What is literacy?

TracyRosen — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 07:05:59 -0500

I am deeply involved in a conversation on my blog and others around literacy. Though I use digital technologies in my teaching, learning, and day-to-day communications, I have a discomfort, an unsettled feeling when I hear others refer to digital literacy as the dominant literacy of today (initially spurred by this thesis proposal). And when I read statements like:

“Literacy today depends on understanding the multiple
media that make up our high-tech reality and developing the skills to
use them effectively” (from Connecting the Digital Dots: Literacy of the 21st Century (2006) by Barbara R. Jones-Kavalier and Suzanne L. Flannigan)

I responded to that quote on my blog with, "Can we really say that literacy depends on that? To rephrase using somewhat out-of-date terminology, by doing so are we
creating an even larger divide between the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd worlds?
And what about between the different socio-economic situations within
our own countries?

Are we honouring different stories and experiences by limiting our
definition of literacy to digital, or at the very least by claiming it
to be the most relevant?" (Perpetuating the Story of Difference? or Literacy, revisted.)

I would like to hear what others think about the subject. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what is unsettling to me and I am hoping to figure it out through different conversations.

thank you,

Tracy

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What is literacy?