The Shifting Definitions of Digital Literacy

Guest Authors: Kacper Nikołajuk & Dawid Kobeszko
2nd Year Students at the MA in English Philology, University of Białystok, Poland

It is hard to precisely describe what it means to be literate, especially when we think about the current, “up to date” meaning of the term. The existence of its numerous interpretations complicates this description even further. Some people think of literacy as the ability to decode words on a page. Others associate literacy as reading and writing grade-level texts. For still others, literacy involves reading, writing, speaking and listening — known collectively as the language arts (Ivey & Fisher, 2006, n.p). Since its introduction the meaning of literacy has undergone continuous evolution, which continues to this day. In addition, over the past twenty years, numerous efforts were made to expand the notion of literacy beyond its original application to the medium of writing (Buckingham, 2015, p. 22). As a result, the notion of literacy has been expanded by introducing concepts connected with literacy, such as visual literacy, technological literacy, information literacy, or television literacy, to name a few.

Thanks to technological advancement in recent years the notion of digital literacy was created. It is worth mentioning though, that the genesis of this term goes back to the 1980s. The most basic definition would be the basic set of skills that will enable the user to operate effectively, with software tools, or in performing basic information retrieval tasks (Buckingham, 2015, p. 23). Digital literacy is reconsidered a lot nowadays, because of various social and cultural factors. In order to illustrate an example of such factor, we can think of several campaigns in many countries, which focused on raising the parents’ awareness of existing dangers that their children may or even must encounter while using the internet (e.g. easy access to pornography or “doxxing”). For the purpose of aiding parents to understand this matter, the term digital literacy was promoted.

As mentioned earlier, the definition of digital literacy is hard to specify and elusive in nature, just like the definition of literacy itself. Still, there are specific key features, which make certain digital literacy’s definitions stand out from other variations. To begin with, digital literacy is something that deals with information (Lankshear & Knobel, 2005, p. 11). As a way of illustration, digitally literate people have to do different tasks with it (e.g. accessing, producing and using information). Furthermore, the most common of digital literacy definitions confuse interaction with information with validating the credibility of information (Lankshear & Knobel, 2005, p. 11). Lastly, Lankshear and Knobel point out that the majority of definitions portray digital literacy as something either inborn or acquired, which can be interpreted in limitless ways (e.g. ability or mastery).

This notion of digital literacy is vast to such a degree that it can be connected with other literacy divisions. Web literacy is one of them. The case of campaigns about raising awareness of dangers of the internet and, as a result, digital literacy can be brought up. This is connected with the fact that web literacy is linked to the use of the internet. Even so, this notion is not limited to exploring it. Another example is game literacy, which also has a broad range of interest. On the surface, it may seem like it is the mastery of specific game design elements or mechanics, features which are exclusive to video games. Interestingly, it is also concerned with analysis of similarities that games have with other types of media, like movies or books. Users (players, readers, viewers) must transfer some of their understanding across and between these media, and to this extent it makes sense to talk about “literacies” that operate — and are developed — across media (Mackey, 2002; quoted after Buckingham, 2015, p. 28).

In Polish schools, learning about digital literacy and media education in general is perceived in a rather skeptical and negative way by parents of students. They do not trust solutions supporting effective learning (Tomczyk et al. 2019, p. 162). Most parents think of ICT as a way of entertainment. Some teachers share this view, but the tendency in their case is changing. Many teachers consider technology as a way of increasing the attractiveness of the course. Thanks to the utilization of technology in the classroom, students can take part in different literacy and digital literacy practices (some of which can be associated with everyday life, which makes it even more attractive for students). They can participate in activities like blogging or fanfiction writing, in either formal or informal learning style. Even literacy practices in Twitter count, because they fit the definition of new literacies outlined by Coiro et al. (2008): they are multimodal, dynamically updating, situationally specific, and socially mediated practices (Greenhow and Gleason, 2012, p. 468).

References

Buckingham, D. (2015). “Defining digital literacy: What do you people need to know about digital media?” Nordic Journal of Digital Literacy, 21–34.

Greenhow, C. & Gleason, B. (2012). “Twitteracy: Tweeting as a New Literacy Practice.” The Educational Forum 76, 464–478.

Ivey, G., & Fisher, D. (2006). Creating Literacy-Rich Schools for Adolescents. Alexandria: ASCD.

Lankshear, Colin and Knobel, Micheal. (2005). Digital literacy and digital literacies: policy, pedagogy and research considerations for education.” Nordic Journal of Digital Literacy, 8–20.

Tomczyk, Ł., Wnek-Gozdek, J., Mroz, A., & Wojewodzic, K. (2019). ICT, digital literacy, digital inclusion and media education in Poland. In Tomczyk, Ł. & Oyelere, S. S. (eds.). ICT for learning and inclusion in Latin America and Europe. Pedagogical University of Cracow. DOI 10.24917/9788395373732.7