I must admit, I repeated the subject line for this blog over and over again in my head until some sense of its meaning became apparent. I've always considered approaching literacy as more of an individual systematic practice or even a traditional education group practice, but never as a social practice. However, any and all reflections on my own literary practices, coupled with the assigned readings, brought forth new-found understandings how of literacy can be approached as a social practice, and how doing so can benefit ones understanding of certain literacies.
Perhaps nowhere is literacy more of a social practice than through the use of blogs. The essence of a true blog is thought or expression through texts, which will hopefully be utilized by a portion of society that chooses to read that blog. But how exactly are they utilizing those texts in a social setting? Are they grasping your sentiments and playing them forward? Are they using your thoughts and/or expressions to surface thoughts and expressions of their own within society? How will their comprehension of your texts serve a purpose in their future lives? In attempting to answer these questions one must first accept that literacy, whether or not it is first approached in an individual or classroom setting, will more than likely make its way into society. Once texts have been shared, we must pay "careful and sensitive attention to what people do with texts" (Gillen and Barton, 2010, p. 9), in order to fully understand and appreciate their impact.
I am very new to the utilization of blogs and I am not sure yet how readers are utilizing the text in a social setting or if it will serve a purpose in their future lives. I would think first you would need to figure out how attract people to find your blog and read the text. How is that accomplished? I am looking forward to learning more about this concept in our class.
ReplyDeleteSue
Susan, you ask some very important questions. Reaching your intended audience is an optimal step, but doing so can require a specific approach.
ReplyDeleteSusan and Fabio
ReplyDeleteGood considerations. There are whole other ways to market yourself and your blogging. We now have courses in multi-media marketing! Some bloggers do consider themselves legitimate 'journalists'!
Your considerations of individualism are correct, but in the digital age we as a society are compelled to connect with others. I learned an interesting term about our current way of coping with our lifestyles; hyper-individualism whereby, individuals travel from wherever goes home and become immersed with the computer and log onto the internet. This is explains our current behavior as socializing in person with our neighbor’s is almost an event of the past.
ReplyDeleteI had the same problem at first with the concept of literacy as social practice. I was not familiar with this notion at all. I had always thought of literacy (reading and writing) as being an individual practice or a collaborative practice. But the more I read about the different forms of literacy such media literacy, economic literacy and new literacies. It began to click that literacy is a social practice. How do we make meaning and further own learning when we interact with texts, blogs, chatrooms, discussion boards, forums and the World Wide Web is a social practice. This is because we often incorporate "new literacies" into our daily lives without giving them much thought. They become habits and help us to function in ways that we find useful.
ReplyDeleteI just want to underscore that the old traditional classroom for learning and literacy is a social construct and we know that the social element of that learning experience also helps develop the 'social' skills of the students. Employers and HR directors all talk about the importance of the 'soft' skills .. a term I hate by the way... as the most important. They are most complex and nuanced as they are predicated on human interaction and communication. Inter and Intra personal skills are a must. I feel we must mix human social interaction and communication as children are becoming more 'socially' awkward. Why do they feel more 'safe' talking to a potentially dangers strangers through a computer than a direct human to human interaction in their every day life. I remember when teaching at my former institution .. many years ago when Instant Messaging was just starting. I heard to students describe a communication between them and their devices and they were roommates talking to each other in messages and they were BOTH in their dorm room! Human interaction and communication can get messy. But to me, it is also the beauty of being human.... OK I digress
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