Hybrid Reading Experience

I have been using a hybrid form of reading without realizing it! Hooked on the West Wing series, I watch chunks (chapters) at a sitting, the audio turned low and the English subtitles turned on. I could hear it just fine, but found the technique very relaxing, allowing me to read (and re-read) the dense, well-written dialogue and explore the complicated political, international and personal dynamics. My husband laughed at me, saying he had never seen someone watch TV like that. The fact is, I would probably not have read a book entitled The West Wing. But the story is so well told, so filled with layers of meaning and blends of music, video, and scene transitions, it is excellent storytelling. Library Journal published an article last fall in which Tom Peters said. "Reading is one human activity that is at once both intensely cerebral and lusciously sensory." The article discusses the future of reading in the light of genuine reading hybrids like "Vooks."

Vooks (video books) blend print and video content. Vook.com partnered with Simon & Schuster last fall in this experiment: titles combining text and a dozen or more embedded videos in the text layout . Cost: around $7. The guy who introduced this is Bradley J. Inman, a Silicon Valley entepreneur. The NY Times and Publishers Weekly have informative articles on the print-media hybrid. And were vooks go, Twitter and online communities will surely follow.

Critics say human reading involves “immersion” or “flow”, which is by nature solitary. Also, when a story is augmented with video the imagination is diverted from making its own images. I agree to some extent. Should anyone else decide which "lusciously sensory" imagery is evoked when you or I read? Fiction reading is transportive, and half the fun is letting your mind freewheel and make associations on its own. Maybe hybrid fiction isn’t for everyone. Nonfiction could be pretty interesting though –a biography supplemented with embedded video or speeches? A nonfiction Vook would do the running around for you, mashing together various sources and enriching the content so you don’t have to. There is a certain appeal.

Meanwhile, I still like curling up to read a nice West Wing episode. And if some political or legislative story line confounds me, I hit pause, run to my computer (still no mobile device) and google for background insight into the topic. Am I being weird, or just finally starting to catch up?

Pavement paintings in Scottsdale

Pavement paintings to adorn downtown Scottsdale

I recently downloaded the new (to me) Google Toolbar with options such as sending an article to my blog with one click. A red arrow page icon directs you to "send your selection or whole page to Gmail/Blogger." I was hoping the entire article would appear on the page, though. The enclosure link was automatic, for both the title and the subheading. (I cut the headline down by removing several extraneous words.)

Then I had to upload the photo from this article separately. Since it didn't have a photographer by line I'm not sure of the right way to do this.

I am now on the trail of NowPublic.com, a site anyone can join to create and file news articles and news photos. This is heady stuff. Imagine the next generation of journalists getting their start: maybe right at the library. Not everyone is gaming these days. Maybe some library users dream of capturing the attention of UPI or AP!

Facebook Article: Finding Islamic Community

This article from the Chicago Tribune introduces an interesting use of Facebook and may be read in its entirety here.
It describes British students using Facebook as a forum to discuss issues of freedom and belief and to conduct ongoing debates on honoring their culture while studying in multicultural settings. The great thing about finding groups in Facebook or MySpace is the sense of community that can be derived. At the same time, it speaks to a kind of isolation too: not having peers close at hand. This dichotomy seems to come up in thinking about the internet in general, but the writers cite Facebook as providing "fast and easy access to the greater Muslim community and freedom to ask religious or cultural questions without fear of embarrassment."

#23: Summing Up

I had a great time navigating through this class. Now I understand a little what some of our customers find so intriguing. One of my favorite things was finally figuring out how De.lici.ous works and using it. Another high point was making a little search widget to put on the blog that changes and grows as you use it. I can imagine this being a useful library tool.

What I’ve learned is that these things are just tools to use depending on the problem or project at hand. Recently I’ve noticed how they can be used in combination, and that’s pretty neat too. The next step after these lessons is gradually getting used to using them more, and even depending on them for results. I hope the library keep using blogs and wikis to communicate internally. And with the public of course.

How has this program affected my lifelong learning goals? It confirms what I secretly hoped: that you can bring your real self to a challenge and contribute something of value to the effort. And that the ability to learn is a very transferable skill.

I’m a big fan of mind maps, (see my Flickr account under Favorites.) The “idea map” above is one of those things I like to doodle on PostIt’s. Maybe a future class could group material into modules based on interest or experience level. Each polygon could represent a group of features that work best together.

I hope future classes encourage more posting and commenting on the blogs, more collaborating and brainstorming and feedback, Maybe 2 or 3 people could work together to make sure everyone has “gotten” a lesson before moving on. I know not everyone had enough computer time or off-desk time to complete the work, and that some felt isolated and didn’t really get into it. Yes, I’d like more projects like this.