The email example describes a function within the internet that is entirely consistent with the intent of the inventors. As I write this, I am using an internet thesaurus to avoid repeating adjectives. However, the same website is pocked full of advertisements that create distractions to this project. Also, while reading this blog and writing this comment, I am listening to videos from "Youtube." These distractions could potentially deteriorate my comprehension of the blog and the quality of my response. The unchecked and uncontrolled ability of bloggers to express themselves through the written word also gives this power to individuals that produce works that lack grammatical accuracy or intelligible composure. This unfolds into the mass dissemination of and desensitization to a societal degradation of the written work. Authors may have originally used the internet as a tool to enhance the capabilities of the word processor; the rabbit hole it leads us down takes us into a habitat for media that degrades the role of the word processor within our society.
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