Name: Vishva Gajjar
Roll no.: 31
Paper: Mass
Communication and Media Studies
Submit to: English Department (MKBU)
Children’s Books in the Multimedia Era
·
Introduction Books and Children:
Books
are called the sweet blossoms of the human culture and civilization. These are
the rich fruits of human endeavor for self-expression and accomplishment
through ages. These are the products of human thoughts and feelings. These are,
in fact tangible outcomes of man's intellectual achievements. All that were
thought best over years have found place in books. That is why, these are the
valuable treasures and accumulated assets of mankind for the present and future
generations.
Human
resources are the most important of all kinds of assets and children constitute
an important segment of human resources. The early years of human life are more
crucial than the remaining years, in the sense that this period is formative
and impressionable for the future growth and development. In fact, the
foundation of future life is laid during childhood. William Wordsworth
therefore said, 'Child is the father of man and comes to this world with
trailing clouds of glory and Rabindranath Tagore has rightly observed that
child comes from God with the message of love, peace and prosperity. The United
Nations Organization long since issued a “Declaration of the Rights of the
Child” for his/her all-round development and envisaged these rights to make him/her
useful member of the society by bringing him/her up in a spirit of peace and
Universal brotherhood.
·
Special Significance of Children’s Books:
Most of us still labor under the
impression that a child is a man in miniature the same interests and attitudes,
likes and dislikes, knowledge and ignorance in a smaller quantity. But the
child has different psychological, emotional and intellectual needs and
problems and he has to be provided with special physical, mental and emotional
facilities. Children's literature is a healthy means of satisfying their
mental, psychological and psychomotor needs. But in many societies,
particularly in the developing world, the child is neglected and his basic
needs are ignored or left unfulfilled thereby seriously affecting his normal
growth and development.
·
Various Media – Their Strengths and
Weaknesses:
As we all know, different media are used
for making our communication, i.e. the teaching-learning process more effective
and interesting. Teaching is no longer “Chalk and Talk”, it is supported with
various media like books, journals, audio-visual aids, electronic media i.e.
radio, TV, computers etc. Media are classified into seven categories such as:
1. Graphic
Media – books, pictures, photographs, maps, charts, posters, graphs, diagrams
etc.
2. Display
Media – Chalkboard, bulletin, board, flannel boards, peg boards etc.
3. Three-dimensional
Media – models, objects, specimens, puppets etc.
4. Projected
Media – slides, film-strips, transparencies, films, video tapes, cassettes etc.
5. Audio
Media – radio, audio cassettes, gramophones, records etc.
6. Video
Media – TV, video cassettes, CD, computers etc.
7. Activity
Media – field trips, dramatization, demonstration, role-playing etc.
It
is necessary here to discuss the advantages and limitations of each medium. But
we should have a cursory view on the whole spectrum of media and try to discuss
briefly on each category of media. Graphic media are mostly traditional and are
regarded as the most powerful of all senses through which we see, perceive and
visualize everything. This is by far a primary source of information. There is
a very simple saying, but very meaningful, that is, "I hear and I forget,
I see and I remember". One picture is equal to hundreds of words. But
graphic media should be clear, lively and meaningful. Still photographs, maps,
charts, etc. are visual aids to communication. But among all the graphic media,
books have occupied a central place of immense significance. Due to
technological advancement, the book printing has undergone sea-change and in
spite of vast electronic media, the book has its special place. The traditional
shape, size and standard of the book is fast changing and in future it may take
fantastic dimensions in production as well as utilization.
Chalkboards
are the old and traditional display boards which have taken various shapes
now-a-days, such as flannel boards, bulletin board peg boards etc. These are
used for displaying visuals. The three-dimensional media are realistic and de
is called tangible. Slide is called “a headful in a handful” as it explains
many things. But the slides are to be produced wit care and used with
relevance. Activities like field trips, excursions, dramatization etc. should
be properly planned and well-organized. Otherwise, time and resources are
wasted and learning outcomes are found unsatisfactory. Films, filmstrips and
video programs need to be properly used, but audience lacking in “Visual
literacy” fail to gain satisfactory learning experiences. Radio or audio
tape/cassette recording is very powerful and not so expensive. It demands ample
indulgence from the audience as it is mainly aural and one-sided. All these
media and materials need to be adequate and interactive with the audience and
relevant to programs.
The
National Policy on Education, 1986/1992 has rightly observed, "The media
have a profound influence on the minds of children as well as adults; some of
them tend to encourage consumerism, violence, etc., and have a deleterious
effect. Radio and TV programs which clearly militate against proper educational
objectives will be prevented. Steps will be taken to discourage such trends in
films and other media also. An active movement will be started to promote the
production of children's films of high quality and usefulness". At
present, computers have immense influence in communication field and are
playing an important role in literary, scientific and educational programs.
·
The Media Era:
This age of science and technology is
better known as the Information Age where information is so rapid that various
media in operation are felt inadequate. The electronic media-radio, TV,
computer, internet and other audio-visual media along with traditional or
conventional media constitute the present multimedia Era. The glamour of video
media and materials is inevitable and are impinging heavily on all-children and
adults, rural and urban tribal and non-tribal. However radio and TV programs
are ephemeral and transient, there is no gain saying that the print media is
one thing while the audio visual IS another. But both are media of communication.
It said that "We are drowning in information, but starved for knowledge”.
We are also counteracted with “Computer madness” with its various parameters
and implications.
Nancy Lareick has aptly said that modern
printing techniques make it possible to print tens of thousands of copies of a
book at much lower cost than the past. The paperback revolution in her country
USA has introduced a whole new world to children and increased child readership
accordingly. Similarly, one-sixth of all books printed in Russia are children’s
books, with a minimum print order of half a million or more frequently a
million. She was also told that an entire print order was exhausted in a few
days. According to Chen Bo-Chui a Chinese proverb says, “A workman must first
sharpen his tools if he wishes to accomplish his work well”. That is, we must
make good preparation and lay a good foundation in order to succeed in our
work. Children’s books are, in fact a kind of important educational medium.
In this age of electro media, computers
and internets are used to collate, store and transmit millions of items of
information in no time. The concepts like "the computerized society,"
"the video age", "Video civilization", "the global
village", "deschooling"', "alternative schooling", are
the expressions of the modern multimedia Era. In this Era children's books are
emerged from their learning needs and learning needs also emerge from the
today's education. Again today's education is said to be not good enough for
tomorrow's needs. As science and technology develop, societal scenario change
very fast and new problems emerge every now and then. Unless our learning needs
are met adequately, there would be mismatch, maladjustment and cultural lag.
Hence, the present Education can be replenished to a great extent with the help
of suitable children's books. The eminent French Scholar Paul Hazard in his
book, "Books, Children and Men" has rightly said that adults have
oppressed the children by "robbing imagination of its rightful place and
declaring a war on dreams". Children are actually deprived of their happy
innocent childhood and perpetuating oppression in many forms. Hazard has
therefor declared the cry of children "give us books, give us wings ·
Books should be good and useful to children and the wings are our relevant
media that are ever multiplying and ever enchanting.
Works Cited
Adriana G. Bus, Zsofia K. Takacs, Cornelia A.T.
Kegel. "Affordance and lilitations of electronic storybooks for young
children's emergent literacy." 3 2015. sciencedirect.com. Web. 6 3
2020. <https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0273229714000501>.
Freeman, Bradley C.
"Communication and Media: Types, Functions, and Key Concepts." 5
2018. researchgate.net. Web. 7 3 2020.
<https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324990776_Communication_and_Media_Types_Functions_and_Key_Concepts>.
Schneider, Jenifer Jasinski. "Chapter 02: What
is Children's Literature?" 1 1 2016. scholarcommons.usf.edu. Web.
6 3 2020.
<https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=childrens_lit_textbook>.
Spacey, John. "12
Types of Media." 27 4 2016. simplicable.com. Web. 7 3 2020.
<https://simplicable.com/new/media>.
Zsofia K. Takacs,
Adriana G. Bus. "Benefits of Motion Animated Storybooks for Children's
Visual Attention and Story Comprehension. An Eye-Tracking Study." 13 10
2016. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Web. 6 3 2020.
<https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5062825/>.
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