Steve Vosloo

Yoza Cellphone Stories are doing much to foster a culture of reading among young adults, writes
<b>Steve Vosloo</b>.

On 30 September 2009, the world’s first mobile novel — or m-novel — published in both English and isiXhosa was launched. <em>Kontax</em>, a teen mystery story, was created for the Shuttleworth Foundation’s m4Lit project, which I lead. Standing for "mobiles for literacy" the project aims to explore whether teens are interested in reading stories on their cellphones, whether and how they write using their cellphones, and whether cellphones might be used to develop literacy skills and a love of reading.

Imagine for a moment the following situation: there is a school in Somewhere Land with a principal who is a good man (or woman) and who wants the best for his learners.

The internet – including the world wide web and also cellphone chat services like MXit – is truly a revolution. Never before has there been such a large and accessible resource of information; never before has it been so easy to communicate with other people anywhere in the world; and never before has the publishing of information – from news to research to personal diaries – been done so much by ordinary people. In the history of the world, human beings have never been more informed and more connected.

When you consider the increasingly digital lives of young people — called "generation text" – you realise how important it is to explore the effect of cellphone texting on learner literacy.