CONCLUSION

Chapter 5

In conclusion, the transition from print to digital text has altered the innate value of text itself. A single word, phrase, picture, or video, when hyperlinked, becomes representative of infinitely more than written word value. Clicking a hyperlinked word may take you to the definition of that word, or a footnote-like comment made by the author. Alternatively, it may take you to a new web page entirely, or an irrelevant page on the web if the author was not methodically deliberate in their hyperlinking process. Additionally, as stated by Ong, “more than any other single invention, writing has transformed human consciousness” (1982, p. 78). This is particularly true with digital text, as all users have been transformed into active publishers despite writing mediocrities and differing skill levels. This has resulted in the excess of information that currently constitutes the internet and alludes to Bush’s still relevant pre-hypermedia suggestion “that the growing mass of the human record and our inability to effectively navigate and distribute that record is one of the most pressing concerns of humanity” (1945, as cited in Dobson & Willinsky, 2009, p. 4).

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Although it “affords greater access to knowledge as well as the ability to speak out and make one’s views widely available” (Dobson & Willinsky, 2009, p. 1), societal awareness of the digital footprint should be taught and reinforced within educational systems in order to promote digital citizenship through early intervention strategies. As emphasized by Buchanan et al., children (as well as adults), should be taught how to curate their online presence such that their digital footprint does not become a liability, and not all they do online needs to be hidden (2017, p. 286). “So begins the paradox that while digital literacy constitutes an entirely new medium for reading and writing, it is but a further extension of what writing first made of language” (Dobson & Willinsky, 2009, p. 1). Just as we teach reading and writing of printed text in school, we must teach navigation and vetting techniques when reading digital text, as well as digital citizenship etiquette, proofreading, editing, and citation procedures when publishing online comments and writing.