Digital Literacy: Is Digital Reading Similar to Comic Reading?

Absztrakt

As a result of technological innovations, the way we think, the way we comprehend texts is

constantly changing. The new forms of media have a strong effect on our cognitive processes.

The visual elements, pictures, gifs, icons, short videos and interactive adverts significantly

influence our ability to read and understand texts. This is the reason why so many researchers

try to capture the essence and the effects of the recent changes of the digital environment.

How do we read printed and digital texts with the help of visual effects? Do these kinds of

graphic elements really help us to understand the written contents, or on the contrary,

colourful images and additional visual elements obstruct the comprehension processes? In my

paper I will focus on reading literacy which concerns the visual elements of comprehension.

My main question is whether digital reading is similar to comic reading. In my paper I will

argue that reading digital texts containing visual elements is a non-linear kind of reading

which is similar to comic reading. My aim is to get a better understanding of digital literacy.