Anne Harrington and Charles Morgan recognize the undeniable fact that, for the most part, teenage literacy has changed. The hours my younger cousins log on social networking sites, blogs, and other interactive internet sites is astounding. For my cousins, the single-author, print based text has been cast away for the multi-author, collaborative, visual text.
I agree with Harrington and Morgan that this change in literacy should be accounted for in standardized testing. The current use of technology for grading writing is ill-conceived. The idea that a computer can grade an essay for content and voice is laughable and certainly enforces a “reductive definition of writing.” Instead of utilizing technology on the assessment side of standardized testing, technology should be used on the generative side. Students should be assessed on their ability to create and interpret these multi-media texts.
While I appreciate this new form of literacy and applaud Harrington and Morgan’s efforts to rally for its recognition, I think they were one-sided in their article’s negation of print based texts. Print based texts are not the dinosaurs that Harrington and Morgan make them out to be. Depending on the genre, print based texts are often the best option. Take fiction and poetry, for example. Reading is an interaction between the text and reader. While the author may have had an image in mind when creating the novel, that image is going to look different for each individual reader. As a reader, the author has stolen this magical exchange if he/she strips me of the images I’ve created in my head and supplants them with his/her own. That is probably why I dislike graphic novels.
However, even I acknowledge that the graphic novel is a genre worthy of study. Similarly, multi-media texts are a new genre not only worthy of study but necessary to success in our increasingly linked world. As such, they should be accounted for on standardized tests. However, I don’t think they should totally replace print based texts and essays, but rather supplement a student’s knowledge and familiarity with many genres.
Bzabek's Blog 
I think the authors would actually agree with you–print-based texts should not be replaced, but rather, we might consider opening the curriculum for other forms of textured literacy.
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