TRANSLITERATE SPACES

15 March 2013 Transliteracy from Cradle to Career SUNY Empire State College Center

for Distance Learning

Professor Sue ThomasDe Montfort University

www.suethomas.net

Past, present & future

Photo: Jess Laccetti

PASTTransliteracy Colloquium 2007

http://www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2060/1908

What is transliteracy?

“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”

Thomas, S. Joseph, C. Laccetti, J. Mason, B. Mills, S. Perril, S. and Pullinger, K. "Transliteracy: Crossing divides" First Monday [Online], Volume 12

Number 12 (12 December 2007)

Transliteracy was born from a problem

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFAWR6hzZek&list=PL925763F45FF1820

1&index=7&feature=plpp_video

Origins 1: Online Writing, trAce, 1995-2005

trAce Online Writing CentreNottingham Trent Universityhttp://tracearchive.ntu.ac.uk

Origins 2: Online Reading, UCSB 2005

Research in the Technological, Social, and Cultural Practices of Online Reading,

Transliteracies Project, University of California at Santa Barbara

Origins 3: TRG @ DMU 2006

Transliteracy Research Group (TRG)Institute of Creative Technologies

De Montfort Universitywww.transliteracy.com

So many questions about literacy...

There’s more to literacy than readingChauvet Horses approx 32,000 years old Karaja Indians, Brazil, 2005

There’s more to literacy than writing

Socrates c. 370 BC

Writing is an aid “not to memory, but to reminiscence” providing “not truth, but only the semblance of truth.”

Computer gamersc. 2005

Http://www.holycanoli.com/images/340_gamers.jpg

Many theories

“Part of the confusion about media convergence stems from the fact that when people talk about it, they’re actually describing at least five processes” (Henry Jenkins, 2001)

- technological- economic- social or organic- cultural- global

WWW.TRANSLITERACY.COM

Transliteracy is a unifying concept

• Its focus is on interpretation via practice and production

• Its interest in lived experience, history, context and culture

• Convergent• Transdisciplinary• Holistic • Networked

10 April 2023

Professor Sue Thomas | De Montfort University

http://www.suethomas.net

10 April 2023

Professor Sue Thomas | De Montfort University

http://www.suethomas.net

Transliteracy in the network

PRESENT

Who is working on transliteracy?

At the 2010 Transliteracy Conference, De Montfort University, topics included:

Ethnography, reading practices, fiction, convergence, digital art, geography, music,

comics, games, interactive graphics, remote audiences, film adaptations, the networked

book, critical theory and interactive fiction......

10 April 2023

Professor Sue Thomas | De Montfort University

http://www.suethomas.net

At www.transliteracy.com

The transliteracy conversation is happening on Twitter

In libraries

In future forecasting...

Africa

• Sukai Bojang How New Media and Mobiles can promote Storytelling and Literacy in Community Multi-media Centres especially in Senegal and The Gambia

• Anietie Isong New Writing, New Media: Emerging African Writers and the Internet

China

India

France

• Séminaire international « Translittératies : enjeux de citoyenneté et de créativité »ENS-Cachan et Université Sorbonne nouvelle7-9 Novembre 2012Avec le parrainage de l’UNESCO et de la Commission Nationale Française auprès de l’UNESCO

And, of course, the USA

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/Cell_Culture_in_a_tiny_Petri_dish.jpg

Cultivating a transliterate space

http://youtu.be/bh0xYkuCLL8

Amplified Leicester 2009-10

• MODE: Fortnightly f2f meetings for 6 months supported by online. Personal socme training.

• PLUSES: Strong personal bonds; NVC opportunities; high creativity & innovation; lasting community identity

• NEGATIVES: regular f2f made it easy for some to drop out of online.

DMU Transdisciplinary Common Room 2012-3

• MODE: Meeting rooms & kitchen for socialising & study. Card entry. Wireless. Regular meetings + drop-in. Blog and email list.

• PLUSES: Attractive to colleagues wanting to meet others from different faculties; very relaxed & non-corporate.

• NEGATIVES : Requires lot of management; needs group ownership; expensive.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/Cell_Culture_in_a_tiny_Petri_dish.jpg

A transliterate space• Online , offline or both• Flexible, social, personal• Access to tools, both digital

& analogue• Encourages & supports

collaboration, skills exchange• Welcomes diverse ideas,

disciplines & people• The space is attractive &

comfortable• Has a curator/manager

http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4019/4602927398_c376a356a0_z.jpg

Challenges of a transliterate space

• FLEXIBILITY can be difficult • COMPLEXITY: participants

need to understand the ethos

• RESISTANCE: participants should want to be there

• ANXIETY: don’t worry if you don’t have all the skills – cooperation is key

• FUNDERS may not get what you are trying to create, but hopefully they will understand the results

Planning your transliterate space

• Should it be online, offline, or both?

• Digital tools• Analogue tools• Indoors/outdoors• Collaboration/solo spaces• Private/public• Which disciplines?• Distinctive & different

because you’re inviting people to behave differently

• Aware of the future...

FUTURE

What is cyberspace like?

Metaphors of nature in cyberspace

Biophilia “The innate tendency to focus on life and lifelike processes”

Edward O Wilson 1984

Biophilia Research

Experimental Psychology (Kaplans)Social Ecology (Kellert)

Behavioural Science (Ulrich)Biology (Wilson)Zoology (Orians)

‘Biophilia’, Bjork, 2011

TechnobiophiliaThe innate tendency to focus on life and lifelike

processes as they appear in technology

Restorative benefits of nature

http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/218/8/0/yaoi__world_of_warcraft_by_yuhsukechiohara-d45m7re.jpg

Virtual nature

Biophilia soothes our connected lives

Howard Rheingold’s outdoor office

‘Digital Break’, Paris

Walden: A Game (USC)

http://youtu.be/-FPfRHaXl7E

Flower (Sony PS3)

50 Things... (National Trust)

The real voyage of discovery consists not in making new

landscapes but in having new eyes. (Marcel Proust)

http://www.landscape-photo.net/albums/userpics/10001/normal_Rays-of-the-sun-

over-a-slightly-hazy-forest-road.jpg

Thank you

15 March 2013 Transliteracy from Cradle to Career

SUNY Empire State College Center for Distance Learning

Professor Sue ThomasDe Montfort University

www.suethomas.netwww.technobiophilia.com