Table Of ContentDOCUMENT RESUME
CS 509 902
ED 423 558
Reading the World Wide Web.
TITLE
National Research Center on English Learning and
INSTITUTION
Achievement, Albany, NY.
Office of Educational Research and Improvement (ED),
SPONS AGENCY
Washington, DC.
PUB DATE 1998-00-00
NOTE
4p.
R305A6005
CONTRACT
Evaluative (142)
-- Reports
Journal Articles (080)
PUB TYPE
English Update: A Newsletter from the Center on English
JOURNAL CIT
Learning and Achievement; p2-3,7 Fall 1998
MF01/PC01 Plus Postage.
EDRS PRICE
Educational Research; Electronic Text; Higher Education;
DESCRIPTORS
Hypermedia; Information Retrieval; *Information Seeking;
Interviews; *Literacy; Models; Research Needs; Secondary
Education; *Users (Information); *World Wide Web
Knowledge Acquisition
IDENTIFIERS
ABSTRACT
Given predictions that hypermedia will lead to meaningful
changes in ways of knowing and how people make sense of the world, this
question and answer paper discusses research conducted by the Technology and
Literate Thinking group at the Center on English Learning and Achievement on
how adult students make sense of information found on the World Wide Web. It
presents preliminary findings in a model that is helping to frame further
investigation into (1) new forms of literacy and literate thinking occasioned
by electronic media; and (2) the processes people use when interacting with
electronic texts and how these processes can be shaped by educators to
maximize language and literacy development. Contains a figure illustrating
the model that represents preliminary findings.
(RS)
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Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made
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"Reading" the World Wide Web.
"Reading
GIVEN PREDICTIONS THAT
the
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HYPERMEDIA WILL LEAD TO
kr1
4 MEANINGFUL CHANGES IN OUR
WAYS
A
p.1 OF KNOWING AND HOW WE MAKE
SENSE OF THE WORLD, 'ME TECII
NOLOGY AND LITERATE THINKING
GROUP AT CELA IS CONDUCTING
RESEARCH ON HOW PEOPLE MAKE
U 8 DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Office of Educational Research and Improvement
SENSE OF INFORMATION FOUND ON
EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION
CENTER (ERIC)
IX::
N.1
THE WORLD WIDE WEB, TODAY'S
document has been reproduced as
received from the person or organization
originating it
ASCENDANT HYPERMEDIA
.11141/4), 0 Minor changes have been made to improve
reproduction quality.
ENVIRONMENT.
Points of view of opinions stated in this &cu .
ment do not necessarily represent offiCial
OERI position or policy .
To see how adults inter-
DETERMINE THE SUBJECTS'
the guys who brought us the
EXPERIENCE.
acted with the computer
KS: That's their experience
atom bomb. When the war
PSYCHOLOGY, EXPERIENCE,
when asked to find informa-
of the world. By psychology
AND COGNITIVE/SOCIAL/
was over, he wrote a paper
tion on an assigned topic,
we mean their predisposi-
PHYSICAL CONTEXTS IN
called "As We May Think." In
Karen Swan and Joseph
tions, their ways of behaving,
YOUR STUDY?
it
before there was really
Bowman recently videotaped
KS: They weren't just
as opposed to the set of things
anything like the computers
adult students searching the
determined. What we're
they've experienced, which is
we have today
he said that
WWW.
doing is protocol analysis, so
general experience. World
what we really need is to do
The researchers have
we noted the users of the Web
Wide Web experience is more
something good for the
captured their preliminary
reacting to contextual things.
like a kind of knowledge,
world. What he,thought that
findings in a model (Figure 1)
We felt that we needed to
which we use here to include
scientists should concentrate
that is helping to frame fur-
consider at least three differ-
all computing experience, as
on was dealing with informa-
ther investigation into:
ent contexts. The cognitive
opposed to domain knowl-
tion overload, which (even
New forms of literacy and
context is the task or what-
edge, which is knowledge of
then) was a problem. He
literate thinking that might be
ever the person has in their
the subject area that they're
imagined a machine called the
occasioned by electronic
head, and we observed
involved in. We're conducting
Memex (Memory Extension)
media, and how these forms
people referring back to it,
grounded research. All parts
that he saw as a mechanical
are correspondent and/or
bringing themselves back:
of the model emerged out of
device, like microfiche.
incongruent with school
"Oh, the task is this," they'd
the data, and we've only done
The World Wide Web has
beliefs concerning language
say. The physical context is
one round of these observa-
been built to Bush's specifica-
and literacy development;
real easy to see because we
tions. The model gives us
tions. He saw different media
and
were in a room, sometimes
something to start looking at.
as extending our mental
The processes people
three of us, and this person
capacity. The thing he wanted
CS: HOW DOES A USER'S
use when interacting with
thinking aloud. Sometimes
from the Memex was linking
GENERAL OR WORLD EXPER-
electronic texts, and how
they'd talk to us
part of the
by association. Just as print
IENCE COME INTO PLAY?
(.1( these processes can be shaped
social context
at least the
KS: In some really strange
gives you something you can
o by educators to maximize
immediate social context in
ways. There was one guy
reflect on outside your mind,
language and literacy devel-
front of the computer screen.
who chose a site to go to
Bush thought that what was
kr-opment.
We haven't yet explored the
because it was in Philadel-
needed was something that
c>
English Update recently
broader social context of the
phia. He's a Civil War buff
goes beyond the kind of
asked Graduate Assistant
Web itself. We're now creating
and was thinking about
storage you get in libraries.
Cheryl Schoonniaker to
a portable lab so we can go
Gettysburg. Some people go
There, you have to go to an
Z.) review the model and inter-
into schools, and then both the
to a site as if they were going
index, find what you're
view the researchers. Her
social and physical contexts
to a place.
looking for, go into the stacks,
discussion with Karen Swan
will be more real, we hope.
CS: I ALSO WANT TO KNOW
locate it, bring it back, and
follows:
CS: WHAT ABOUT THINGS
then read it; if you find a
MORE ABOUT LINKING BY
CS: REFERRING TO THE
UKE THE READER'S
reference, you have to go
ASSOCIATION.
KS: Fifty years ago
MODEL THAT YOU'VE USED
EXPERIENCE? IN YOUR
back to the card catalogue and
2 Vannevar Bush was F.D.R.'s
TO CONVEY WHAT YOU'RE
MODEL, THAT'S SEPARATE
start over.
science advisor. He's one of
FROM WORLD WIDE WEB
LEARNING, HOW DID YOU
What Bush imagined, and
around them. All this requires
medium, before it really
further investigation. For
settles in and people know
examplerwas the linear
what to do with it, so maybe
approach we observed how
that's what we're seeing.
they kept their focus on the Another consideration is
at hand, or simply a case
that almost all the commercial
of us' g old methods with a
Web sites are dead ends. They
dium?
don't send you out anywhere
the way information and
CS:
DO YOU MINK YOU
university sites like ours do.
WOULD SEE DIFFERENT
CS: Do
RESULTS IF YOU VARIED
YOU THINK USE OF
ThE WORLV WIDE WEB
THE TASK, FOR EXAMPLE
what is totally possible on the
diverse ideas all in one place,
BY LErniNG THEM CHOOSE
COULD CHANGE HOW PEOPLE
Web, is that you see the
so it's non-linear.
THE TOPIC? ARE YOU READ AND WRITE PRINTED
reference, click on it, and you
A key finding of our re-
WORKING ON THAT?
TEXTS?
don't just go to the reference,
search to date is that we didn't
KS: One of the things we're
KS: I think it already is. If
see our subjects making these
you go to the article! You can
thinking about doing is
you look at almost anything
actually check to see what it
kinds of connections, linking
observing people working in
in print these days (Newsweek
says and how it says it. Or,
by association. None of them
on-line courses because they
magazine, for example), it's
suppose something references
made use of the hyperlinking
have a real purpose, a real
windowed. It's got extra
capabilities in Web documents
the Mona Lisa. You can click
task. There are links out [to
references in the margins.
there and see a picture of the
during our observations.
other sources] and sometimes
Information everywhere is
Mona Lisa. Bush also talked
Instead, they would book-
the links go to other links to
becoming more windowed
about being able to use photo-
mark sites and in a fairly
links to links, so we are
more multilayered in ways
graphs and visual keys, and
linear fashion explore the sites
curious to see if people actu-
that resemble the Web. If you
now you can even see the
on their list, moving back and
ally follow those links or not.
look at other media like TV,
movie, right? That's linking
forth to the list rather than
We would like to use our
it's got writing across it.
pursuing subsequent links.
by association, which Bush,
portable lab with a project at
Things are starting to look
Engelbart, Nelson, and others
We also saw a lot of scanning
RPI [Rensselaer Polytechnic
and feel a lot different. Infor-
say is the way people think
and what we call "circling" of
Institute]. This is an NSF
mation is being graphically
a much more thought-like
information
that is, they
organized in ways that are
[National Science Foundation]
way to reference information.
picked out key words and
project designed to link
very meaningful.
The Web allows you to relate
read the text immediately
concepts in calculus to
In a lot of cases it's junk.
courses that use If print doesn't carry informa-
calculus and
tion, it's junk. If it carries
engineering and
information, it's valuable.
"READING" THE WORLD WIDE WEB
science. We want
Sometimes pictures really
don't illustrate what they're
to see if people
supposed to be illustrating,
actually follow
SOCIAL CONTEXT
PHYSICAL
COGNITIVE
these links, and
and sometimes they do. The
CONTEXT
CONTEXT
when they follow
charts that you see in USA
them, and why
Today are pretty horrible, but
they follow them.
you're seeing a lot more
READER
Another place
charting of information, or
boldfacing if it's important
to look might be
TEXT
psychology
graphically organizing things
with kids. In a lot
of the courses
spatially so you know how
experience
content
these days, kids
one thing is related to another.
are searching for
That's linking by association.
www experience
design
information, and
CS:
I'VE ALSO HEARD YOU
it will be interest-
SAY THAT WORLD WIDE
domain knowledge
interface
ing to see if they
WEB DOCUMENTS LACK
follow from one
THE AUTHORITY OF PRINTED
SEARCH
site to another.
TEXTS. WHY DO YOU SAY
CONSTRUCT
McLuhan says
THAT?
that people will
KS: By authority I mean
INTERACT W/
MEANING
author-ity. A printed docu-
use a new me-
dium in the ways
ment many times has gone
""°)11
VAWE 4
.1t411444'00-
that they're used
3
to using the old
See Wodd Wide Web on page 7
World Wide Web from page 3
through peer review; it probably has at least
gone through an editing process and is in some
ways substantiated. Most publishers check
information before they put it out. With Web
documents, you don't even know if they're
legitimate. They could be multiply authored.
They could be fake. They could contain horren-
dous information. There's all kinds of wonder-
ful and horrible things out there. I'm not sure
that's a bad thing, because it invites us to not
take all documents at face value. I think it's a
good thing to question author-ity.
CS: How DO YOU FEEL THE INTERNET
COULD IMPACT THE READER/WRITER
RELATIONSHIP? You THINK IT MAKES
PEOPLE MORE CRITICAL?
KS: I think it means that people are going to
have to think about what they know and what
a document is saying and where it's coming
from and all those kinds of things that maybe
they don't now, and I hope they'll carry that
questioning back to print, as well.
SUGGESTIONS
FOR FURTHER READING:
Bolter, J.D. (1991) The Writing Space: The
Computer, Hypertext and the History of Writing.
Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina
Press.
Bush, V. (1945) "As we may think." The
Atlantic Monthly, July, 1945, 101-108.
Engelbart, D.C. (1963) "A conceptual
framework for the augmentation of man's
intellect." In Howerrton, P.W. & Weeks, D.C. (Eds.)
Vistas in Information Handling, Vol. 1. Washington,
DC: Spartan Books, 1-29.
Langer, J.A. (1995) "Literature and learning
to think." Journal of Curriculum and Supervision,
10, 3, 207-226.
Mcluhan, M. (1964) Understanding Media:
The Extensions of Man. New York: New American
Library.
Nelson, T.H. (1967) "Getting it out of our
system." In Schechter, G. (Ed.) Information
Retrieval: A Critical Review. Washington, DC:
Thompson Books.
Tapscot, D. (1997) Growing Up Digital: The
Rise of the Net Generation. New York: McGraw-Hill.
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
IC
Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI)
Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC)
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