Digital Literacy:
To have the “capabilities required to thrive – that is to be an effective and responsible participant – in a digital society” requires the ability to work with all these media and systems.
However, there are in fact a lot of terms used to describe citizen’s ability to use digital media and systems. These are often overlapping and there are few if any ‘absolute’ definitions.
Key ones include:
- Literacy
- Media literacy
- Information literacy
- Computer literacy
- Digital literacy
- Data literacy
We will briefly look at each of these in turn.
What is defined as ‘literacy’ is always about the use of the communication technologies available at a point in time. Taken in their simplest sense Digital Literacy addresses the nature of contemporary media systems and the skills to use them – akin to the idea of Media Literacy. Data Literacy addresses the data ecology and economy that underpins these contemporary systems – akin to the idea of Information Literacy. Hopefully this blog provides you with a brief overview of how these ideas have developed and link together.
Literacy
The idea of literacy is of course ancient – with evidence of writing going back many thousands of years. The modern conceptions of literacy stem from the post Victorian era of mass literacy. Ideas of literacy range from the basic skills of reading and writing though to the ability to work with complex texts, be they Tolstoy or technical academic science papers. It is important to note that the ideas of Digital and Data literacy are not simply one of making an analogy between a skillset needed for ‘written’ texts and one for ‘computer systems’.
Literacy is therefore always about the use of the communication technologies available at the time, though it is of course a highly social and culturally differentiated set of practices. Importantly, certain literacy practices are deemed more worthy or useful – in other words there are notable value judgements made around what types of behaviours and knowledge should citizens have.
Media Literacy
The idea of media literacy grew from applying the idea of literacy to non-print media, especially broadcast media. As digital communications technologies have come along media literacy definitions have tried to include the breadth of broadcast and personal communications media.
The UK media regulator Ofcom defines Media Literacy as “the ability to use, understand and create media and communications in a variety of contexts”.
Resources link: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/research-and-data/media-literacy-research
The Centre for Media Literacy uses the following three-part definition:
- Media Literacy is a 21st century approach to education.
- It provides a framework to access, analyse, evaluate, and create messages in a variety of forms – from print to video to the Internet.
- Media literacy builds an understanding of the role of media in society as well as essential skills of inquiry and self-expression necessary for citizens of a democracy.
Resources link: https://www.medialit.org/reading-room/what-media-literacy-definitionandmore
Information Literacy
Ideas of Information Literacy often appear in relation to the use of organised information sources – such as libraries and databases. Very often, as with the definition below, they include an element of being a ‘citizen’ or of ‘citizenship’.
The UK Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CLIP) define Information Literacy as “the ability to think critically and make balanced judgements about any information we find and use. It empowers us as citizens to develop informed views and to engage fully with society.”
Resources link: https://www.cilip.org.uk/news/421972/What-is-information-literacy.htm
Computer Literacy
Computer literacy is less clearly defined and is often broadly viewed as the ability to use ‘computers’. Different definitions can stress different aspects of computer use including:
- “understanding the basic processes of computers and technology and being able to use those processes”
- “understanding of computer characteristics capabilities and applications, as well as an ability to implement this knowledge”
- “the comfort level someone has with using computer programs and other applications that are associated with computers”
- “the level of knowledge and skills about information and communication technologies and how to use it in your work and everyday life”
Some definitions of computer literacy are much closer to the CLIP definition of Information Literacy. Overall, definitions range from having practical skills of keyboard and mouse use, to the ability to code, or use of all forms of Information and Communication Technologies.
Digital Literacy
In 1997 Paul Gilster defined Digital Literacy as “the ability to both understand and use digitised information”. Since then, there have been a wide range of definitions that overtly build on media, computer, and information literacy as well as civic or social engagement. For example, the American Library Association (ALA) defines digital literacy as “the ability to use information and communication technologies to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information, requiring both cognitive and technical skills”.
Resources link: https://literacy.ala.org/digital-literacy
In the UK Advance HE define Digital Literacies(s) – plural – as a set of “capabilities required to thrive – that is to be an effective and responsible participant – in a digital society”.
Combining these definitions
UNESCO has proposed a combined Media and Information Literacy approach, to which they have added a set of digital skills (see Table 1). This framework underpins UNESCO’s approach to supporting organisations and countries to provide Media and Information Literacy education. Again, this definition and the supporting documentation focus on citizens “thinking critically and clicking wisely”.
Resources link: https://en.unesco.org/news/media-and-information-literate-citizens-thinkcritically-click-wisely
We take Digital Literacy to include the majority of the components listed by UNESCO as Media Literacy but refined to incorporate digital media and systems. By digital media and systems, we mean the full range of digital devices, platforms and content citizens encounter. This includes but is not limited to:
- Broadcast TV and Radio – mostly now produced and delivered digitally
- Streaming platforms – for music, film TV and other content
- Web content and platforms of all forms – from static web pages to shopping sites, from newspapers to government services
- Apps – that provide services and content via devices
- Games – from mobile game apps to multi-platform blockbuster games
Data Literacy
We take Data Literacy to include the majority of the components listed by UNESCO as Information Literacy but expanded to incorporate the nature of digital media and systems. Information Literacy was defined when most information was well managed and curated by key gatekeepers – from librarians to publishers.
For those wanting to explore Data Literacy in more depth, here is a list of recent academic research and reports. They do not offer one coherent definition and some focus very heavily on analytical data skills rather than citizenship.
- Carlson, J., & Johnston, L. (2015). Data information literacy: Librarians, data, and the education of a new generation of researchers. Purdue University Press.
- Civic Switchboard Guide, (2019) Developing civic data literacy. Retrieved from: https://civic-switchboard.gitbook.io/guide/library-roles/developing-civic-dataliteracy
- Crusoe, D. (2016). Data Literacy defined pro populo: To read this article, please provide a little information. The Journal of Community Informatics, 12(3), p.27-46
- D’Ignazio, C., (2017). Creative data literacy: Bridging the gap between the data-haves and data-have nots. Information Design Journal, 23(1), p.6-18.
- Deahl, E. (2014.) Better the data you know: Developing youth data literacy in schools and informal learning environments. Available at SSRN 2445621
- Philip, T.M., Olivares-Pasillas, M.C., Rocha, J. (2016). Becoming racially literate about data and data-literate about race: Data visualizations in the classroom as a site of racial-ideological micro-contestations. Cognition and Instruction. 34(4), p.361-388.
- Vahey, P., Yarnall, L., Patton, C., Zalles, D., Swan, K. (2006). Mathematizing middle school: Results from a cross-disciplinary study of data literacy. In Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA. p.1-15
Developing citizens data literacy: A short guide
Professor Simeon J. Yates (University of Liverpool)
Dr. Elinor Carmi (City University)
