Will the Information Age TransformLiteracy?
Literacy transformations primitive symbol systems => complex oral language => early writing => manuscript literacy => print literacy => video literacy => digital/multimedia/hypertextliteracy => virtual reality Adapted from Bruce, B.C. (1997). Literacy technologies:What stance should we take? Journal of Literacy Research, 29(2), 289-309. Available (196 KB PDF file requiring Adobe’s Acrobat Reader): www.coe.uga.edu/jlr/v29/article_29_2_5.pdf As societies move to more complex oral language, extended storiesbecome possible. Later, early writing means that more ideas canbe retained in permanent forms. At each stage (see Literacy transformations,above), new technologies afford new possibilities for communicationand knowledge representation, making possible history as a field,formal schooling, the mercantile system, and many other changes.The technologies at each stage-devices, artifacts, methods ofreproduction, distribution systems, and so on-evolve along withthe changing conceptions of lite
