The paper investigates sign-making through selection and recontextualization of (snippets of) previous texts, i.e., copy-and-paste; it discusses the underlying semiotic mechanism and the resulting practices, namely forwarding and remix. It further considers the rhetorical effects of these forms of text production and their impact on old and new genres and generic conventions. When representation is produced through selection, (assemblage) and recontextualization, cohesion is no longer a necessary device for coherence, while texts are characterized by fragmentation and modular combination of topics, voices, modes and genres, together with increased intertextuality, implicitness and multi-layered meanings. This holds not only for the single texts we produce, but also for the semiotic environments we interpret and the interactions we participate in. In turn, long, linear and cohesive, mono-thematic, mono-voice, mono-modal and mono-generic texts seem essentially confined to a few formal, educational and academic genres which rely mainly on writing ± and even these, although linear and cohesive in their final form, are frequently produced modularly, and are also increasingly read this way. All this opens new challenges for educational contexts. Consequently, the conclusions offer insights on the implications for the learning and teaching of (written) genres.
Genres, habitus and literacy in the age of copy-and-paste
ADAMI, Elisabetta
2011-01-01
Abstract
The paper investigates sign-making through selection and recontextualization of (snippets of) previous texts, i.e., copy-and-paste; it discusses the underlying semiotic mechanism and the resulting practices, namely forwarding and remix. It further considers the rhetorical effects of these forms of text production and their impact on old and new genres and generic conventions. When representation is produced through selection, (assemblage) and recontextualization, cohesion is no longer a necessary device for coherence, while texts are characterized by fragmentation and modular combination of topics, voices, modes and genres, together with increased intertextuality, implicitness and multi-layered meanings. This holds not only for the single texts we produce, but also for the semiotic environments we interpret and the interactions we participate in. In turn, long, linear and cohesive, mono-thematic, mono-voice, mono-modal and mono-generic texts seem essentially confined to a few formal, educational and academic genres which rely mainly on writing ± and even these, although linear and cohesive in their final form, are frequently produced modularly, and are also increasingly read this way. All this opens new challenges for educational contexts. Consequently, the conclusions offer insights on the implications for the learning and teaching of (written) genres.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
