ABSTRACT
In this era when communications technologies are changing rapidly and those changes seem to touch every area of life, literacy and technology scholars make frequent reference to past times that saw large-scale technological shifts. The development of the internet is often compared to the invention of the printing press, and the ubiquitous presence of computing in our lives to the spread of literacy earlier in human history. Moreover, many people are noting the changes in text features as composing practices become faster and more immediate, the new genres that are evolving – email, discussions, chat – that seem to be making literate communication more like spoken communication. The rapidly changing communications environment has brought about new interest in the relationship between orality and literacy, as transitions in cultural history, as differences among cultures, as psychological processes, as social practices, and as developmental stages.
