Transliteracy: 21st century literacy
It is clear that technology is creating a large change in the ways we communicate and get information within our culture. This great change affects not only individuals, but also the institutions that make information available,
Transliteracy: 21st century literacy
It is clear that technology is creating a large change in the ways we communicate and get information within our culture. This great change affects not only individuals, but also the institutions that make information available, such as libraries and universities. For a very long time, the essential modes of human communication remained unchanged. Having the ability to read, write, and speak more or less ensured that one possessed the necessary tools to communicate effectively within our culture. With the explosion of new technologies that affect the way in which we accomplish so many of our daily tasks, a communication divide is occurring between those who communicate across many platforms seamlessly and those who do not. While the behavior of transliteracy has been around for a long time, the study of it as a concept is new. Many reports and articles have been written about the need for transliterate behaviors to become the norm in order to keep lines of communication open and keep the exchange of information flowing. Researchers are also trying to understand how learning and comprehension are affected by this shift to a highly digital lifestyle. Librarians need to be invested in the spreading of transliteracy because it affects their ability to assist patrons and provide information. A new divide is emerging in the 21st century. It is no longer the divide between those who can read and those who cannot; it is now a divide between those who can access and understand digital information and those who cannot. The library has a role in bridging this new literacy divide.
What is transliteracy?
Transliteracy is defined by Sue Thomas, a professor of new media at De Monfort University, as “the capacity 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.” As a behavior, transliteracy is not a new phenomenon. However, the identification of transliteracy as a concept to be studied is a recent development, largely due to the new ways in which the Internet and other technologies allow for communication in ways that were not previously imagined. It is a broad term that encompasses and transcends many existing concepts. Some of these existing concepts include media literacy and digital literacy, which are contained within the definition of transliteracy.
The term transliteracy comes from the verb “transliterate,” which is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “replacing (letters or characters of one language) by those of another used to represent the same sounds; to write (a word, etc.) in the characters of another alphabet.” This is an apt definition for the ways in which new technologies are replacing the traditional ways and means of communicating and learning.
It is no longer enough to only be able to read and write in order to communicate effectively. Individuals need to be able to access and understand digital information across many different and continually-evolving platforms in addition to the traditional formats we are all accustomed to. Transliteracy is concerned with the social meaning of literacy and the participatory nature of new means of communicating. Additionally, transliteracy is unique in combining and democratizing communication formats, expressing no partiality for one over another, while stressing the social construction of meaning via diverse media. However, it should be noted that no group has yet to publish a definition of what specific skills are necessary to be transliterate.
Transliteracy and the library
Transliteracy is a relatively new term, and while many library professionals may not be aware of the term per se, it does not mean that librarians are not participating in transliterate practices during daily interaction with patrons. While the concept of tra