I'm not sure that illiteracy is the problem. By the way, I'm not in the Excited States and don't understand the reference to this "canon" that kids are supposed to be able to read and comment on, as a demonstration of literacy.
Things are changing. Here's an anecdotal tale: while editing a blog posting of mine, online with a remote colleague, using Skype (voice only) and a basic HTML editor on the Internet so we could both see the content of the blog changing, we realised that straight text offers an impoverished experience. In one particularly juicy paragraphs, there were many tangential thoughts -- extra information that provides richness: background or interesting asides. We were struggling with the limitations of the technology, looking for ways to progressively disclose the "richness" without distracting the reader from our main point. We found that we needed hypertext in order to express ourselves fully. Is this because we're not good enough at writing to be able to convey what we wanted in the simpler, linear/analog experience that we call text? I don't think I'm illiterate. Stupid, maybe, "unacademic", sure, but not illiterate. The concept of hypertext (hypermedia) has been around since befo re computers were invented. The effect of iPhone on the way [young] people consume (two decades ago I'd have said "read") their media (two decades ago I'd have said "text") doesn't make me say "Kids are illiterate" as much as it makes me say "Where the hell are the courses in information architecture for students?" I'm expecting courses like that in later elementary school and definitely in high school, alongside courses that teach kids how easily their opinions and emotions can be manipulated by multimedia experiences -- much more easily than with pure text. In the previous paragraph, when I write iPhone, I really mean the whole domain of permanent communication experiences. The sensory experiences -- including text -- that previously could only come at us at a "human' speed -- limited by our eyes, by flipping pages, by walking/running legs, can now be edited and spliced, pumped up, and compressed. Text isn't necessarily static or linear, and it shares the stage with sound, visual movement/animation (including all the mass-market 3D virtual reality that's coming), and touch (all the mass-market haptic crap that's coming). So, no, it's not that illiteracy is the problem, it's that the whole communication experience has increased in complexity. But, yes, I suppose you could still call the problem "illiteracy" at root. But it's so much larger than being able to read a "canon" and then write about it. ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
