A hand performing digital and traditional writing literacy

Defining Digital Literacy

Posted

in

by

Angie Haro Moreno


Digital literacy means to recognize how to put into practice what you have already learned into the digital world. Literacy goes beyond knowing how to master something. We already know how to read and write. Taking this knowledge we can transfer it into social media, for example. Reading post and writing captions on pictures on Instagram come from us learning how to read and write at school. May not seen like it but we are becoming digital literate.

Multiple Literacies

To be able to become literate in digital literacy there are some few things that need to be considered. Any and all experiences that one might have can be used to master digital literacy. Visual, reading, writing, computer and media literacy are important skills. Not only that but having the proper knowledge can help us navigate the digital world. As Eyman writes, this literacy “goes beyond the textual and includes the effective use of symbolic systems, visual representations of language, and digital object manipulation” (47). Digital literacy uses more literacies than it may see. It includes skills that in any other context might be irrelevant. We need to make the proper judgments when opening a website to know if it’s credible or not. Unlike when reading a print book about research. Knowing how to work a computer and navigate the web it’s important too. Different from when doing research by just picking up a book. A lot more goes into digital literacy. 

People on the Literacy World

This literacy has become a necessity during this century. One has to be up to date when it comes to this new literacy. To avoid being left behind, a person has to be able to adapt to this world. Eyman explains “multiliteracies approach that situates literate practice as more than just skill- based” (48). Even without the proper knowledge, a lot of people had to adapt. Applying their knowledge and experiences to new medias it’s important. Their previous knowledge does not goes into waste, we just have to know how to transfer it into something new. Even id we do not realize it, digital literacy has become fundamental nowadays.


Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *