Hypermedia: New Dimensions of Literacy

Beginning with a brief history of the synergistic relationship between technology and literacy, this article examines the need for redefining literacy beyond print-based communications. It suggests that literacy, in a computer-networked society, is not solely about reading the printed word, but rather, that it encompasses receiving and sending messages in a hypermedia format. It is noted that electronic communication not only includes printed text, but may also encompass pictorials, film grammars, and multi-sensory structures requiring semiological analysis. Discussion then moves to the characteristics of hypermedia, the hypertext network, and fundamental differences between types of hyperlinks. Key literacy codes inherent in electronic hypermedia text are compared with those fostered by print-based text. The article calls for continual examination of emerging hypermedia communications in order to establish the conventions of electronic literacy. (Contains 29 references.) (AEF) * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document.