Modern Literacy: New Media's Gift to Nonfiction, the Self, and the Community

• Main Author: Carlton, Tracey S.
• Format: Others
• Published: VCU Scholars Compass 2007
• Subjects: interactive publication; literacy; communication; teaching; Arts and Humanities; English Language and Literature
• Online Access: http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/1336; http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2335&context=etd

Integrating new-media nonfiction into secondary-level English provides an efficient and effective resource in teaching modern literacy, which requires an understanding of the participatory element of communication today. Messages can be consumed and created among multimodalities and multimedia. The form and interactivity of a publication can affect its interpretation. Technology extends students' publishing capabilities and their reach to a bounty of discourse communities.This thesis, which is available in conventional hard copy and electronic forms, explores the definitions of New Media and modern literacy, how teachers can adopt the use of New Media nonfiction, and the resources needed to do so. A case study stands as a practical example. The Participatory Element Cone measures a publication's interactivity and sensory stimulation. The thesis is broken into modules, rather than chapters, so that the reader can choose to follow it linearly or to use the paper more as a manual and enter it at any point.