A resposta está sempre a mudar / The answer changes all the time

A propósito do Pirls (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study), um estudo sobre hábitos de leitura realisado a cada 5 anos entre crianças com 10 anos de idade de 40 países pela IEA (International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement), Chris Meade, um dos co-directores do Institute for the Future of the Book, levanta uma série de questões pertinentes sobre a leitura e a literacia, a mais importante das quais se relaciona com o papel desempenhado pela leitura em suporte digital por oposição à leitura tradicional em papel. A sua visão é uma desdramatização dos que vêem no digital uma ameaça à aquisição de competências de leitura (literacia). Num outro artigo, Meade, que foi director da Booktrust (uma charity britânica que se dedica à promoção da leitura entre as crianças) e ainda antes disso da Poetry Society, chama a atenção para a necessidade de não confundir leitura com livros, uma ligação ainda pertinente mas não exclusiva:

About Pirls (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study), a report on reading habits made every 5 years with 10 year-old children from 40 countries by IEA (Intenational Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement), Chris Meade, one of the co-directors of the Institute for the Future of the Book, raises a series of important questions about reading and literacy, the most important of which is related to the role taken by reading on digital suport as opposed to traditional reading on paper. He refuses to dramatize what some see as a threat to the aquisition of reading skills (literacy). In another article, Meade, who was director of Booktrust (a British charity dedicated to the promotion of reading among children) and before that of Poetry Society, points to the need of not confusing reading with books, an obvious connection but not necessarily an exclusive one:

"I’ve been struck recently by how so much reading promotion cuts literature off from other media, as if anyone still lives solely in a ‘world of books’. We all exist in a multiculture now, and there’s a need to look much harder at how we connect ideas gleaned from tv, websites, books and real life conversations to patch together our personal stances and narratives. (...) Where do literature and stories fit in our lives? That’s the question I’ve always been most interested in. The answer changes all the time".