The fact that one collaborates, creates, and curates differently over the internet than one does with paper does not imply that the internet is not a medium. (In fact, it’s wrong to suggest that there’s only one way to collaborate, create, and curate with paper. How one does those things depends on the available printing technologies, distribution systems, and even the economic structures.)

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Nonsense. (literal)

You are really advocating mere logical thinking & clear communication.

Yes, those are scarce commodities these days.

But that scarcity is caused by our disastrous American public school system — not ‘definitions’.

“A synthesis of language, thinking and contextual practices through which meaning is shaped. ‘Effective literacy is intrinsically purposeful, flexible and dynamic’ (Dawkins, J, 1991, Australia’s Language: The Australian Literacy and Language Policy, AGPS) and involves interactions in a range of modes and through a variety of mediums.” ref: http://bit.ly/igYe

Working from this definition the greatest challenge to literacy on the Web is taking what appears to most as an overwhelming labyrinth of information and structuring an approach to discerning what is relevant to us at any given time. So being able to dig through this noise to locate and make sense of information is to me the core skill set needed for new media literacy or at least the starting point. More specifically the new media literate person should be able to:

1. Define the platforms for information distribution and exchange (distribution & exchange architecture) – in other words where to find information besides Google.
2. Be able to structure meaningful, context based search queries and filtering protocols (search & filtering architecture).
3. Understand the difference between human and non-human filtering mechanisms (i.e. search algorithms vs. influencers and thought leaders).
4. Understand how to intelligently combine human and non-human filtering mechanisms to increase contextual relevancy of information.
5. Be able to construct an efficient filtering architecture that reduces noise, irrelevant data non-authoritative data, and non-factual data (i.e. RSS readers, social bookmarking, social network searching, etc.).

I know this scratches the surface of the question. However without basic skills in these areas you run the risk of being overwhelmed with irrelevant data.

The elements of composition, in my opinion,
are surprisingly universal through various media.

Placement, balance, subtraction, highlighting, etc.

Traditionally people have been educated to learn the elements of composition as they apply to one specific medium – just writing or just painting for example.

Before teaching specialization in one medium, I would like to see more educators provide a more generalized, holistic approach as to how the elements of composition are relevant throughout various media.

Good music tells a story, good writing tells a story,
good paintings tell a story, et cetera.

They accomplish this by evoking mood and feeling,
eliciting a response from the viewer.

Whether you’re composing with words, or photos, or paint,
or sounds – is ultimately irrelevant in my opinion.

It’s not how you communicate,
but what you communicate that ultimately matters.

Certain media have their own advantages and disadvantages. A classical composition by Beethoven is virtually universal to a global audience, without needing to be translated like words. Conflict photography that connects to viewers through universal themes of human struggle doesn’t necessarily need to be translated into different languages in much the same way that words need to be – to be understood.

–this, in a nutshell, is the “elevator speech” for so-called convergence in J-Schools, IMHO.

It is good to see you giving credit to Howard Schneider and some of his work. I had the opportunity to work with Howie at Newsday in the early 1990s when he was one of the first in the newsroom to recognize the power of new media and to take steps to facilitate its development. It was a great opportunity and privilege for me as a relatively young new media person to work alongside Howie and some of the journalists around him who soon became friends and mentors to me — and it was tremendously validating to have someone of Howie’s stature begin to acknowledge the impact that new media would have. I’m glad his voice is still being heard.

Kind regards,
Evan Rudowski