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Clive Thompson on the New Literac

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WIRED MAGA INE: 17.09

Clive Thompson on the New Literac

By Cl i v e Th om pson 08.24.09

I ll a ion: Mad Be g As t h e sch ool ea r begi n s, be ready to h ear pu n di ts fretti n g on ce agai n abou t h ow ki ds today can 't wri te an d tech n ol ogy i s to bl am e. Facebook en cou rages n arci ssi sti c bl abberi n g, PRE IO S: Jargon Watch : Booi n g, Green Trade v i deo an d PowerPoi n t h av e repl aced carefu l l y crafted essay s, an d texti n g h as deh y drated War, Deci si on En gi n e l an gu age i n to "bl eak, bal d, sad sh orth an d" (as Un i v ersi ty Col l ege of Lon don En gl i sh professor Joh n Su th erl an d h as m oan ed). A n age of i l l i teracy i s at h an d, ri gh t? A A n drea Lu n sford i sn 't so su re. Lu n sford i s a professor of wri ti n g an d rh etori c at Stan ford Un i v ersi ty , wh ere sh e h as organ i zed a m am m oth project cal l ed th e Stan ford Stu dy of Wri ti n g to scru ti n i ze col l ege stu den ts' prose. From 2001 to 2006, sh e col l ected 14,672 stu den t wri ti n g sam pl es ev ery th i n g from i n -cl ass assi gn m en ts, form al essay s, an d jou rn al en tri es to em ai l s, bl og posts, an d ch at sessi on s. Her con cl u si on s are sti rri n g. "I th i n k we're i n th e m i dst of a l i teracy rev ol u ti on th e l i kes of wh i ch we h av en 't seen si n ce Greek ci v i l i zati on ," sh e say s. For Lu n sford, tech n ol ogy i sn 't ki l l i n g ou r abi l i ty to wri te. It's rev i v i n g i t an d pu sh i n g ou r l i teracy i n bol d n ew di recti on s. Th e fi rst th i n g sh e fou n d i s th at y ou n g peopl e today wri te far m ore th an an y gen erati on before th em . Th at's becau se so m u ch soci al i zi n g takes pl ace on l i n e, an d i t al m ost al way s i n v ol v es text. Of al l th e wri ti n g th at th e Stan ford stu den ts di d, a stu n n i n g 38 percen t of i t took pl ace ou t of th e cl assroom l i fe wri ti n g, as Lu n sford cal l s i t. Th ose Twi tter u pdates an d l i sts of 25 th i n gs abou t y ou rsel f add u p. It's al m ost h ard to rem em ber h ow bi g a paradi gm sh i ft th i s i s. Before th e In tern et cam e al on g, m ost A m eri can s n ev er wrote an y th i n g, ev er, th at wasn 't a sch ool assi gn m en t. Un l ess th ey got a job th at requ i red produ ci n g text (l i ke i n l aw, adv erti si n g, or m edi a), th ey 'd l eav e sch ool an d v i rtu al l y n ev er con stru ct a paragraph agai n . Bu t i s th i s expl osi on of prose good, on a tech n i cal l ev el ? Y es. Lu n sford's team fou n d th at th e stu den ts were rem arkabl y adept at wh at rh etori ci an s cal l kai o assessi n g th ei r au di en ce an d adapti n g th ei r ton e an d tech n i qu e to best get th ei r poi n t across. Th e m odern worl d of on l i n e wri ti n g, parti cu l arl y i n ch at an d on di scu ssi on th reads, i s con v ersati on al an d pu bl i c, wh i ch m akes i t cl oser to th e Greek tradi ti on of argu m en t th an th e asy n ch ron ou s l etter an d essay wri ti n g of 50 y ears ago. Th e fact th at stu den ts today al m ost al way s wri te for an au di en ce (som eth i n g v i rtu al l y n o on e i n m y gen erati on di d) gi v es th em a di fferen t sen se of wh at con sti tu tes good wri ti n g. In i n terv i ews, th ey defi n ed good prose as som eth i n g th at h ad an effect on th e worl d. For th em , wri ti n g i s abou t persu adi n g an d organ i zi n g an d debati n g, ev en i f i t's ov er som eth i n g as qu oti di an as wh at m ov i e to go see. Th e Stan ford stu den ts were al m ost al way s l ess en th u si asti c abou t th ei r i n -cl ass wri ti n g becau se i t h ad n o au di en ce bu t th e professor: It di dn 't serv e an y pu rpose oth er th an to get th em a grade. A s for th ose texti n g sh ort-form s an d sm i l ey s defi l i n g e io academ i c wri ti n g? A n oth er m y th . Wh en Lu n sford exam i n ed th e work of fi rst-y ear stu den ts, sh e di dn 't fi n d a si n gl e exam pl e of texti n g speak i n an academ i c paper. Of cou rse, good teach i n g i s al way s goi n g to be cru ci al , as i s th e m asteri n g of form al academ i c prose. Bu t i t's al so becom i n g cl ear th at on l i n e m edi a are pu sh i n g l i teracy i n to cool di recti on s. Th e brev i ty of texti n g an d statu s u pdati n g teach es y ou n g peopl e to depl oy h ai ku -l i ke con ci si on . A t th e sam e ti m e, th e prol i ferati on of n ew form s of on l i n e pop-cu l tu ral exegesi s from sprawl i n g TV -sh ow recaps to 15,000-word v i deogam e wal kth rou gh s h as gi v en th em a ch an ce to wri te en orm ou sl y l on g an d com pl ex pi eces of prose, often wh i l e worki n g col l aborati v el y wi th oth ers. We th i n k of wri ti n g as ei th er good or bad. Wh at today 's y ou n g peopl e kn ow i s th at kn owi n g wh o y ou 're wri ti n g for an d wh y y ou 're wri ti n g m i gh t be th e m ost cru ci al factor of al l .

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