In a class entitled “Reading and the Web”, it is particularly important that we define and understand the first part of that title—that is, we must ask ourselves the question, “what is reading?” Can we learn about reading in the context of the internet without first having some understanding of what reading is in itself?
On a basic level, reading is the process of decoding and interpreting symbols. Given a variety of definitions of the words “decode” and “symbol”, this process can be applied to a seemingly infinite range of media and situations. For example, you might read a room as you enter it, or you may read a measurement on a thermometer. However, for the purposes of this post—and possibly for this class—I’m going to narrow my focus to the explicit process of decoding textual information, whether that text takes the form of a novel, a blog post, an encyclopedia or an academic journal.
As Alexander and Fox discuss in A Historical Perspective on Reading Research and Practice, reading researchers over the previous 50 years have debated whether the process of reading is cognitive, aesthetic, or sociocultural. Recently however, many of these researchers have begun to acknowledge that reading is cognitive, aesthetic, and sociocultural, and that these three dimensions actively work together in many different ways. It may in fact be detrimental to research the process of reading without focusing on all three of these aspects. So perhaps we need to expand our earlier definition of reading to take this into account:
“Reading is the cognitive and aesthetic process of decoding symbols and interpreting them within a sociological context.”
It’s also important to note that reading is not a linear process. As Bush so astutely points out in As We May Think, reading, like learning, is an associative process. A reader’s mind blazes intricate trails, often changing direction and form in a seemingly sporadic manner. Especially with such enormous advancements in information technology, reading is increasingly defined by these non-linear cognitive processes.
