Why Transliteracy?

Tom IpriMedia Arts and Design LibrarianDrexel University, Philadelphia PA

 Smartphone ownership among American adults has risen from 35% in 2011 to 46% in 2012

 74% of smartphone owners use their phone to get real-time location-based information 18% use a geosocial service to “check-in”

 The median teen text user sends 60 texts a day

 70% of cell phone users and 86% of smartphone users have:  Coordinated a meeting or get-together  Solved an unexpected problem  Decided whether to visit a business  Found info to settle an argument  Looked up sports scores  Got traffic or public transit info  Got help in an emergency situation

62% of the entire adult population

 Number of adults using Twitter every day has doubled since 2011 21% of Americans have read an e-book in the past year

 10% of Americans have donated to charity via text message 33% have made a banking transaction on their smartphone

 Of adults who use the Internet:  80% have looked online for information about health topics  34% have read someone else’s commentary or experience about health issues  25% have watched a video about health issues  24% have read reviews of drugs or medical treatments

 A bill circulating in NC would force scientists to estimate future sea levels on a linear path based on trends since 1900

 According to Symantec, users are 3x more likely to encounter malware on religious sites than porn sites

 According to the research group, The 4th Estate, men are quoted in the media nearly 5x more often than women in matters of abortion, birth control and Planned Parenthood

How do we understand and navigate theseunprecedented changes?How do we negotiate plentiful media optionsto create a reasonable picture of the world?

Media Arts and Design Liaison Librarian  Animation  Graphic Design  Architecture  Interior Design  Art and Art History  Music  Dance  Performing Arts  Digital Media  Photography  Fashion Design  Product Design  Film & Video  Game Art

 Head, Media and Computer Services, 2007- 2011, University of Nevada, Las Vegas Media Librarian, 2000-2007, La Salle University

 Origins are not from  Different the library world interpretations even among us Very new and working definitions are still evolving

 Cross-disciplinary Transliteracies Project group, headed by Alan Liu, Department of English UC Santa Barbara Research in the Technical, Social, and Cultural Practices of Online Reading

1. The negotiation between technology and usage to create a material practice of reading  Blended realms of technology & human experience  Innovations in technology and usage2. The negotiation between individual and social practices of reading

3. The negotiation between media4. The negotiation between historical and contemporary reading practices  Inherited conventions and expectations  Recent inventions and improvisations

 Sue Thomas, professor of New Media at De Montfort U 2005: attended Translieracies conference and has since built upon their research

“the ability to read, write and interact across arange of platforms, tools and media fromsigning and orality through handwriting,print, TV, radio and films, to digital socialnetworks.”

 Transliterate: “to write or print a letter or word using the closest corresponding letters of a different alphabet or language.”

 Government agencies no longer issuing print forms Health insurance plan has website and you have an account Banks are sending alerts via text messaging Social media privacy setting are complex and constantly changing

“For many people all of the above are newexperiences. Experiences they can have withno training, no supervision and no support.”

Libraries and Transliteracy Blog, Feb 2010

 June 2010 LITA Interest Group approved Nov 2010, “Introducing Transliteracy: What Does It Mean to Academic Libraries?”

 June 2011 “Why Transliteracy?” presentation at ALA Annual with Bobbi Newman, Gretchen Caserotti & Lane Wilkinson

 What it means to be literate in the 21st Century by analyzing the relationship between people and technology, most specifically social networking, but it is fluid enough to not be tied to any particular technology. Focuses on the social uses of technology.

 Mapping meaning across different media, understanding ways various means of communication interact Understanding, not necessarily teaching, the skills necessary to move effortlessly from one medium to another Not about learning disparate literacies in isolation from one another but about the interaction among all these literacies

 Because it is technology independent, it can be seen as an umbrella term that accommodates many other “literacies” Sue Thomas: “a unifying ecology of not just media, but of all literacies relevant to reading, writing, interaction and culture”

 Not so much about skill sets as about outcomes Analytical/ pedagogical conundrum

 Are we looking at a skill set, and, if so, are those skills teachable? How does transliteracy relate to information literacy?

 Explores the participatory nature of new means of communicating  Social construction of knowledge  Breaks down barriers between academia and the wider community  Calls into question standard notions of what constitutes authority by emphasizing the benefits of knowledge sharing

 “Reframing Information Literacy as a Metaliteracy.” Thomas P. Mackey and Trudi E. Jacobson College & Research Libraries, Jan 2011

 “promotes critical thinking and collaboration in a digital age, providing a comprehensive framework to effectively participate in social media and online communities…

 …It is a unified construct that supports the acquisition, production, and sharing of knowledge in collaborative online communities.”

 “Standard definitions of information literacy are insufficient for the revolutionary social technologies currently prevalent online.”

 Are IL standards enough to support the growing research with how people currently communicate across various media, how they produce information in myriad forms and formats, and how they establish rapidly expanding social networks?

 Yes? No? Maybe?

 Should these standards be expanded to encompass these issues, or should transliteracy proponents adopt clear standards and define specific skills to supplement information literacy?

 Not only question previous assumptions of authority, it also calls into question the often assumed privilege of printed text

 ALA Committee on Literacy defines literacy as the ability to use “printed and written information to function in society, to achieve one’s goals, and to develop one’s knowledge and potential.”

 Not unique in questioning this bias Is unique in  Combining democratizing communication formats  Expressing no preference of one over the other  Emphasizing the social construction of meaning via diverse media

 What is important is not just transferring information but creating an information narrative that evolves over time and adds value Libraries can help add value for patrons by allowing patrons to contribute to the social construction of knowledge bases

 Because of the ways in which transliteracy questions authority and devalues hierarchical structures proponents tend to advocate for issues that help level the information playing field, such as ensuring net neutrality and bridging the digital divide

 So much of transliteracy overlaps concerns much at the heart of librarianship Librarians can incorporate these new ideas into the ways they assist patrons with accessing, understanding, and producing information

Tom IpriMedia Arts and Design LibrarianW.W. Hagerty LibraryDrexel UniversityPhiladelpia, PAthomasipri@gmail.comtomipri.net

 Statistics from: Pew Internet & American Life Project - http://www.pewinternet.org/ North Carolina considers outlawing accurate predictions of sea level rise - http://io9.com/5914378/north-carolina- considers-outlawing-accurate-predictions-of-sea-level- rise Unprotected Sects: http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/20 12/05/malware_and_computer_viruses_they_ve_left_porn _sites_for_religious_sites_.html

 Men Rule Media Coverage of Women’s News: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/05/31/men- rule-media-coverage-of-women-s-news.html

 smartphone show08 jontintinjordan http://www.flickr.com/photos/jontintinjordan/296580748 8/ Earth from Mars NASA Goddard Photo and Video http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/4542423536/ Texting woohoo_megoo http://www.flickr.com/photos/themegster/3363714747/

 eBook Reader goXunuReviews http://www.flickr.com/photos/43602175@N06/407001882 8/ Tiny Crashing Waves michaelnpatterson http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelnpatterson/504287 7045/ Bailey Surfs the Internet lakewentworth http://www.flickr.com/photos/roome/3470135915/

 Group of fifteen men posed in front of a large wall Powerhouse Museum Collection http://www.flickr.com/photos/powerhouse_museum/3310 075525/ Office View 1 Tom Ipri http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomspix/802360548/in/set -72157600800200347 Ancient Scrolls at the Shanghai Museum farflungistan http://www.flickr.com/photos/farflungistan/7180169864/

 Transliteracy Unconference Meg Pickard http://www.flickr.com/photos/meg/1383504812/ Transliteracies Project http://transliteracies.english.ucsb.edu/category/research- project Sue Thomas Runran http://www.flickr.com/photos/runran/2150561274/in/phot ostream/

 Transliteration http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transliteration Libraries Need to Focus on Transliteracy http://librarianbyday.net/2009/09/16/libraries-need-to-focus- on-transliteracy/ lita http://www.ala.org/lita/ Why Transliteracy Librarian by Day http://www.flickr.com/photos/librarianbyday/5869956201/

 Tantek Multitasking Thomas Hawk http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/3071055422/ Teaching Excellence ucentralarkansas http://www.flickr.com/photos/ucentralarkansas/4535060 043/ InfoLit Librarian by Day http://www.flickr.com/photos/librarianbyday/6746182269

 Question Mark Doug Caldwell http://www.flickr.com/photos/dougcaldwell/4214603256/ books Robert Couse-Baker http://www.flickr.com/photos/29233640@N07/6101573515 / High School Sucks beX out loud http://www.flickr.com/photos/bex_x_pi/3180576600/

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Why Transliteracy?

by Tom Ipri

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