Transliteracy
Encyclopedia
Transliteracy is 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. (PART 2007) The modern meaning of the term combines literacy with the prefix trans-, which means "across; through", so a transliterate person is one who is literate across multiple media.
and orality
through handwriting, print, TV and film to networked digital media
, the concept of transliteracy provides a cohesion of communication modes relevant to reading, writing, interpretation and interaction.
Awareness of transliteracy reminds us that fixed-type print is a very new and possibly short-lived phenomenon within the long and diverse history of communication platforms. According to the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, the word 'illiterate' dates back only to 1556, around 100 years after Gutenberg invented the printing press. Prior to this period more people could read than could write, but many more could do neither. Since the 16th century an increasing number have become fully literate, but today transliteracy is becoming more desirable than print-based literacy
.
The updated meaning of the term, in this case as the plural 'transliteracies', evolved at the Transcriptions Research Project directed by Professor Alan Liu in the Department of English at the University of California Santa Barbara. Liu later developed and formalised the Transliteracies Project, researching technological, social, and cultural practices of online reading, which launched in 2005. Based at UCSB, the Transliteracies Project includes scholars in the humanities
, social sciences
, and engineering
in the University of California system (and in the future other research programs). It will establish working groups to study online reading from different perspectives; bring those groups into conjunction behind a shared technology development initiative; publish research and demonstration software; and train graduate students working at the intersections of the humanistic, social, and technological disciplines.
Professor Sue Thomas
, of the Institute of Creative Technologies (IOCT) at De Montfort University
, Leicester
, UK, attended the First Transliteracies Conference at UCSB in July 2005, and subsequently founded the Production and Research in Transliteracy (PART) group with a focus on writing and production. At DMU, as at UCSB, transliteracy is increasingly seen as an enabling tool to support dialogue between researchers and practitioners from diverse disciplines. The PART group have organised a series of events at the IOCT including a Transliteracy Colloquium (15 May 2007); a Transliteracy Unconference (September 2007), and a Transliteracy Workshop (January 2008).
History
Transliteracy originally was a term 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. In modern parlance, though, we extend the act of transliteration and apply it to the increasingly wide range of communication platforms and tools at our disposal. From early signingManual communication
Manual communication systems use articulation of the hands to mediate a message between persons. Being expressed manually, they are received visually, and sometimes tactually...
and orality
Orality
Orality is thought and verbal expression in societies where the technologies of literacy are unfamiliar to most of the population. The study of orality is closely allied to the study of oral tradition...
through handwriting, print, TV and film to networked digital media
Digital media
Digital media is a form of electronic media where data is stored in digital form. It can refer to the technical aspect of storage and transmission Digital media is a form of electronic media where data is stored in digital (as opposed to analog) form. It can refer to the technical aspect of...
, the concept of transliteracy provides a cohesion of communication modes relevant to reading, writing, interpretation and interaction.
Awareness of transliteracy reminds us that fixed-type print is a very new and possibly short-lived phenomenon within the long and diverse history of communication platforms. According to the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, the word 'illiterate' dates back only to 1556, around 100 years after Gutenberg invented the printing press. Prior to this period more people could read than could write, but many more could do neither. Since the 16th century an increasing number have become fully literate, but today transliteracy is becoming more desirable than print-based literacy
Literacy
Literacy has traditionally been described as the ability to read for knowledge, write coherently and think critically about printed material.Literacy represents the lifelong, intellectual process of gaining meaning from print...
.
The updated meaning of the term, in this case as the plural 'transliteracies', evolved at the Transcriptions Research Project directed by Professor Alan Liu in the Department of English at the University of California Santa Barbara. Liu later developed and formalised the Transliteracies Project, researching technological, social, and cultural practices of online reading, which launched in 2005. Based at UCSB, the Transliteracies Project includes scholars in the humanities
Humanities
The humanities are academic disciplines that study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences....
, social sciences
Social sciences
Social science is the field of study concerned with society. "Social science" is commonly used as an umbrella term to refer to a plurality of fields outside of the natural sciences usually exclusive of the administrative or managerial sciences...
, and engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
in the University of California system (and in the future other research programs). It will establish working groups to study online reading from different perspectives; bring those groups into conjunction behind a shared technology development initiative; publish research and demonstration software; and train graduate students working at the intersections of the humanistic, social, and technological disciplines.
Professor Sue Thomas
Sue Thomas (author)
Sue Thomas is an author and Professor of New Media in the Faculty of Humanities and the Institute of Creative Technologies at De Montfort University, Leicester, UK...
, of the Institute of Creative Technologies (IOCT) at De Montfort University
De Montfort University
De Montfort University is a public research and teaching university situated in the medieval Old Town of Leicester, England, adjacent to the River Soar and the Leicester Castle Gardens...
, Leicester
Leicester
Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...
, UK, attended the First Transliteracies Conference at UCSB in July 2005, and subsequently founded the Production and Research in Transliteracy (PART) group with a focus on writing and production. At DMU, as at UCSB, transliteracy is increasingly seen as an enabling tool to support dialogue between researchers and practitioners from diverse disciplines. The PART group have organised a series of events at the IOCT including a Transliteracy Colloquium (15 May 2007); a Transliteracy Unconference (September 2007), and a Transliteracy Workshop (January 2008).
PART researchers
- Chris JosephChris Joseph (writer/artist)Chris Joseph is British/Canadian multimedia writer and artist who also creates work under the name 'babel'. He was born in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk and now lives in London, UK....
- Jess Laccetti
- Bruce Mason
- Simon Perril
- Kate PullingerKate PullingerKate Pullinger is a Canadian novelist and author of digital fiction currently lecturing at De Montfort University, England. She was born in Cranbrook, British Columbia, and went to high school on Vancouver Island. She dropped out of McGill University, Montreal after a year and a half and...
- Howard RheingoldHoward Rheingold-See also:* Collective intelligence* Information society* The WELL* Virtual community-External links:***** at TED conference** a 48MB Quicktime movie, hosted by the Internet Archive...
- Sue ThomasSue Thomas (author)Sue Thomas is an author and Professor of New Media in the Faculty of Humanities and the Institute of Creative Technologies at De Montfort University, Leicester, UK...
External links
- Postliteracy.org
- Production and Research in Transliteracy (PART)
- Tags Networks Narrative research project (TNN)
- Institute of Creative Technologies (IOCT)
- Hugill, A. (2008) The Digital Musician. New York: Routledge. pp. 122–123
- Mason, B. & Thomas, S., 2007. A Million Penguins, IOCT
- Thomas, S. et al., 2007. Transliteracy: Crossing Divides. First Monday, 12(12)
- Thomas, S., 2005. Del.icio.us way to talk. Times Higher Education
- Thomas, S. 2005 Transliteracy: Reading in the Digital Age, Newsletter 9, December 2005, English Subject Centre
- Transliteracies Project
- Transcriptions Research Project
- Professor Alan Liu
- Conference, UCSB, July 2005
- Not to be confused with Transliterature — term coined and trademarked by Ted Nelson. According to Nelson’s website, '"Transliterature" is our name for a proposed new universal genre intended to unify electronic documents and media, erasing format boundaries and easing the copyright problem.'
- Libraries and Transliteracy Blog: Information on all literacies for all types of libraries and librarians.