Applen doesn’t just describe how technology changes communication, he challenges us, the readers, to strongly consider what it means to be literate in a digital world. Applen believes that literacy is much more than just reading and writing static text. How so?
Design
Applen redefines literacy as design. Literacy involves more than just written symbols, but instead encompasses experiences across multiple modes. This would include, text, images, sound, etc. But in addition to this, a writer needs to be able to design, code, and use rhetoric in digital spaces in order for the meaning of their work to flow through the screen, effectively stirring the reader’s emotions. Literacy is an active process. To effectively compose, all must learn ways of how technology structures meaning. This would mean how to capture attention, how the color of the page conveys tone, and the overall credibility of the page’s layout.
Collaboration
Collaboration is also a defining feature of new media. Unlike traditional print, digital writing takes place in shared spaces. For example, social media, comments, forums, etc. Collaboration in digital spaces makes us question credibility. We have to think about who wrote the information and what communities sustain it. The question of authorship also comes to mind. In summary, we may need to contemplate our ability to evaluate sources, manage authorship, and engage public discourse.
I enjoyed Applen’s discourse because it challenges us to not only focus on what we read but also how we compose meaning. Digital literacy involves more than text and is extended to navigation, critique, multimodality, design and much more. We also do well to remember that literacy also involves being rhetorically aware, visually fluent, and ethically engaged in digital spaces.
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