In what seems to be an era of endless technological succession one must wonder how users effectively process and distil through constant surges of information brought forth by computerised information systems and varying cyber networks. Is the consumption of digital media an unteachable skill available only to those who are apart of the developmental youth culture or can digital media skills be measured through performance and transferred to the ‘ordinary person’ (Hartley 2009)? And if so, what distinguishes media consumption and user competency from digital literacy?
In his work From Cliché to Archetype (1970) Marshall McLuhan theorised that the ‘entire world of technology mimics the human body’ (McLuhan 2008, p.30). Communicative devices can ‘form and deform us’ (Vlieghe 2015, p. 217) as ‘the content of media technologies serves as a distraction from awareness of how the medium is moulding consciousness.’ (Fishman 2006, p.570). In practice the ‘sensory perceptions of users existing within a particular era’ (Fishman 2006, p569) become formed through the process of societal adaptation to digital environments. (Garcia & Navarro 2014). Users might find themselves able to react to a new technology due to a cognitive process that allows them to establish relationships with ‘what they perceive on the screen and their previous knowledge.’ (Giron-Garcia & Navarro 2014, p.162). Academia has dubbed this phenomenon as the concept of spontaneous digital literacy, implying that people who surf the net without specific instruction or training possess new technology skills: skills that allow individuals to ‘combine internet resources to solve problems and simplify and satisfy personal needs’(Giron-Garcia & Navarro 2014 p.166).
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However, the successful navigation of the technological landscape requires higher order skills moving beyond basic competency and consumption to a level of digital literacy that enables users to understand, evaluate, synthesize, consume and produce digital resources (Koltay 2011, p.216).This is made prevalent in the assumption that young people have a high level of technological understanding when they may only possess basic levels of technical competency (Walsh 2015). Thus to become digitally literate the ‘ordinary person’ must become critical, innovative and independent minded when consuming digital content (Hartley 2009). This involves the transference of a higher order skill that encourages users to manipulate and use media in new ways (Walsh 2015).
Similarly, the growing global rates of internet use and the use of social communications technologies is further distorting the boundaries between traditional learning environments and avenues of private independent life long learning. Hobart’s message and emphasis of the other experience ‘as another way of being in the truth’ (Hartley 2009) further reinforces the importance of critically analysing the digital world in an anthropological and cultural sense. (Poore 2011) Furthermore, Poore argues that we cannot rely on traditional academic practices in developing creative solutions to issues brought forth by the digital age (2011). As that the distribution of digital literacy skills among the general population requires ‘collaboration from different age groups, ethnic origins and different walks of life gathered in interest-drive online communities’ (Vlieghe 2015, p.213).
Thus acquiring digital literacy skills is not limited to those who are apart of the youth culture but rather requires the practice of constantly creating, engagement and production of digital content.
Reference List
- Fishman, D. A. 2006, ‘Rethinking Marshal McLuhan: Reflections on a Media Theorist’, Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, vol.50, no.3, pp.567-574.
- Giron Garcia, C. & Navarro, F. I. 2014, ‘Digital Literacy and Metaphorical Models’, Multidisciplinary Journal for Education, Social and Technological Sciences, vol. 1, no.2, pp.160-180.
- Hartley, J. 2009, The Uses of Digital Literacy, University of Queensland Press, Brisbane.
- Koltay, T. 2011, ‘The media and the literacies: media literacy, information literacy, digital literacy’, Media, Culture and Society, vol.33, no.2, pp.211-221.
- McLuhan, E. 2008, ‘Marshal McLuhan’s Theory of Communication: The Yegg 1’, Global Media Journal, vol. 1, no. 1, pp.25-43.
- Poore, M. 2011, ‘Digital Literacy: Human Flourishing and Collective Intelligence in a Knowledge Society’, Literacy Learning: The Middle Years, vol.19, no.2, pp.20-26.
- Vlieghe, J. 2015, ‘Traditional and digital literacy. The literacy hypothesis, technologies of reading and writing and the ‘grammatized’ body’, Ethics and Education, vol.10, no. 2, pp.209-269.
- Walsh, L. 2015, ‘From digital competency to digital literacy’, International School, Summer 2015, vol.17, no.3, pp.19-20.
Digitally 'Lit' 