The world of digital literature – a virtual ocean to wade through. Initially, I underestimated how much was out there, but my eyes have been pleasantly opened!
In simple terms, a good digital literature text is one that tells a story while engaging readers using multimodal features. Of course, it can be much more than that. Groth (2018) says that “there is no uniform approach to digital literature…this can be a strength (wow, digital literature can be almost anything) or a weakness (ugh, digital literature can be almost anything)” – I admit, at first, I was the latter. It overwhelmed me that there were minimal rules around defining digital literature (where are the rules?!); however, four weeks later I’d say I now sit firmly in the former “wow, digital literature can be almost anything!” camp.
Throughout researching and engaging with my chosen digital literature texts, I subconsciously created my own criteria – is it a form of good storytelling? Are students building empathy? Are they engaged with characters and their actions? Do they want to share the story with their friends or likeminded fans? Does it challenge and/or expand their reading skills? Does it even need to, or can it just be for pure entertainment? All these criteria can just as easily be applied when assessing a traditional book, which tells me that storytelling at its core is what readers want for themselves and teacher librarians want for their students – the format may even be irrelevant.
Digital literature texts serve the purpose of being a sign of the times. Whether we like it or not, the nature of reading is changing. If “reading is the process of constructing meaning from symbols” and “a book is a published collection of related pages or screens” (Lamb 2011), then digital literature is actually easier to define than I had thought. I think the word “digital” scares people, when really, we should be excited that our students want to engage in reading of any kind. The changing landscape of reading is upon us, and we as TLs need to keep up.
In comparison to print books, “pages aren’t just turned, they are clicked and pinched and swiped – movements that need to be learned” (Sadokierski, 2013). What this means for TLs is we need to make sure our students are digitally literate before they can engage effectively in digital literature. Even in the high school setting this is important – we assume teenagers are digital natives, but we know now that that it is entirely possible they are really just fluent in TikTok. They are not necessarily engaging with digital technologies in a meaningful way; with the introduction of multimedia and transmedia digital literature, we can change that. Then there are the students who are already a treasure-trove of digital literature recommendations, who are already one step ahead of us when it comes to the digital world and can show US where to find the “good stuff”.
Jabr (2103) asked if tactile experiences while reading matter more than we think? For me personally, yes. There’s nothing better than the smell of a new book, feeling pages turn in my fingers; I found the digital world lacked warmth I find in books. Yet none of us can discount the value of digital literature platforms in a digital age. If our job as TLs is to convince young people to read, then does it matter what platform they are reading on? If they are engaging with the beauty of stories, building empathy, embracing new vocabulary, and witnessing visually appealing content, then really we just need to assess digital literature on its merits the same way we do the content of a book.
I enjoyed exploring all three of my chosen digital literature. The Amnesty podcast was engaging, but difficult for me as I’ve never been particularly good at listening for long periods of time and their banter distracted me from the story. I could, however, see how this could be used in the classroom while looking at story structure/shared storytelling and could appreciate how it would interest some readers to feel involved in the story’s creating. I loved the fandom of the online comic Namesake and how readers engaged with each other (I only wish something like this had been around in Buffy’s hey day!). The one I enjoyed the most AND could see being easily incorporated into the classroom was The Boat – as a high school English teacher, I could immediately place this in a teaching situation across multiple subjects, even before I saw that bonus teacher resources were available. Interestingly, it was also very close to an actual book in style and structure – perhaps this is why I connected with it so much.
“The content is still the part of the reading experience that provides value for the learner” (Lamb, 2011) – this is what it comes down to. All three of the texts I reviewed have valuable content, in one way or another – how that content is used and appreciated is really up to the reader (or teacher) to decide.
REFERENCE LIST:
Groth, S. (2018, May 20). Still defining digital literature. The Writing Platform. http://thewritingplatform.com/2018/05/still-defining-digital-literature/
Jabr, F. (2013, April 11). The reading brain in the digital age: The science of paper versus screens. Scientific American. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/reading-paper-screens/
Lamb, A. (2011). Reading redefined for a transmedia universe. Learning and Leading with Technology, 39(3), 12 17. http://ezproxy.csu.edu.au/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/ login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=67371172&site=ehost-live
Sadokierski, Z. (2013, November 12). What is a book in the digital age? The Conversation. http://theconversation.com/what-is-a-book-in-the-digital-age-19071
assics. Written by Megan Lavey-Heaton and illustrated by Isabelle Melancon, the very fact this is a free and easily accessible text means it already has ‘pull’ for many students in the high school age group.