Roughly 575 years ago, the German blacksmith Johannes Gutenberg became known as the first European to use moveable type and is often credited with inventing the process for mass-producing literature. In doing so, he revolutionized mass communication. In 2007, Amazon introduced to consumers the Kindle, their now highly popular e-reader, adding to a technological revolution that is changing the way people read and interact with text in the modern age.
As a nearly lifelong bibliophile, I am obsessed with books and the written word. As a high school English teacher, I am both fascinated and concerned by the impact emerging technology has on the way younger generations experience and engage with literature. The point of this blog is to explore ways that I can develop and incorporate technology into an academic discipline that is often reticent to do so while still convincing students that nothing beats the smell of a good, used book.
I also love to be ironic (consider me one of the last holdouts of Generation X). Since this blog is inherently interested in the intersection of old-world texts and new world applications, I began to imagine what Gutenberg would think of today's "phablet" world. Welcome to Gutenberg's Kindle.
As a nearly lifelong bibliophile, I am obsessed with books and the written word. As a high school English teacher, I am both fascinated and concerned by the impact emerging technology has on the way younger generations experience and engage with literature. The point of this blog is to explore ways that I can develop and incorporate technology into an academic discipline that is often reticent to do so while still convincing students that nothing beats the smell of a good, used book.
I also love to be ironic (consider me one of the last holdouts of Generation X). Since this blog is inherently interested in the intersection of old-world texts and new world applications, I began to imagine what Gutenberg would think of today's "phablet" world. Welcome to Gutenberg's Kindle.
Are there certain types of reading that you don't think are diminished in making the transition to electronic media. Does US weekly, for example, lose something with the glossy cellulose of the latest starlets cellulite? Do the instructions for IKEA furniture have a different meaning when read from a phone screen? If so, where do you think the difference between the printed word and the digital word becomes significant?
ReplyDeleteGreat question! I think for me it comes more in the interaction with the text, specifically annotation. One of the things I love about the Kindle is that you can look up the definition of a word immediately as you read. I do think there is some value though, to hand-writing thoughts and notes within the text. Not only does this seem to help with overall retention, but when a student flips back through a text and sees the pages where there are a lot of notes, they know that this is a significant episode in the text which may be worth revisiting as they write a paper or prepare presentation.
DeleteAs for US Weekly, I'm suspect of anything that you can read cover-to-cover in less than seven minutes, regardless of the medium.