Week 7: Transliteracy

This week our theme is transliteracy. Along with the readings noted below, you may want to peruse what Professor Sue Thomas and last term's students discussed and wrote about the idea of transliteracy. Just search last term's blog for the tag "transliteracy."

Week 7: Transliteracy	Required and Recommended Readings
A background to transliteracy based on the founding article (“Transliteracy: Crossing Divides) and examples of transliteracy in practise.	n  Sue Thomas, Chris Joseph, Jessica Laccetti et al.,“Transliteracy: Crossing Divides,” Sue Thomas, “Nature of Transliteracy.” n  #transliteracy on twitter n  The Transliteracy Research Group blog, http://transliteracyresearch.wordpress.com/

“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.”

The word “transliteracy” is derived from the verb “to transliterate,” meaning to write or print a letter or word using the closest corresponding letters of a different alphabet or language. 

The idea of transliteracy is really about promoting a unifying ecology. As Thomas explains, 

“The concept of transliteracy calls for a change of perspective away from the battles over print versus digital, and a move instead towards a unifying ecology not just of media, but of all literacies relevant to reading, writing, interaction and culture, both past and present.

 It is an opportunity to cross some hitherto quite difficult divides.” 

Transliteracy asks key questions about communication:

1. How were people remembering and communicating for the thousands of years before writing?
2. Where are the similarities with the way we communicate today?
3. Has our addiction to print made us forget skills we had before?
4. Can digital media reconnect us with those skills again?