Computers and Composition Digital Press2011TextStories that Speak to Us: Exhibits from the Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives

Abstract | If contemporary, traditionally-aged students enter college with a history of computer use that gives them a set of technological literacies, how, where, and when did college students develop this familiarity with computers? What do their histories of computer use look like? And if students’ previous experiences with technology lay important groundwork for these basic proficiencies, can teachers draw on students’ pre-existing skills to do a better job of teaching the more sophisticated technical, critical, and rhetorically-based technological literacies which many writing instructors want to impart? This exhibit uses a subset of technological literacy narratives from the DALN to examine the possibilities of using video narrative as a means to work with students in the classroom to re-create and re-position their technological literacies in individual, local, and generational contexts.

About the Curator | Julia Voss is a PhD candidate in the Rhetoric, Composition, and Literacy Program in the Department of English at Ohio State University. She earned her BA in History and English from Seattle University, and has an MA in English from Ohio State. Julia studies literacy and composition, looking especially at how understandings of these two practices shift as more people do more reading and writing in digital environments. She is currently working on a project that explores how groups of individuals amass the digital literacies they need to meet specific rhetorical challenges by drawing on material and human resources they have access to through both institutional contacts (for example through civic, work, community, and school organizations) and personal contacts (for example through friends, family, affinity groups).

Technical Requirements | This exhibit has been tested with Mozilla Firefox 4.01, Safari 3.2.3 for Windows, and Google Chrome 13.0.782.10, and Internet Explorer 9. Chrome and Internet Explorer users may need to enable plug-ins to play videos.

All embedded video clips are captioned, but full text transcripts of the original video literacy narratives are available upon request—contact Julia Voss, voss.58@osu.edu.

Cite this Exhibit

MLA: Voss, Julia. “'So my computer literacy journey . . .': Re-creating and Re-thinking Technological Literacy Experience through Narrative.” Stories That Speak to Us: Exhibits from the Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives. Ed. H. Lewis Ulman, Scott Lloyd DeWitt, & Cynthia L. Selfe. Logan, UT: Computers and Composition Digital Press, 2013. Web.

APA: Voss, J. (2013). "So my computer literacy journey . . .": Re-creating and Re-thinking Technological Literacy Experience through Narrative. In H. L. Ulman, S. L. DeWitt, & C. L. Selfe (Eds.), Stories that Speak to Us: Exhibits from the Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives. Logan, UT: Computers and Composition Digital Press.