"Play, Performance, Simulation, Appropriation, Multitasking, Distributed Cognition,
Collective Intelligence, Judgement, Trans-media Navigation, Networking, Negotiation,
Art, Speaking, Presenting, Formatting, & Storytelling...." (Jenkins, 2008)
As an English teacher should I be outraged at the lack of ability in my students when they turn in a paper filled with text-speak? Or should we look at the change in communication as another version of American English? I took Middle English in college and was enthralled by the mixture of German, French, and Latin which evolved into British English and then into American English. The Brits say our version of English is lazy. Is it lazy or actually more efficient and expressive? Creole, Pidgin, Ebonics, TextSpeak. Remember BYOB parties out in BFE on the other side of town, and BFF written in yearbooks? TextSpeak started nearly three decades ago and now SMS101 is being proposed as a subject in schools and the dialect is newly accepted on tests in New Zealand schools.
The Urban Dictionary has this to say: "The most difficult thing about learning textspeak is developing a sense of nuance. Since it is impossible to use body language, voice inflection, pitch or tone nor can you make eye contact, other compensatory measures have been taken to fill in these communicative gaps. Typing in all capitals is considered shouting and using quotes is giving emphasis to a particular word. Going through the effort to actually type an entire perfect sentence usually indicates that the writer considers the thought to be an important one and most people do pay better attention to these."
So in thinking of Media Literacy as a whole of the parts listed above, why not make it faster and more efficient. We're reading magazines and journals on mobile phones and books on our Kindle devices. Perhaps text speak is the key to our next level of literacy?
"2mrw & 2mrw & 2mrw
crEpz n dis pety plAs frm dA 2 dA
2 d lst silabl of rcrdd tIm
& al our ystdAz hv lItd f%lz
d way 2 dsty def
...tis a tAl tld by an ejit, ful of snd & fury
sgnfyn nutin."
"To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow
Creeps in this petty place from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. ...it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing."
(Macbeth, Act Five, Scene Five)
Perhaps some feel that having Facebook, Ning, MySpace, SecondLife, and Twitter along with a handful of other Web2.0 tools (operative word being tools) have no place in the classroom. But how will we be able to instruct the next generation completely without using these tools as simulators. By doing so we teach them how to grow and adapt within our media-rich environment. Pilots go through hours of instruction with modules of training patterns in a virtual environment, as do the military, in preparation for leading and collaborating when a real life situation occurs. Shouldn't our students be doing the same?
Resources:
Edutopia
http://www.edutopia.org/poll-text-messaging-writing-skills
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/sep/16/academicexperts.languages
Jenkins, H., (2008) Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century. http://digitallearning.macfound.org/atf/cf/%7B7E45C7E0-A3E0-4B89-AC9C-E807E1B0AE4E%7D/JENKINS_WHITE_PAPER.PDF
NetLingo
http://www.netlingo.com/acronyms.php
Urban Dictionary
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=text+speak
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