As we sometimes describe literature as being “Food for our souls”, we describe how books actually play a large part in this soul search. The advancement and enhancement in technology has allowed us to step into a new decade of few paper books and a slew of digitalized literature.
We initially started our reading years with hard copy books, soft copy and then came E reader such as Kindle, and now every piece of literature is available as a pdf file. E books have allowed us to become portable and carry large amounts of data in a simple packet. E books now have evolved in classrooms as early as grade one. They have become a way literature is read and illustrated. This is an age of efficiency and such these readers have made literature accessible any part of the world.
In the Journal of Literacy an Technology, Using Elecronic Books in he Classroom to Enchance Emergent Literacy Skills in Young Children a paper written by Amelia Moody explains how e-books have evolved in our classrooms. Moody completes her extensive research on how the quality of e-books may promote or distract literacy. She claims that high quality e-readers may enhance and promotes a child’s vocabulary and promote literacy development. However, low quality e-reader will mostly distract the child with its flashy features and gadgets. She further explains that high quality e-books not only help with children literacy, but they considerably help those who have learning disorders. These books allow for digital enhancements to highlight words and sentences while hearing the e-book talk them though the story. This evolutionary piece of technology has helped many to overcome the hurdle of reading a book. A study was conducted on kindergarten kids who used e-readers versus traditional books. The kindergarten kids with the e-readers excelled initially, however with time, five years, both category children where at t he same literacy level. She claims that while educators love the tool as it makes learning fun, she claims that educators find that children are distracted by other software such as games uploaded in the e-readers. Long-term the e-readers seem not to be more effective with literacy.
Moody, Ameila K (November 2010) Retrieved from: http://www.literacyandtechnology.org/volume_11_4/JLT_V11_4_2_Moody.pdf
Thomas Wendy, (December 8, 2011) Retrieved from: http://nhwn.wordpress.com/2011/12/08/kindle-fire-vs-hard-copy-books-who-wins/
Hi Aman,
ReplyDelete“Food for our souls” is a great analogy regarding literature. I totally agree, literature has always been a part of our lives and it continues to be. We learn from the experiences of others and this can be accessed via books. So books will always be around, the question is in what format?
Currently we have seen the transformation from hard copies to soft copies. And further developments have brought about E-readers. Who knows what the future will bring? The Kindle is just one of the many devices that are available making eBooks more accessible to everyone anywhere. I think accessibility is one of the most outstanding features. Technology is everywhere and outside of the home, it will be more predominant. This is because of the personal costs involved and internet access. So it is no surprise that even grade one students are exposed to eBooks.
The following article, What Are Soft Copies? , highlights some advantages of soft copies. Such as documents can be distributed via email and will be received very quickly and do not require shipping and mailing fees. Soft copies can be easily stored and sorted for easy access; making it easily retrievable. And I think number one is that it is better for the environment; it reduces paper usage. These are just some of the advantages, and the article goes on to provide many more. In the long-run, there is sufficient evidence to support the transformation of the traditional book from hard copies to soft copies.
Technology has certainly caused an evolution of books. Another evolution that is taking place because of technology is the format of accessing “the book”. We will definitely not hold our breaths to see what the future will bring; however avid readers will wait with anticipation to know what they will be holding in their hands.
Reference:
Dan Stone. eHow Tech. Retrieved from:
What Are Soft Copies?
http://www.ehow.com/info_8147335_soft-copies.html