Pencils to Pixels

        According to the article "From Pencils to Pixels" the computer is the gateway to literacy. This is somewhat true. Although most people use the computer to read and write, it can also be the reason people become illiterate. Computers can cause people to stop thinking for themselves. They become less analytical and lazy readers. Writing is a form of technology because it can be used to accomplish goals, organize data and ideas, and communicate. The pencil is a form of technology because it is a tool. In Plato's opinion, writing things down was bad for humans because it caused people's memory to be inadequate. He also argued that the written word was not interactive. Written word is good because one can really take time and think about what message they want to send. It also is a good because everything can be recorded and saved. Writing can be bad because it can cause people to be less interactive and most of the time people do not think before they speak. He may have only supported it because his family was in the pencil making business. He did not say much about pencils, however, he did make it known that he was not a fan of inventions such as the telegraph. When he made the best pencil he could make he felt that there was no point in trying to improve it any more. The telephone changed the way people talked. This was mainly because people could not speak in private or use body language to communicate with one another. However, it allowed people to talk more often. Technology made it easier to commit fraud but at the same time it made it easier to detect fraudulence. New technology can be scary and it can change the way we do things. Though we may be skeptical, we have to give technology a chance or else there will be no progress. The technology that scares us may end up being the very thing that changes the world for the better. That may not always be the case but we have to give it a try and hope for the best. This article describes literacy as the ability to adapt to, use, and understand technological advancements.

Yancey

        There are some challenges and/or opportunities of writing in the 21st century. One is developing new models of writing. Designing a new curriculum supporting these models and creating models for teaching that curriculum are challenges as well. Writing is a technology that exists in spite of the challenges faced such as being a woman, being black, being young, and cultures that hate writing.
        Yancey's main argument is that not only do we need to write more often but more freely as well. We also need to come up with new, more interesting ways to teach people to write more and enjoy doing it. Writing, especially when writing freely, allows people to do whatever they want. It requires a lot of hard work and innovation. However, reading can be a lot more pleasant. I find them both unpleasant. Writing is associated with testing and essays. Most people don't enjoy either of these things. It is also associated with long hours of brainstorming, hard work, and writer's block. Process writing is the process in which authors follow to write papers. Some parts of this process are drafting, peer review, editing, and publishing.
        Self sponsored writing is a writing that belongs to the writer instead of an institution. When I write posts on Facebook or Twitter I am creating a self sponsored writing. Other than that, I do not do any self sponsored writing. The 21st century is the Age of Composition because everybody is doing it. Most people create blog posts, or compose things on social networks. It is the Age of literacy because the definition of literacy has changed. Literacy has a broader definition and mostly everyone meets the requirements. The definition of literacy has changed, therefore the way we teach people to be literate should change as well. Much like some of the articles we have read, literacy is not only defined as the ability to read and write. It is also defined as the ability to interpret, analyze, and apply.

cognitive surplus

        The article is about spare time people have and the way it should be used. When people have spare time on their hands they should do something that requires thinking. When this happens it is called cognitive surplus. Literacy in this article is being defined as having the ability to understand things without having to dig below the surface of what something actually means. Literacy is not said to be the ability to dig deep and analyze the literal meaning. People should be able to know the information and how to use it as well.
        This article is important because it stresses the importance of using our time wisely. In our spare time we should exercise our mind and be creative. We should try to come up with new ideas and solutions to problems we are facing.
        Repetition:

• fad
• cognitive surplus
• transform society
• at least they're doing something
• looking for the mouse

        Strands of similarities:

• taking advantage of the surplus
• better to do something rather than nothing

        Anomalies

• information society knows without really knowing it

The repetition of "at least they're doing something" is very important because it goes back to cognitive surplus and what that means. The phrases "at least they're doing something", cognitive surplus, and "better to do something rather than nothing" actually tie in together and are equal in importance. They all give the same message in different ways which lets us know the point the writer was trying to get across.

Digital Intimacy

        Nowadays social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter allow us to build and keep relationships with people. These relationships can be strong or weak. They can also be built or maintained with friends, family, or even "strangers". Social media sites allow you to have an appropriate relationship with people you have never physically met.
        When Mark Zuckerberg created the news feed his intentions were to make it easier for users to keep up with their friends' lives. They would no longer have to search each friend and browse their accounts. It also allowed them to find out about things going on in their friends' lives before it became old news. Although this was a breakthrough for Facebook, it affected the literacy of the users in a negative way. It goes back to the article "Is Google Making Us Stupid", people no longer had to think for themselves. They did not have to search for information or even think about how to find it. The news feed put everything right at their fingertips.
        Ambient awareness is like getting to know someone through the subtle things they do or say. Each little thing they do makes you more familiar with them and their everyday lives. These things are not directed at you they are just noticed by you. They are like tiny puzzle pieces that end up revealing who the person is. Even though these puzzle piece are tiny they are all important. When something is missing you will definitely notice. I experience ambient awareness in instances where something may be wrong with one of my followers and I will know because they will tweet less or not at all. An ambient update is an immediate update of a person's life taken directly from social media. For example, you're sitting at home on your computer and your friend posts about her new boyfriend and their first date. I would not say there is a downfall of ambient awareness but it definitely changes the way people communicate. People no longer have to ask "How have you been?" or "How was your weekend?" because they already know. Ambient awareness allows people to jump right into conversations about specific things or events. They don't have to wonder what to talk about they simply start talking.
        People's reading is getting lazy and becoming less significant. Because of this, the fact that social media posts are skimmable is a good thing for the social network itself. However, it is a bad thing for the literacy of the people. While reading we skip over things and when we do read them we simply decode the information and move on. We no longer analyze or look for deeper meanings in the things we read which is steadily decreasing our literacy.
        Our relationships with our friends or followers on social networks are not as personal or deep as our actual friends. This is why the relationship is referred to as "weak ties" and the friends or followers are referred to as acquaintances. These relationships help us because they allow us to have more relationships at one time.
        People that are 20-something feel pressured to stay connected to Facebook for a couple of reasons. One, they want to keep up with everything that is going on with everyone. They want to be up to date on the gossip instead of being the last to hear about things. Also, 20-something year olds want to make sure that they are not the topic of negative conversations and posts. 
        This article describes literacy in the 21st century as a way of understanding people through the subtle things they do and their posts on social media websites. It means using posts as clues to who a person is. This added to my definition of literacy.