League for Innovation 2014, PPT document/slides to accompany paper presented at "Innovations 2014" conference.

1. Not dead yet:
The enduring import of the printed word
Katherine Watson, Coastline Distance Learning
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2. Not dead yet…
What is “dead”, generally & with respect to the printed word?
Who says what “dead” means & what is “dead”?
When is “death” supposed to occur, or has it occurred?
How is death occurring & how will we know when the process is over?
Why might it happen/be happening & why should anyone care?
“Where is it written?”
Katherine Watson, Coastline Distance Learning
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3. Not dead? Not yet!
Four areas of life for the printed word
Reading
Learning
Communicating
Remembering
Katherine Watson, Coastline Distance Learning
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4. Not dead yet! Reading helps…
… physiologically
…mentally/intellectually
… practically
Katherine Watson, Coastline Distance Learning
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5. Physiological benefits: Your brain on reading
Visual exercise
Imagination stimulation
Heightened connectivity
Katherine Watson, Coastline Distance Learning
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6. Mental/intellectual benefits
Improved, more efficient information processing
Integrated, multiple modes of cognition
Improved analytical skills, understanding
Katherine Watson, Coastline Distance Learning
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7. Practical benefits of reading
• Improved navigability of our world
• Reduction of the “woolly”
• Reduction in criminality
• Improved job prospects
Katherine Watson, Coastline Distance Learning
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8. Not dead yet! Learning through words in print
Mental/intellectual benefits
Practical benefits
Katherine Watson, Coastline Distance Learning
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9. Mental/intellectual learning benefits
Discernment/recognition of what “counts” in language/culture
Ways of thinking, workable modes of self-expression
Ways of imagining
Katherine Watson, Coastline Distance Learning
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10. Practical benefits of learning via words
Forced attentiveness to le mot juste
Ease of reading/understanding text v. multimedia
Katherine Watson, Coastline Distance Learning
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11. Not dead yet: Communicating words
Physiological benefits
Mental/intellectual benefits
Cultural benefits
Katherine Watson, Coastline Distance Learning
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12. Physiological benefits of communicating
• Brains change productively via linguistic cues
• Words can (and do) change your brain!
• Written words can change you
Katherine Watson, Coastline Distance Learning
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13. Mental/intellectual benefits
Engaging the brain’s central, peripheral processing units
Forced improvement of intellect
Increased precision of thought
Katherine Watson, Coastline Distance Learning
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14. Cultural benefits of communicating
Cultural transmission =“design feature” of human Language
Orality and literacy
Codes that “count”
Veracity
Katherine Watson, Coastline Distance Learning
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15. Not dead yet: Remembering…
Benefits of doing it with words….
biological/neurological/mental/intellectual
social/cultural
Katherine Watson, Coastline Distance Learning
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16. Remembering: The mental side of it…
Temporal & functional memory changes via words
“The written word is the enemy of memory”? Not!
“Mental landscape”, “topography”, etc.
The role of “graphicacy”
Katherine Watson, Coastline Distance Learning
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17. Remembering, culture, and print
The literacy thesis
“Books bind our understanding”
The “font finding” & remembering
Desire to recall the “true”
Katherine Watson, Coastline Distance Learning
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18. Not dead yet: Outliving…
Educators & words
Words & change
Dissonance & harmony
Video killed the radio star?
Katherine Watson, Coastline Distance Learning
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