Teens, Technology, and Literacy; Or, Why Bad Grammar Isn't Always Bad

128 Pages·2006·1.14 MB·English

by  Linda W. Braun

Teens, Technology, and
Literacy: Or, Why Bad
Grammar Isn't Always
Bad
Linda W. Braun
LIBRARIES UNLIMITED
Teens, Technology, and Literacy

TEENS, TECHNOLOGY,
AND LITERACY
Or, Why Bad Grammar Isn’t Always Bad
Linda W. Braun
Foreword by Pam Berger
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Braun, Linda W.
Teens, technology, and literacy, or, Why bad grammar isn’t always bad / Linda
W. Braun; foreword by Pam Berger.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1–59158–368–3 (alk. paper)
1. Computers and literacy—United States. 2. Literacy—Social aspects—United
States. 3. Technological literacy—United States. 4. Technology and youth—United
States. 5. Teenagers—Social networks—United States. I. Title. II. Title: Why bad
grammar isn’t always bad.
LC149.5.B73 2007
373.133'4—dc22 2006031714
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available.
Copyright © 2007 by Linda W. Braun
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be
reproduced, by any process or technique, without
the express written consent of the publisher.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2006031714
ISBN: 1–59158–368–3
First published in 2007
Libraries Unlimited, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881
A Member of the Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.
www.lu.com
Printed in the United States of America

Th e paper used in this book complies with the
Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National
Information Standards Organization (Z39.48–1984).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Once more for Robert and Lucy,
who kept their humor as I wrote,
obsessed, and asked for advice

Contents
List of Figures xi
Foreword xiii
Introduction xv
I. DEFINING LITERACY
1
1
What Is Literacy Really? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
AS imple Defi nition 3
A Brief History of Literacy 5
Literacy as a Skill 6
Literacy as School Knowledge 6
Literacy as a Social and School Construct 7
WhereA re We Now? 8
More Aspects of Literacy 8
Literacy and Identity 9
II. LITERACY IN TECHNOLOGY ENVIRONMENTS
11
2 Th e World of Messaging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Th e How and Why of Language Conventions in
Real-Time Virtual Environments 14
IM 14
Text Messaging 17
Supporting IM and Texting Literacies in Libraries and Classrooms 19
viii Contents
IM Literacies in the Library and Classroom 19
Texting Literacies in the Library and Classroom 22
Advancement,N ot Decline 23
3 Out Th ere for the World: Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts . . . . . . . . . . . .25
TeenB loggers 27
Public Blogging 27
Blogger Identity 30
Saying Something Meaningful 31
Reading in a Blogger’s World 33
Reading the Audience 33
Blog Integration 34
Wikis 35
Wiki Pros and Cons 36
Writing History 37
Beyond Wikipedia 37
Teens and Wikis 37
Wiki Literacies 39
HearA ll About It—Podcasting 39
Podcasting and Identity 40
Worldwide Listenership 41
Th e Listening Experience 42
Th e Creating Experience 43
Listener Attention 43
Musical Life 44
Puttingt he Pieces Together 45
4 Making Connections with Tagging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
A Keyword by Any Other Name 47
Beyond the Blog 49
Outo f the Chaos 52
InformationL iteracy Can’t Be Ignored 53
Comparing Technologies 54
Making Meaning 55
Considering Tag Clouds 55
When,W here, Why 56
5
Reading and Writing in a Gamer’s World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
It’sA ll Th ere 58
Good Learning from Good Games 59
Makingt he Sell 62
No Game Play is Entirely Passive 62
Contents ix
Gamers Do Not Play (or Live) in a Vacuum 63
Th e Gamer’s World is Not an Entirely Evil World 63
Focuso n Literacy 63
Workshop Gaming 65
Go Beyond Availability 65
Fado r Not 66
III. LIBRARIES AND CLASSROOMS
AS VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES
69
6
Technology + Literacy = Social Networking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Defi ning Community 71
MySpace 73
Th e Library and School Build Teen Social Networks 74
My Own Café 75
Friendster 76
Hennepin County Library Catalog 77
Th e Perfect Library or Classroom Social Network 78
Building Social Networks at Your Library or in Your Classroom 79
Talking Points 79
NoD ust 82
7
A World of Ideas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Integrating Instant and Text Messaging—Round-Up, Chapter 2 83
Integrating Blogs, Wikis, and Podcasts—Round-Up, Chapter 3 84
IntegratingT agging—Round-Up, Chapter 4 86
IntegratingG aming—Round-Up, Chapter 5 87
SocialN etworking—Round-Up, Chapter 6 88
Makingi t Work 89
Appendix A—Web-Based Content Creation Tools 91
Appendix B—Finding and Catching Blogs and Podcasts 93
Appendix C—All About Technology 97
References 99
Index 103