Indiana Therapists Quarterly

Document: ADDIGEST_THERAPY_1ST_11-17-08_NOFOLIO20_B_T_20_42224;Page: 1;Trim size: (5.375 x 8.375 ");Plate: Composite;Date: 03 Nov, 2008 11:01:07
speech &hearing
Letyourﬁngers do thetalking
Digitalcommunities provideahaven forhearing disadvantaged
By JimPavlik
romthetelegraphtothetelephone, phonecallseachmonth,butsentorreceived
talkingmoviestotheBlackBerry, morethan350textmessages.ThisnumberF
allbutafewofthemostimportant wasevenhigheramongyoungerphone
telecommunicationsbreakthroughsofthe users—about1,700monthlytextmessages.
last150yearshaveadvantagedthosewithout
problemsinspeechorhearing.Inthelast ATwitter heard’roundthe world
fewyears,however,digitalcommunities Attheheartofthistextingfrenzyisthe
havebeenrewritingwhatwethoughtwe Web-basedserviceTwitter,whichenables
knewaboutmasscommunicationand userstotypeshortmessages—called
groupformation. “tweets”—aboutwhatthey’redoingatany
Accordingtoareportreleasedlast giventimeandblastthatmessagetotheir
SeptemberbyNielsenMediaResearch, “followers.”Userscanupdateorfollow
mobilephoneusersnowsendandreceive theirfriendsontheTwittersiteorover
moretextmessages theircellphones.
thanphone SocialnetworkingsitessuchasMySpace,
calls.The FacebookandSmallerIndianaalso
averagemobile enableuserstopostpersonalupdatesand
subscribersent communicateprimarilythroughthe
andreceived writtenword.
around200 “Ithinkthatsincethesegroupsaretext-
centered,ithelpstheseindividualstoconnect
withoutsomanybarriers,”saidShellie
Warren,aspeechlanguagepathologist
withRISESpecialServicesinPerry
Township.“Whenadeafpersonisoutinthe
community,hehastorelyonotherstoknow
hiscommunicationsystem.”
Butthatpersonisnotalwaysavailable—
unlikeportabledevicesandInternet
sites.
Thisnewtext-basedcultureneither
startsnorstopswithmicroblogging
siteslikeTwitter.Afteryearsofclimbing
ﬁgures,thenumbersofnew,traditional
blogsstillareskyrocketing.Onthepopular
bloggingsiteWordPress,morethan300,000
newblogswerecreatedjustlastmonth.
Onblogs,inonlinediscussionforums
20 INDIANA THERAPISTS QUARTERLY•FALL 2008
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