Barton and Hamilton

I forgot how dry the Barton and Hamilton piece is.

It did bring up an idea though. I'm going to call it "accidental literacy." I Googled this term and nothing came up, so maybe I'll trademark it. I'm thinking of times when we engage in literary events, like the recipe example form the text, and leave with a new knowledge and a new way of writing. When we read/follow a recipe, without realizing we are learning to write one. The form, usually a list, the abbreviations used, all of those things are specialized knowledge. We conform to a standard form when writing recipes. This isn't a bad thing.

I was thinking about directions. I learned to give and write directions from Mapquest and Google Maps. I need written directions when I go anywhere, and since those were places where I went for directions, I ended up copying their form/style when writing or giving my own.

Now I'm thinking about all the times I don't use directions for things. Is this a refusal to engage in a literacy event? Does reading Ikea directions, with all the smiley-faced figures and pictures, count as a literacy event?