What is "reading" in the 21st Century?

As another year draws to a close, here are some things to think about...

What does it mean to be literate in the 21st century?

What "counts" as reading?

If boys refuse to read fiction, but enjoy comics, the Guiness Book of Records, manuals and computer game cheat sheets, are they readers?

What about online games, such as Runescape? This is very popular for NZ kids, from Primary School up. To navigate the game, you need to be good at map-reading and directional skills. Just getting through the initial tutorial takes a lot of reading. Then, any "conversation" between players is in the form of text. Quests within Runescape need a lot of reading. For example, in the Romeo and Juliet quest, you have to follow complicated instructions, and take wordy messages between the lovers and their supporters. If you don't have a reasonable reading level you can't play this popular game. Is being immersed in the world of Runescape the same as being immersed in a good book?

To be literate in the 21st century do you need to have your own blog?

At the very least, blogs can help students on their journey to literacy. Here's a quote, from the blurb of the book Classroom Blogging, by David Warlick:
"Weblogs are about reading and writing. Literacy is about reading and writing. Blogging equals literacy. How rarely does an aspect of how we live and work plug so perfectly into how we teach and learn?"

Even some year 1 classes are starting to use blogs to develop their literacy.
Voyagers - NZ Year 1 Blog
Mrs Cassidy's Classroom Blog (Grade 1 in Canada)

Does reading your friends' pages on Bebo count? Social networking sites like Bebo, Facebook and MySpace are currently some of the most visited internet sites by kiwis. How can young people's passion for these sites be harnessed to help build literacy?

One idea is to create your own online social network for your book group, using goodreads or ning. What are your friends reading? You can even add goodreads to your bebo! Another idea is to have students set up fictional profile pages for characters in a book they are studying. One class has done this with The Great Gatsby, on MySpace.

Here's an example of 21st century literacy in action, using digital storytelling. Work out what is special about where you live. Write a script. Think about how to represent this visually. Then, turn this into a wonderful digital story, that can be enjoyed right around the world.
Have a look at the Life Round Here stories from Te Awamutu Intermediate, and Taradale Intermediate Schools.

Don't forget the ideas from recent Create Readers posts on Technospud Projects, where your class can publish your participation in a literature project (next year it's Prince Caspian) on the web, and Allanah's Appleby Showcase, which includes (among other things) podcasts of oral book reviews from Motoroa school.

How are YOU going to harness these 21st century opportunities to help create readers in 2008?