Snyder, Ilana (Ed.) (1998).
Page to Screen: Taking Literacy into the Electronic Era.
London: Routledge.
ISBN 0-415-17465-1(Paper) $17.24
ISBN 0-415-17464-3 (Cloth) $56.25.
Reviewed by Denise Johnson, University of Central Arkansas
and Lynn Romeo, Monmouth University
October 28, 1998
In her
last book, Hypertext: The Electronic Labyrinth
(1996), Ilana Snyder, a Senior Lecturer in the School of
Graduate Studies at Monash University, admits that she is
"fascinated by hypertext" (p. xii) (even though she does not
'assume much' expertise or experience in the use of
technology, p. x). Even so, she remains skeptical of its
commonly accepted possibilities, citing such claims as
hypertext "enables students to understand fundamental
aspects of contemporary literary theory" and "influence on
intellectual development" (p. x). Snyder states:
I alert readers, however, to the ways in which
technological determinism permeates academic discourse
about technology. By "technological determinism" I
mean the assumption that qualities inherent in the
computer medium itself are responsible for changes in
social and cultural practices (p. x).
Thus, Snyder
takes a post-critical perspective arguing that
"it is futile to deplore the influence of electronic
mediations on everyday life, because whether we like it or
not we live now in a 'technoculture' " (p. xii). She does
not discus whether the implications of hypertext for
children's reading and writing processes are good, bad, or
indifferent. Research has been limited and mixed in that
area. She accepts the position that it is here to stay and
if teachers want to be effective in preparing students for
the new millennium, we must prepare our students to live and
work in a hypertextual environment. Hypertext received
mixed reviews by the media. The book was on the shortlist in
the Literacy and Cultural Criticism section for the New
South Wales Premier's Awards, which is the only award for
books of this kind in Australia. On the other hand, Jose
Borghino of the Australian Book Review (September
1996) stated, "Snyder bravely broaches complex issues in
these early chapters but too often she is reduced to making
sketchy summations of ideas that would take volumes to
explicate" (18). John Nieuwenhuized in The Australian
(July 24, 1996) states that Snyder argues positions that he
describes as "nonsense" and "puerile."
In her most
recent book, Page to Screen: Taking Literacy
into the Electronic Era (1998), Snyder still contends
that literacy educators must, "consider ways in which the
new technologies might be employed for useful purposes…" (p.
xxiii). However, in Page to Screen, Snyder tries to
pick up where Hypertext fell short. She states that
this book "examines the implications of their use for
pedagogy and curriculum in literacy settings" (p. xxi). The
text also discusses the effect technology has on settings
outside of the school.
The text is divided
into four sections: The Spaces of
Electronic Literacies, Emerging Literacies, The Problems and
Possibilities of Hypertext, and Changing the Cultures of
Teaching and Learning. The unifying thread that runs
throughout the chapters is the belief that the relatively
"new" influence of technology has changed the way children
today think, process information, and interact in our
culture. If educators choose to ignore the fact that change
is taking place, then the gap between students and teachers
will continue to grow. On the other hand, if educators
choose to try to understand the implications the influence
of technology may have, they can effectively adjust their
teaching approaches.
The contributing
authors are from both the United States and
Australia and comprise mostly university professors
of education with expertise in the areas of literacy,
English, writing, communication, technology, and cultural
and policy studies. The authors discuss the theoretical and
practical implications of various aspects of technology from
different perspectives. Sometimes these perspectives are
radically opposed, causing the text to be seemingly
inconsistent and lacking cohesion. For example,
understanding how to effectively guide students' learning
experiences on the Internet and specifically the World Wide
Web, is of great interest to teachers at all levels due to
the central role it will play in the future of today's
students. Several chapters in Page to Screen address
the use of the World Wide Web. In his chapter, Rhetorics
of the Web, Nicholas Burbles explores the need to reflect
on the way that links within hypertext environments require
the reader to "hyperread" the Web critically. He offers a
way to reflect upon how links work that can enhance our
capabilities of critically reading the Web and thus, "can
give readers an enormous opportunity for discovery and
synthesis" (p. 120). The chapter is very reader friendly
and provides the reader with a better understanding of how
Web links connect ideas and textual sources.
On the other hand,
Michael Joyce's chapter entitled, New
stories for new readers: Contour, coherence and constructive
hypertext, states that despite its possibilities, "much
of the promise of hypertext has been subverted within the
crass, commercialised, multimedia wasteland of the world
wide web, a name he deliberately represents in lower-case
letters" (pg. xxvii). This chapter is very difficult to read
and relies on the reader's understanding of works by authors
such as Rick Furuta, Cathy Marshall, Neil Postman, Newton
Minow and Nicolas Negroponte. Joyce also uses quite a few
satirical statements that also rely on the reader's prior
knowledge of works by other authors. For instance, when
referring to his attitude toward the Web, he states "I'm
not doing a 'half-Birkerts' from the high board, not
suggesting that we 'Stoll' the car and go back to the
future" (p. 169) requiring the reader to be familiar with
the authors Birkerts (1995) and Stoll (1995) who have
written critically of students' use of the Web. Without this
knowledge though, Joyce's statement is simply gibberish.
As a result,
instead of coming away from the book with a
better understanding of the implications technology has for
practice, one is seemingly more confused by contradictory
beliefs. As university educators of literacy and
practitioners of technology in the classroom, we were able
to attain a semblance of unity between the chapters and the
theme of the book. But, for those educators for whom the use of
technology in and out of the classroom is "new" and unknown,
this book may be confusing and frustrating. In this respect,
Page to Screen fails to provide an avenue for
communication among educators at any level with the exception of
those who are well versed in the rhetoric and research of
technology.
This is not to
say that some chapters do not provide insight
into the issues facing educators and the implications
technology has for literacy. The following is a brief
description of each section and a sampling of chapters in
the book.
The first
section discusses the "twenty-year history of the
field of literacy and technology studies which is
complicated by political, social, and cultural
articulations" (p. xxiv). Hawisher and Selfe trace the
research studies on word processing, hypertext, and
electronic networks in regards to composition. The authors
contend that very few studies have explored how computer use
"affects students' interactions with their cultural context
or their learning environment" (p. 5). Their conclusion
about the dearth of current research and the need for
appropriate questions and methodologies parallels the
findings of Kamil and Lane (1998) who state, "There is
relatively little systematic research focusing on well-defined
problems related to literacy and technology.
Problems related to technology and literacy need to become
more a part of mainstream literacy research, instead of
being considered secondary to more traditional strands of
research" (p. 324).
In section two,
Emerging Literacies, the focus is on
the new literacies that are evolving from the use of
technology. Kress explores the changes in semiotics in many
areas of public communication in his chapter entitled
"Visual and Verbal Modes of Representation in Electronically
Mediated Communication: The Potentials of New Forms of
Text." Kress purports that these changes "cannot be
adequately described and understood with current linguistic
theories" (p. 72). He also suggests that we question the
present semiotic theories and take into account the newer
use of visual forms of representation. Moran and Hawisher
investigate the use of electronic mail and compare it to
snail mail, telephone usage, and face-to-face communication.
They indicate that the majority of the people do not yet
have access to email due to technological or language
restrictions. The authors conclude that email access needs
to be increased dramatically. "Until it includes all voices
and cultures, its discourse will not be as diverse, rich,
and democratic as it should be and will not therefore be a
world that we willingly inhabit" (p. 99).
Section three,
The Problems and Possibilities of
Hypertext, explores the use and misuse of electronic
reading and writing. The editor, Ilana Snyder, reassesses
the use of hypertext and its implications for instruction
and learning. She indicates that although hypertext can be
used to enhance literacy in a changing instructional,
technological world, it can also promote more traditional
text study. Teachers who are not responsive to its use or
trained to effectively integrate it into their curriculum
can also impede the potential of hypertext. "Hypertext will
succeed or fail not by its own agency but by how people and
institutions use it" (p. 140).
The final section,
Changing the Cultures of Teaching and
Learning, explores the "rapidly altering sociocultural
settings in which education currently takes place" (p.
xxviii). These chapters specifically focus on computer
games. In "Children, Computers, and Life Online: Education
in a Cyber-world," Smith and Curtin maintain that
technological advances have changed today's young children
both cognitively and attitudinally in a way that greatly
impacts both general living and educational pedagogy. They
discuss the challenges for educators and implore them to
become involved in the current student literacy
requirements, such as critical thinking and metacognition
rather than to become immersed in an ideological battle over
the requirements for successful literacy acquisition and
student self-managed learning issues. Smith and Curtin
suggest that curriculum modifications might include more
authentic activities, which embrace student choice and
control via technological interaction. They do, however,
foresee much broader educational implications. "The ultimate
challenge, though, does not concern this particular teaching
method or that curriculum content, but the institution of
education itself" (p. 231). Beavis, in "Computer Games,
Culture, and Curriculum" extends Smith and Curtin's concerns
regarding the dichotomy between current educational
curriculum and students' life experiences in a rapidly
changing world. Beavis adds a set of literacies to the four
new literacies (multimedia authoring skills, multimedia
critical analysis, cyberspace exploration strategies, and
cyberspace navigational skills) that Lemke (1997) described.
It focuses on being able to read and interact with images,
which goes beyond critical analysis: "the capacity to
negotiate and deconstruct visual and verbal images" (p.
244). Beavis suggests that computer games can help to
bridge the gap between home and school learning at a time
when we need to "nurture and challenge young people so that
they can contribute actively to shaping the future as it
evolves" (p. 253).
Page to Screen
bravely broaches some important issues
that must be considered by educators in today's society.
Unfortunately, the lack of cohesion due to an occasional
overt difference in perspective and overall sense of
practical application will limit the audience of this book.
This is unfortunate, given the importance of the theme of
the book, which is the need for educators to consider the
implications technology has for today's children in order
for them to provide more relevant, meaningful and effective
instruction in the classroom.
References
Birkerts, S. (1995). The gutenberg elegies. New
York: Ballentine Books.
Kamil, M.L. & Lane, D.M. (1998). Researching the
relation between technology and literacy: An agenda for the
21st century. In D. Reinking, M. McKenna, L.D. Labbo, &
R.D. Keiffer (Eds.), A handbook of literacy and
technology: Transformations in a post-typographic world
(pp. 323-341). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Lemke, J. (1998). Metamedia literacy: Transforming
meaning and media. In D. Reinking, M. McKenna, L.D. Labbo,
& R.D. Keiffer (Eds.), A handbook of literacy and
technology: Transformations in a post-typographic world
(pp. 283-301). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum
Reinking, D., McKenna, M., Labbo, L.D. & Kieffer, R.D.
(Eds.). (1998). A handbook of literacy and technology:
Transformations in a post-typographic world. Mahwah, NJ:
Erlbaum.
Snyder, I. (1996). Hypertext: The electronic
labyrinth. Washington Square, NY: New York University
Press.
Stoll, C. (1995). Silicon snake oil: Second thoughts
on the information highway. New York: Doubleday.
About the Reviewers
Denise Johnson is an
Assistant Professor of reading education in the Department
of Curriculum and Instruction, College of Education,
University of Central Arkansas, Conway, Arkansas, USA
Lynn Romeo (email: lynnromeo@aol.com is an Assistant
Professor of literacy and chair of the Department of
Educational Leadership and Special Education, School of
Education, Monmouth University, West Long Branch, New
Jersey, USA.
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