Friday, January 15, 2010

Digital Literacy

The ways in which people read and write, share and understand knowledge are constantly changing as the means of communication are changing. Compared to the past, people currently living in the Digital Age are faced with a large variety of communication methods to choose from. Among them, the use of the Internet-based communicating systems, such as e-mails, web blogs, and web messengers take a great part of people’s lives. As these web-based social networks are being used more often than ever, digital literacy has become an essential skill for everyday life.

So what is digital literacy? According to Knud Erik Hilding-Hamann, digital literacy is defined as the confident and critical use of Information Society Technology (IST) for work, leisure and communication, which is underpinned by basic skills in ICT: the use of computers to retrieve, assess, store, produce, present and exchange information, and to communicate and participate in collaborative networks via the Internet. Digital literacy can be divided into two dimensions – conceptual and skill-based. Conceptual digital literacy emphasizes the ability to judge about the quality, relevance, usefulness, or efficiency of information, whereas skill-based digital literacy underlines fluent usage of digital technology. Knowledge and skills based solely on textbooks may not be sufficient enough to face the challenging world of 21st century. In order to be successful at work and obtain personal development, people need to continually work to improve their digital literacy skills.

Works cited

Buck, Amber. "Rethinking Digital Literacies." Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory. 24 Nov 2009. HASTAC, Web. 15 Jan 2010. .
Hilding-Hamann, Knud. "What is Digital Literacy?." Digital Literacy. 17 Sep 2009. Danish Technological Institute, Web. 15 Jan 2010. .
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1 comment:

  1. Emily NairnJanuary 17, 2010 at 5:58 PM

    Nicely done, MinJung!

    The most striking part of your blog entry is when you address the fact that digital literacy has two components: conceptual and skill-based. Skill-based is needed in order to work with technology, but the conceptual understanding behind it is often overlooked. More often than not, people tend to see themselves as digitally literate simply because they can operate a multimedia cellular phone or navigate through a Google search. The conceptual aspect is just as important, yet many do not acknowledge its importance.

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