Two scientists have plotted the number of published authors per year since the year 1400, finding that with the rise of social media, the number is growing nearly tenfold every year. Authors — once an elite minority — will soon be a majority.
Literacy
OMG we’re totes not tweeting our literacy away
Rather than Twitter and text speak destroying our rich language, are we creating a literary revolution not seen since Ancient Greece? Jessica Au explores the different schools of thought.
Illiterate, but formal: small miracle of democracy blooms in FNQ
In Queensland’s election, somehow polling booths that should represent some of the country’s least literate voters returned informal vote numbers that were among the country’s lowest. What’s going on?
World literacy: 1970s and today
To celebrate International Literacy Day, GOOD has put together this lovely infographic on the 50 countries where literacy levels have improved the most since the 1970s, as represented by the first 100 words of their constitutions. A little high-concept, but well worth a look.
Cocos Islands: the view from Asia
“First language first” is a fundamental premise of bilingual education, but not in the Cocos Islands, where children are being punished for speaking their native Cocos Malay, writes Pauline Bunce.
NT classrooms limit indigenous languages to 1 hour a day
The NT Minister for Education, Marion Scrymgour, recently announced that indigenous languages can not be used in NT classrooms, except for one hour a day in the afternoons, writes Samanti de Silva.
