As a very technological generation, I know more about digital literacy than I originally thought I did. However, I have learned a lot about what it means to be literate in a digital world through research about various types of literacies. Digital literacy is a very complex subject. According to an article in the EDUCASE Quarterly digital literacy is a person’s ability to use a technology, primarily a computer, to effectively find and use information. I have learned that as technology advances, more and more literacies are required in order to be considered digitally literate. Someone who is digitally literate has the ability to do several things on the computer. These things include: using other senses to understand images, objects, or symbols (photo-visual literacy), locating, evaluating, and effectively using information (information literacy), effectively navigating one’s way in hyperspace (branching litearcy), using forms like art or images to create your own ideas (reproduction literacy), and being precautious when using the Internet (socio-emotional litearcy). From the research I have conducted, all of these literacies are required in order for a person to be considered digitally literate. Because we live in such a digital world, being digitally literate is practically a necessity for people in today’s society. Those people who are digitally literate probably use their knowledge daily, and those who are not are probably practicing and attempting to become digitally literate in order to keep up with everyone else.
I definitely agree with the idea that there are certain skills someone must possess in order to be digitally literate. Although I have previous listed different types of literacies that help someone become digitally literate, there are still other literacies out there that I did not mention. I believe that to be literate in a digital world, a person must have certain skills along with using their intuition and some trial and error to survive. Even though I personally possess many of these skills and consider myself to be fairly digitally literate, I know that I still have a lot to learn about the Internet and computers. I can typically fix minor problems with my computer or the internet, however there are times I still have to call technical support because I have no idea what is going on with my Internet/computer. I actually seem to call my local Internet providor on average about once every month or two months; which by the way typically turns out not to be any fault of my own. I also have dealt with people who are not digitally literate, like my own mother for example, who has to be told over and over again how to use the Internet, e-mail someone, and several other daily tasks. This leads me to believe that it is not only a person’s intuition, but certain skills are required in order to use a computer/Internet.
As we have become and will continue to become a more digital society, I think this “new” literacy will change education/schooling in many ways. Knowing that teachers taught us how to do different things on a computer starting in elementary school leads me to believe that they now teach children to do several things on computers in schools. Although I think most of the skills acquired to be digitally literate probably currently happen primarily in the home, I feel like schools will start to offer more and more classes to utilize technology. I am not sure however whether these classes will be required or simply elective for students. I feel like education about this “new” literacy will be very beneficial to students in the future providing more sources and quality information.
