I thought the Baron article was really interesting. I have never really thought about how technology has developed into everyday life, sometimes it just seems so self-explanatory now that it’s hard to comprehend that it was ever a revolutionary innovation. Since the beginning of class this quarter my definition of literacy has changed dramatically. At first, I only understood the simple definition of literacy as being able to read and write as well as understand the meaning of the words. Now, as class has progressed, I have realized that literacy can mean a multitude of things: from being literate in a new language to computer literacy.
The four stages of literacy development stated by Baron (invention, function, accessibility, and authentication) seemed to directly apply to class today; more specifically, this particular website. For instance, the professor had to create this website and develop its purpose–blog posts and other information for this class. He also gave us access to it (links and passwords). We will develop a sound sense of validity/authenticity as we began to use it more as it becomes part of our daily life for the next seven weeks.
It was interesting to read how something so commonplace in our lives was a revolutionary development; and also how literacy can depend on what medium you are using i.e. different websites, books, apps, etc.. I guess to some it all up, we seem to take our literacy of computers, cellphones and even pencils for granted.
