IVIG 2011, Prague, september 22 2011
« Nouveaux territoires pour la formation »
Transliteracy :
a trendy word or a real new
perspective for information
training ?
Alexandre Serres
URFIST de Rennes
A. Serres, 2011
1
Presentation


Professor and researcher ; Information Science ;
University of Rennes 2
Co-manager of URFIST in Rennes :





Regional Training Unit for Scientific and Technical
Information
7 URFIST in France
3 missions : training, watching and research
About information literacy, scientific information…
3 publics : Ph-D students, teachers and
librarians
A. Serres, 2011
2
Presentation

3 research topics :



Evaluation of information on the internet
Practical needs and expectations of PhD
students about scientific information
Information literacy, information cultures and
transliteracy
A. Serres, 2011
3
What is transliteracy ?


A buzzword ?
An interesting topic for libraries since June
2011



FORMIST meeting in France
Workshop at ALA’s convention, in USA
Different works, meetings and research in
GB and USA
A. Serres, 2011
4
What is transliteracy ?
The linguistic origin


From « transliteration » to
« transliteracy »
“The word ‘transliteracy’ is derived from
the verb ‘to transliterate’, meaning to
write or print a letter or word using the
closest corresponding letters of a different
alphabet or language” (Sue Thomas)
A. Serres, 2011
5
What is transliteracy ?
The canonical definition

"Transliteracy is the ability to read, write
and interact across a range of platforms,
tools and media from signing and orality
through handwriting, print, TV, radio and
film, to digital social networks" (Sue
Thomas and al.)
A. Serres, 2011
6
What is transliteracy ?
A large concept

The whole set of interaction skills :
A. Serres, 2011
7
What does transliteracy
come from ?

Two significant origins :



The Anglo-Saxon world : USA, GB
The academic research (not libraries’ culture)
In USA :

Works of Pr. Alan Liu
Departement of English, at UCSB (University of
California at Santa Barbara)
 Transliteracies Project, 2005
 Research on online reading

A. Serres, 2011
8
What does transliteracy
come from ?

In GB :

Works of Pr Sue Thomas


Faculty of Arts, Design and Humanities, De
Monfort University, in Leicester
2006 : creation of the PART group
(Production and Research in Transliteracy)
Literary disciplines
 Impact of ICT on writing and literature


Integration of PART into IOCT (Institute Of
Creative Technologies)
A. Serres, 2011
9
What does transliteracy
come from ?

Transliteracy idea : a set of research
projects on broad topics

effects of digital revolution on :


A notion quite far from libraries and
information literacy (at the beginning)


Reading, writing, literature, arts and sciences
Educational dimension generally absent
Recently, interest of the libraries

Many websites, blogs,
articles…
A. Serres, 2011
10
The « digital melting-pot »



Multiple and literacies on digital networks
The « digital melting-pot » and the blurring of
borders
Three levels of blurring :



Documents
Tools
Practices
A. Serres, 2011
11
The « digital melting-pot » :
the documents


Change of the definition of a document
Phenomena of the « re-documentarization of the
world »

Permanent and unlimited mixing of digital traces



Example of photos
Limits of documents are blowing up
Implications on different literacies :

Information, media & computer literacies are
intermigled
A. Serres, 2011
12
The « digital melting-pot » :
the hybridization of tools


Information tools as
« Swiss army knives »
Tools are used :



Ex. of Diigo :
to look for information,
to identify, to select,
to write comments, to
integrate into a
personal database…
Example : the
platforms for sharing
bookmarks
A. Serres, 2011
13
The « digital melting-pot » :
the confusion of practices
search
communicate
orientate
talk
google
organize
print
share
Tagging/ indexing
orkut
earth
API’s
A. Serres, 2011
(d’après O. Ertzscheid)
14
Global or analytical approach
of literacies ?


How to encompass the interweaving of
the literacies ?
2 types of answers :



Analytical approach
Holistic approach
The traditionnal approach is analytical

To identify, define and distinguish all the
literacies
A. Serres, 2011
15
Analytical approach of literacies ?


To recognize the
specificity of each
literacy
To define the
relations between
them

Links between
computer, information
and media literacies ?
A. Serres, 2011
16
Global approach of literacies ?


Transliteracy
And also « digital literacy » :

"Digital literacy is the set of attitudes,
understanding and skills to handle and
communicate information and knowledge
effectively, in a variety of media and formats“
(Paul Gilster)

Proximity of the definitions
A. Serres, 2011
17
What is the relationship between
transliteracy and specific literacies ?

"transliteracy does not replace, but rather

« A unifying ecology »
contains, "media literacy" and also "digital
literacy“” (S. Thomas)


Reference to the media convergence (Jenkins)
or the media ecology (McLuhan)
Transliteracy as the “mother of all
literacies”
A. Serres, 2011
18
Information evaluation as a
leading figure of transliteracy ?

Evaluation of information on the internet : a
complex process









To filter the results
to understand the nature of a website
to identify the author
to judge the credibility
to measure the authority of the author
to assess the reliability and the quality of information
to appreciate the relevance of the resource
A good example of transliteracy
Many intermingled skills and cultures at stake
A. Serres, 2011
19
Information evaluation as a
leading figure of transliteracy ?

5 types of cultures involved in the process of
evaluating information :

The « general culture », with historical, scientific
knowledge ;


All disciplinary cultures :


a set of basic knowledge to understand the world
varying levels of proficiency
Information and documentary culture :


Advanced use of tools, research methods…
Understanding information key-notions : source, document…
A. Serres, 2011
20
Information evaluation as a
leading figure of transliteracy ?

5 types of cultures :

Computer or digital literacy :



Media culture (media literacy) :



Knowledge, understanding and practical use of basic
principles about computers, networks, Internet...
« digital natives » : often into a « digital ignorance » about
computer literacy
Knowledge of mediation, media sources…
Fundamental culture to evaluate information
Mix of these 5 cultures in the evaluation of
information
A. Serres, 2011
21
Conclusion : what is the interest of
transliteracy for the librarians ?


Information literacy as a centerpiece of
transliteracy
Transliteracy as a possibility of a shared
perspective



For research and education
To build a better link between different literacies
Invitation to develop teamwork, to build
together new knowledge about information,
communication and media in the XXI century.
A. Serres, 2011
22
Thank you for your attention !
Over to you for discussion !
Contact :
alexandre.serres@uhb.fr
Website of URFIST of Rennes :
http://www.sites.univ-rennes2.fr/urfist/
A. Serres, 2011
23