After a decade of blogging, we’re shifting how and where we share, moving to a new space better suited to curation and conversation, and announcing a forthcoming book of collected posts whose proceeds will support learning initiatives.
Reflections on how digital tools like the iPad, Instapaper, Kindle, and interactive magazine apps are transforming reading from passive consumption into a more participatory, connected, and collaborative experience.
So, let me say at the outset that I love books. All my life, I’ve been a reader of books. I have at least 1,000 of them in my home (on shelves, in stacks on the floor, in boxes in the basement.) I have books of every type; novels, non-fiction, story books, picture books and … Read more
{ "title": "No Choice", "content_html": "<p>(Cross posted to the PLP Network blog)</p>\n\n<p>One of our favorite things that Sheryl says when she talks about the challenges that schools face right now is that this generation of kids in our schools is the first not to have a choice about technology. Most of us grew up in … Read more
A reflection on how tools like Diigo and emerging e-book platforms are transforming reading from a solitary act into a social, conversational experience, and what that means for new literacies.
A study on the “participation divide” in digital content creation suggests that online publishing remains unequally distributed by social background, creating a two-tiered system of contributors and consumers—and underscoring the need to teach these technologies in all classrooms, especially in lower socio-economic areas.
So the unending debate over whether or not reading on the Internet is “really” reading gets played out once again in this New York Times piece titled “Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading?” It’s the story of a “typical” family where the kids are online some six hours a day reading and writing at FanFiction.net among … Read more
Reflections on Jeff Jarvis’s take on blogging ethics, the power of linking and quoting, and how these practices shape journalism, teaching, and expectations for non-fiction writing.
Nick Carr has a highly thought provoking piece in the Atlantic this month titled “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” that raises some challenging questions about what the Web is doing to our reading skills and to our intellects. As with many of these types of pieces, it’s really hard not to read this through the … Read more
We’ve been wondering how long it will take until having a positive digital footprint becomes an expectation rather than an exception—and we’re already reserving domains so our kids can shape the story people find when they’re Googled.