Then, when they workthat way, people come to expect them to do so and build values and normsaround them working that way.
This is interesting to reflect on how people react when video game systems change the controllers' design in major ways. I'm specifically thinking of when the Wii came out and it was so different from "typical" game consoles.
Since semiotic domains usually are shared by groups of people whocarry them on as distinctive social practices, we gain the potential tojoin this social group, to become affiliated with such kinds of people(even though we may never see all of them, or any of them, face toface).
When I joined the library profession, I definitely felt like I joined a new social group. I felt like I finally found "my people."
However, if we want to take video games seriously as a family of semioticdomains in which one can learn to be literate, we face an immediate problem.Many people who don’t play video games, especially older people, are sure tosay that playing video games is “a waste of time.”
In the past, reading was seen as a "waste of time" for women. Seems like history is repeating itself.
Butwhat so many people—unfortunately so many educators and policymakers—fail to see is that if this is all you can do, then you can’t really read.
Reminds me of the Willsher reading about the winner of the French Scrabble competition who can't speak French. He simply memorized the French Scrabble dictionary.
In fact, in many modern high school and college textbooks in the sci-ences images not only take up more space, they now carry meanings that areindependent of the words in the text.
Makes me think of infographics and social media and how there is so much emphasis on visual communication through these mediums.