News and Events
Features
Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives
The Ohio State University proudly announces the Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives (DALN), a publicly available repository of literacy narratives in a variety of formats (print, audio, video) that, collectively, provide a contemporary and historical record of the literacy practices and values of diverse contributors. Since its debut in October 2008, the DALN, with more than 1,200 visits by more than 930 people from various countries across the globe, including India, Malaysia, Egypt, Brazil, Spain, Mexico, Iran, and the Czech Republic, has quickly become an international phenomenon.
Welcoming narratives from all ages, races, communities, backgrounds, and interests, the DALN provides a wealth of information for researchers aiming to better understand the literacy practices of people from all walks of life. Because access to the public archive is free, educators can tap into the multifaceted resources offered by the DALN in multiple ways. Teachers can, for instance, have students in their classes create and contribute their own literacy narratives, which can provide both students and teachers rich information about individuals' literacy practices and values. Teachers can also have students study contributions already included in the national archive, conducting primary and secondary research on these narratives.
The DALN already offers a broad spectrum of literacy narratives from people like Valerie Lee and Andrea Williams, Allen Coleman, Laurence Jose, Sheridan Blau, Marilyn Valentino, and Alexis Stern as well as numerous anonymous contributors. Aspiring to collect as many literacy narratives from as many people as possible, the DALN enthusiastically welcomes all kinds of literacy narratives and invites contributors to provide samples of their own writing (papers, letters, zines, speeches, etc.) and compositions (music, photographs, videos, sound recordings, etc.) that illustrate their literacy stories. From Diana George's tale of how she could read before she could read to Rhonda Schlatter's moving story about her dyslexic brother teaching her how to read, each contribution to the DALN provides a rare and often under analyzed glimpse of how people have come to make meaning through reading, writing, and composing.
