Reviews for Writing Technology Studies on the Materiality of Literacy

The average rating for Writing Technology Studies on the Materiality of Literacy based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-03-02 00:00:00 Nichael Barnett Hard to believe this book is over ten years old, as her questions, connections, and conclusions are still incredibly fresh. Haas asks hard questions of the ways we think technologies interact with literacy, cognition, and culture. This is a useful text, in that it goes beyond examinations of particular and proprietary technologies (as we so often see today) and into the theoretical issues beneath. The list of useful questions she asks (and answers) is too long to list, but here are a few of the most compelling: - What does it mean for language to become material? - What is the effect of writing on human thinking and culture? - When and how does technology change writing; when does it not? What are the implications of both of these? - How have other theories attempted to answer (or dismissed) these questions? - What technological myths, ideologies, and discourses impede studies of technology and literacy? - What does a useful historical study of technology look like? What does it mean to historicize writing technology? -How is it that material tools can shape mental processes? -What is the relationship of material tools to the culture in which they are embedded? -What should the future of technology studies look like? In terms of broad examinations of writing technology, Haas' study can't be skipped. Overall, she's firmly grounded in Vygotsky's notion of mediation and psychological systems and in theories of embodied practice. Her basic claim--that "through the embodied actions of human beings, cultural tools and cognitive activities construct one another"--seems simple, but has a broad range of implications not only for theory, but also for empirical study, technological design, literacy discourse, and practice.

Review # 2 was written on 2011-08-03 00:00:00 Vasaf Ch. I really like this book. When I picked it up, I didn’t think it would have anything to do with my research interests—I like new media studies, but I’ve always been a little skeptical and, honestly, I feel like it’s “not my job.” This is the perfect book for people of my mindframe: people who are wary of Lanham’s enthusiasm, but aren’t complete Luddites. More than just being a very thought-provoking book (I can’t help but connect this with Carr’s The Shallows and Is Google Making Us Stupid?—although perhaps less alarmist), this book demonstrates the style and order of writing I’d love to do: starts with a lot of theoretical nuances, nice humor (138),moves through well-designed and eclectic studies (experiments and textual coding and discourse analysis), creates opposition (but not antagonism) with traditional sources… this is just paragon of what composition studies should look like. I would love to see Haas looking at the other side of literacy—how we read—with the proliferation of Kindles, hyperlinks and “comment” features.