Electracy

Electracy is a concept proposed by American literary theorist Gregory Ulmer which describes the skills associated with electronic media utilization. This includes topics such as multimedia, hypermedia, social software, and virtual worlds.

Concept

According to Ulmer, Electracy is to "digital media what literacy is to print". ^[1] It encompasses the broader cultural, institutional, pedagogical, and ideological implications inherent in the major societal transition from print to electronic media. Electracy is a portmanteau of "electricity" and Jacques Derrida's term "trace". ^[2]

Electracy encompasses a wide range of research areas, including the history and invention of writing and mnemonic practices, as well as the epistemological and ontological changes resulting from such practices. It also encompasses the sociological and psychological implications of a networked culture and the pedagogical implementation of practices derived from such explorations.

Ulmer's work considers other historical moments of radical technological change, such as the inventions of the alphabet, writing, and the printing press. Electracy is also grammatological in deriving a methodology from the history of writing and mnemonic practices.

Ulmer introduced electracy in Teletheory (1989). First citations of the work appear in 1997. ^[3] James Inman described electracy as a contemporary term for what Walter J. Ong called 'secondary orality,' suggesting it may supplant print literacy. ^{[4] [5]} Inman distinguishes electracy from other literacies (such as metamedia), stating that it is a broader concept unique for being ontologically dependent exclusively on electronic media. ^[6]

Pedagogy

Lisa Gye argues that the transition from literacy to electracy has changed "how we think, write, and exchange ideas." She also echoes Ulmer's primary concern, which is to understand how that has transformed learning. ^[7]

Electracy as an educational aim has been recognized by scholars in several fields, including English composition and rhetoric, ^[8] literary and media criticism, ^[9] digital media and art, and architecture. ^[10] In Mikesch Muecke's words, Ulmer's understanding of electracy have offered a new pedagogical model where "learning is closer to invention than verification." ^[11] In a review of Internet Invention, Alan Clinton wrote that "Ulmer's pedagogy ultimately levels the playing field between student and teacher." ^[12]

Ulmer's educational methods fit into a constructivist pedagogical theory and practice, which he discussed at length in an interview with Sung-Do Kim published in 2005. ^[13]

See also

• Computer literacy
• Information literacy
• Transliteracy

References

1. Ulmer, G. L. (2003). Internet Invention: From Literacy to Electracy. New York: Longman.
2. Situated knowing : epistemic perspectives on performance. Ewa Bal, Mateusz Chaberski. Abingdon, Oxon. 2021. ISBN   978-1-000-08208-1. OCLC   1178638795.
3. Porter, David. Internet Culture. New York: Routledge, 1997.
4. Inman, James. A. Computers and Writing: The Cyborg Era. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2004.
5. Ong, Walter J. Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word. London: Methuen, 1982.
6. Inman, James A. "Electracy for the Ages: Collaboration with the Past and Future." Electronic Collaboration in the Humanities: Issues and Options. Ed. James A. Inman, Cheryl Reed, and Peter Sands. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2003. p. 52
7. "FCJ-006 Halflives, A Mystory: Writing Hypertext to Learn | The Fibreculture Journal : 02". Journal.fibreculture.org. 1999-02-22. Retrieved 2011-06-05.
8. See Inman and also Leander, Kevin, and Paul Prior, "Speaking and Writing: How Talk and Text Interact in Situated Practices," What Writing Does and How It Does It: An Introduction to Analyzing Texts and Textual Practices, ed. Charles Bazerman and Paul Prior, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2004)
9. O'Gorman, Marcel. E-Crit: Digital Media, Critical Theory, and the Humanities. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2006.
10. Mitrasinovic, Miodrag, Total Landscape, Theme Parks, Public Space, Aldershot, England, and Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing, 2006; Muecke, Mikesch W. Gottfried Semper in Zurich: An Intersection of Theory and Practice. Ames, IA: Culicidae Architectural Press, 2005.
11. Muecke, p. 4
12. "Reconstruction 5.1 (Winter 2005)". Reconstruction.eserver.org. Archived from the original on 2012-07-17. Retrieved 2011-06-05.
13. Kim, Sung-Do. "The Grammatology of the Future" (An Interview with Gregory Ulmer). Deconstructing Derrida: Tasks for the New Humanities. Ed. Peter Pericles Trifonas and Michael A. Peters. New York: Palgrave-Macmillan, 2005. 137–64.