Perhaps one of the most significant distinguishing features of the new literacies is the emphasis on “doing, making, and sharing” (Alverman, 2010). While schools emphasize the consumption of knowledge and “practicing teacher-taught strategies, often driven by packaged curriculum and textbooks,” inside affinity spaces students are creating the strategies they need to get things done and achieve their goals. This, of course, reflects our own lives outside of school where our learning is primarily driven by functional needs and interests. A Note About Metaliteracy and Transliteracy One needs only tos venture into an airport or subway station to understand that the world of literacy is transforming before our eyes. Yes, we can spot passengers buried in books, magazines, and newspapers—but many will be accessing them via a range of digital devices. The emergence of social media and online collaborative communities is driving the evolution of “metaliteracy” and “transliteracy” characterized by transience, fluidity, and creative collaboration, as well as “the ability to read, write, and interact across a range of platforms, tools, and media” (Thomas et al., 2007). In other words, “information is not a static object that is simply accessed and retrieved. It is a dynamic entity that is produced and shared collaboratively with innovative Web 2.0 technologies.” (Mackey and Jacobson, 2011). Nowhere has this been more evident than in the multidimensional online community that thrives around the 39 Clues phenomenon. As Mike Bentz, a fourth- and fifth-grade teacher from Solana Beach, CA, writes, “The 39 Clues unlocked an entire world of reading and research for my students. They started a wiki and blog dedicated to the series where they shared predictions and theories, compiled facts they researched about different related topics, and built an online community of learners centered around researching many different aspects of the books.” As Bentz notes, his students were so engaged that he was afraid they were not getting enough sleep. He writes, “I often had to tell them to stop blogging so frequently—they were researching late into the night during the week, all on their own!”
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NEW LITERACIES: FAN-CREATED LITERARY CONTENT
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