[gesturing towards transliteracy]

For some time the PaRT group (Production and Research in Transliteracy) has been considering, musing upon and developing the concept of transliteracy. We had an interesting Transliteracy Colloquium where all participants shared their relationship to transliteracy and how/why it might be useful.

Rather excitingly the PaRT group has had their first communal effort on transliteracy published. Check out this month's First Monday issue for what Sue would call our flag in the sand.




Here is the abstract:

Transliteracy might provide a unifying perspective on what it means to be literate in the twenty-first century. It is not a new behavior but has only been identified as a working concept since the internet generated new ways of thinking about human communication. This article defines transliteracy as “the ability to read, write and interact across a range of platforms, tools and media from signing and orality through handwriting, print, TV, radio and film, to digital social networks” and opens the debate with examples from history, orality, philosophy, literature, and ethnography. We invite responses, expansion, and development.

As the Asheninka tribe say:

"Everything we use has a story; each drawing has a long and comprehensive story. Each drawing which is passed from one generation to another is our writing; each little symbol has an immense story. As one learns a drawing, one learns its origin, who taught it, who brought it to us."