Secret Illiterates, Blogs, and the Québecois Media
Scriptwriter and bloggeuse par excellence Martine Pagé notes a strong disconnect between people working in mainstream Québec journalism / media and the blogosphere. What’s more, she’s in disbelief about how much people are still in thrall to the telephone - there are still lots of people that don’t read their email.
I have a theory about this latter point: that there are more secret illiterates and/or dyslexics in the workplace than we are generally aware of. It is so necessary to succeed today, and such a stigma to be found out, that they will spend enormous amounts of time and energy to avoid being “caught.”
You know these people, perhaps: Those people whose computers are always mysteriously “down,” and can’t get your message. The ones that you send 10 urgent emails to, until you break down and phone them. They always prefer to schedule a phone call or meeting to sending a quick email, much less use instant messaging. Those managers or clients who don’t read anything printed you give them, and ask you to summarize it verbally. And those that use instinct, bluster and aggression to bluff their way through decision-making situations.
Dwight Silverman of the Houston Chronicle’s TechBlog noted that there seems to be a “hardcore” percentage of people who are in the potential Internet-using demographic, yet stay steadfastly offline. In 2002, actor James Earl Jones testified before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, quoting statistics that tallied 92 million Americans as functionally illiterate, topping out at a 6th grade reading level.
Are these statistics somehow related? I think so.
March 19, 2006 5:49 PM
