Worcester Digital Literacy - WORDLE

A Collection of Definitions

This paper will present a collection of definitions and thoughts illustrating the way the term ‘Digital Literacy’ has been defined over the years. The quotes are taken from around 120 sources, a database of which will be made available in due course.

We offer no critical evaluation of these definitions at this time, they are simply laid out to show how terms under the ‘Digital Literacy’ banner (such as Digital Literacies, eLiteracy, Multiliteracies or Multiple Literacies, Media Literacy, ICT Literacy, and Information Literacy), have been described collectively or in a singular sense.

The quotes will be presented chronologically under 4 headings – ‘Nineties’, ‘Early Noughties’, ‘Late Noughties’, and ‘Present Day’, in order that more critical comment can be introduced in due course.

The Worcester Digital Literacy - WORDLE project is one of a number that are being funded by the ‘Joint Information Systems Committee’ (JISC), where the aim of the Developing Digital Literacies programme is

‘to promote the development of coherent, inclusive and holistic institutional strategies and organisational approaches for developing digital literacies for all staff and students in UK further and higher education.’

Earlier research for the JISC has highlighted the ‘digital challenge’, as discussed by Beetham, McGill & Littlejohn (2009), in their Learning Literacies for the Digital Age project -

The phrase digital literacies or literacies for a digital age expresses a tension between two points of view:

education needs to carry on doing much what it has always done (literacy as a generic capacity for thinking, communicating ideas, and intellectual work)

education needs to change fundamentally (digital technologies and networks as transforming what it means to work, think, communicate and learn)

From this point on, the quotes referred to will be split into the terms referred to above, and will aim to illustrate how some educationalists have considered treating ‘literacy’ in a generic sense, while others believe that education needs to change, stressing the importance of digital technologies and networks.

Digital Literacy - Nineties

Lanham, R 1995 Digital Literacy

Digital literacy works in an inherently different way. The same digital code that expresses words and numbers can, if the parameters of expression are adjusted, generate sounds and images.

Pool, C.R. 1997 A New Digital Literacy: A Conversation with Paul Gilster

Digital literacy is the ability to understand information and – more important – to evaluate and integrate information in multiple formats that the computer can deliver.

Digital Literacy - Early Noughties

Buckingham, D & McFarlane A 2001 A digitally driven curriculum

Page 12

Digital literacy is not merely a 'functional' literacy. The skills that children need in relation to digital media are not confined to those of information retrieval. As with print, children also need to be able to evaluate and use information critically if they are to transform it into knowledge.

Digital literacy is more than simply a matter of protecting children from the dangers of digital media. It is much more than a negative or defensive enterprise. As with older media, children need to be empowered to make informed choices on their own behalf, and to protect and regulate themselves.

Digital literacy must involve creative production in new media as well as critical consumption. Just as print literacy involves writing as well as reading, we also need to empower children to become producers in their own right.

Bawden, D 2001 Information and digital literacies; a review of concepts

Page 21

The term ‘digital literacy’ has been used by a number of authors throughout the 1990s, to refer to an ability to read and understand hypertextual and multimedia texts; see, for example, Lanham (1995), who treats the term as synonymous with ‘multimedia literacy’.

Gilster does not attempt to provide structured lists of specific skills or components of digital literacy, which he defines generally as ‘the ability to understand and use information in multiple formats from a wide variety of sources when it is presented via computers’. Indeed he specifically states that ‘digital literacy is about mastering ideas, not keystrokes’ distinguishing this concept, by implication, from more restricted views of computer/IT literacy. And ‘digital literacy likewise extends the boundaries of definition. It is cognition of what you see on the computer screen when you use a networked medium. It places demands upon you that were always present, though less visible, in the analogue media of newspaper and TV. At the same time, it conjures up a new set of challenges that require you to approach networked computers without preconceptions. Not only must you acquire the skill of finding things, you must also acquire the ability to use these things in your life’.

Indeed Gilster sees digital literacy - ‘literacy in the Digital Age’ - as being a current instantiation of the ‘traditional’ concept of literacy itself, which has always been seen as involving, at its simplest, both reading and writing.

Ba, H; Tally, W & Tsikalas, K 2002 Investigating Children’s Emerging Digital Literacies

Page 5

The CEO Forum’s School Technology and Readiness Report defines digital literacy as a list of basic and intellectual skills “including language proficiency, namely, reading, writing, listening and speaking; scientific thinking, defined as the knowledge of science, mathematics and the relationships between science, mathematics, and technology; and technological literacy, including competence in the use of computers, networks and digital content” (CEO Forum on Education and Technology, 2001).

Page 6

From our perspective, digital literacy is best viewed as a set of habits children use in their interaction with information technologies for learning, work, and fun.

Eshet-Alkalai, Y 2004 Digital Literacy: A Conceptual Framework for Survival Skills in the Digital Era

Page 1

Digital literacy involves more than the mere ability to use software or operate a digital device; it includes a large variety of complex cognitive, motor, sociological, and emotional skills, which users need in order to function effectively in digital environments.

Digital Literacy - Late Noughties

Buckingham, D 2006 Defining digital literacy - What do young people need to know about digital media?

Page 264

The internet, computer games, digital video, mobile phones and other contemporary technologies provide new ways of mediating and representing the world, and of communicating. Outside school, children are engaging with these media, not as technologies but as cultural forms. If educators wish to use these media in schools, they cannot afford to neglect these experiences: on the contrary, they need to provide students with means of understanding them. This is the function of what I am calling digital literacy.

Demunter, C 2006 How skilled are Europeans in using computers and the Internet?

Page 2

Digital literacy involves the confident and critical use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) for work, leisure and communication.

Midoro, V 2007 Literacy For The Knowledge Society

Page 16

...digital literacy can be interpreted as an individual identity (or as the process determining it), which not only allows an individual to effectively operate in society, but also to participate in its development. This participation takes places through the performance of social functions, by means of effective use of the available technologies and resources.

Martin, A & Grudziecki, J 2007 DigEuLit: Concepts and Tools for Digital Literacy Development

Page 254

The convergence of digital literacies formed the starting point for the DigEuLit Project 1, proposed as a response to a call for actions on ”digital literacy” in the context of the eLearning Programme of the European Commission:

The ability to use ICT and the Internet becomes a new form of literacy – “digital literacy”.

Page 254

The notion of digital literacy being embedded in life situations is also brought out in the report Digital Horizons of the New Zealand Ministry of Education:

Digital literacy is the ability to appreciate the potential of ICT to support innovation in industrial, business and creative processes.

Rosado, E & Belisle, C 2007 Analysing Digital Literacy Frameworks

Page 18

Digital literacy is an evolving concept. Digital literacy had initially been understood as equivalent to technological literacy, in a technologically centred approach.

However, digital literacy can also refer to an in-depth understanding of literacy in a knowledge society, with what it implies in terms of competences, empowerment and critical reflection. “Literacy is underpinned by critical thinking and the ability to challenge dominant ideologies. All literacy practices are integrated within the social context. The objectives of literacy are holistic. They are not limited to individual and/or vocational outcomes, and they include the building of capacity for communities” (Markauskaite, 2005).

Erstad, O 2007 Conceiving digital literacies in schools - Norwegian experiences

Page 2-3

In the White Paper, making the framework for the curriculum, it is described as;

Digital literacy is the sum of simple ICT skills, like being able to read, write and calculate, and more advanced skills that makes creative and critical use of digital tools and media possible.

Lankshear, C & Knobel, M 2008 Digital Literacies: Concepts, Policies and Practices

Page 2

We believe it is important to emphasize the plurality of digital literacies because of:

the sheer diversity of specific accounts of “digital literacy” that exist, and consequent implications of that for digital literacy policies;

the strength and usefulness of a sociocultural perspective on literacy as practice, according to which literacy is best understood as literacies (Street, 1984; Lankshear, 1987; Gee, 1996). By extension, then, digital literacy can usefully be understood as digital literacies—in the plural;

the benefits that may accrue from adopting an expansive view of digital literacies and their significance for educational learning.

Helsper, E.J. 2008 Digital Literacy: Different Cultures Different Understandings

Page 4

Digital Literacy according to regulators

…‘the ability to access, understand and create communications in a variety of contexts’. (Ofcom, 2006)

DG Information Society and Media 2008

Digital Literacy European Commission Working Paper and Recommendations from Digital Literacy High-Level Expert Group

Page 4

Digital literacy is the skills required to achieve digital competence, the confident and critical use of ICT for work, leisure, learning and communication. Digital Competence was included as one of the eight essential skills, in the Recommendation on Key Competences for Lifelong learning.

 Unknown 2008 Digital Literacy The e-START position paper

Page 1

...there are approaches which focus on the conceptual understandings of the constituting parts of the term, namely the meanings of “digital” and “literacy” (Mifsud, 2006; Scott, 2003; Tyner, 1998; Bawden, 2001; Livingstone, 2004). Others, seem to concentrate on the relationship between “digital literacy” and other educationally challenging, ideologically stimulating and inter-related terms (such as, media literacy, computer literacy, information literacy, network literacy, etc) by emphasizing the variety of differences and similarities that can be detected among their conceptual interpretations (Eshet, 2004; Tyner, 1998; Bawden, 2001; Jones and Flannigan, 2006). Notably, none of these conceptual analyses appears to conclude to a working definition of “digital literacy” encompassing all differentiated meanings. Yet, their comparative review may illustrate a range of commonly agreed definitional characteristics.

BECTA 2009 BECTA Digital Literacy 3 to 16 Review PART A: Executive Summary

Page 12

Stergioulas (Stergioulas_2006_UK_G) defined digital literacy as:

…the awareness, attitude and ability of individuals to appropriately use digital tools and facilities to identify, access, manage, integrate, evaluate, analyse and synthesize digital resources, construct new knowledge, create media expressions, and communicate with others, in the context of specific life situations, in order to enable constructive social action; and to reflect upon this process.

BECTA 2009 BECTA Digital Literacy 3 to 16 Review PART C: Catalogue Of Evidence

Page 4

Digital literacy, simply put, is about critical thinking skills in the context of technology use. There are two components: digital skills and critical thinking skills.

“Digital literacy, simply put, is about critical thinking skills in the context of technology use. There are two components: digital skills and critical thinking skills.”

Hague, C & Williamson, B 2009 Digital participation, digital literacy, and school subjects

Page 5

So digital literacy means knowing how technology and media affect the ways in which we go about finding things out, communicating with one another, and gaining knowledge and understanding. And it also means understanding how technologies and media can shape and influence the ways in which school subjects can be taught and learnt. In a dense landscape of information sources, communication opportunities, and tools for creating new digital objects, teaching and learning cannot be confined to pen and paper activities.

Newrly, P & M Veugelers 2009 How to strengthen digital literacy? Practical example of a European initiative “SPreaD”

Page 2-3

The same division of digital literacy can also be discerned in the definition by Martin (2006). He sums up digital literacy as follows:

“Digital literacy is the awareness, attitude and ability of individuals to appropriately use digital tools and facilities to identify, access, manage, integrate, evaluate, analyse and synthesise digital resources, construct new knowledge, create media expressions, and communicate with others in the context of specific life situations, in order to enable constructive social action; and to reflect upon this process.”

Digital Literacy - Present day

Grant, L 2010 Connecting digital literacy between home and school

Page 4

The term ‘digital literacy’ is contested, and understood in different ways by different people. The working definition that has been used throughout this project is: “digital literacy is the way in which people understand, make and share meaning with digital media and technologies”.

Hague, C & Payton, S 2010 Digital Literacy in Practice Case Studies of Primary and Secondary Classrooms

Page 5

To be digitally literate is to have access to a broad range of practices and cultural resources that you are able to apply to digital tools.

BECTA 2010 Digital Literacy Teaching critical thinking in our digital world

Page 4

1. What is Digital literacy?

Digital literacy is a combination of: • functional technology skills • critical thinking • collaboration skills and • social awareness.

It is sometimes called web literacy, information literacy, internet literacy or media literacy.

The term ‘digital literacy’ relates to:

• the functional skills of knowing about and using digital technology effectively • the ability to analyse and evaluate digital information • knowing how to act sensibly, safely and appropriately online • understanding how, when, why and with whom to use technology.

Chase, Z & Laufenberg, D 2011 Embracing the Squishiness of Digital Literacy

Page 535

The thing about digital literacy is its inherent squishiness. Educators argue whether the tool or the purpose matters most. They debate whether something being “electronic” constitutes “digital.” Does it need a screen? A keyboard? More than that, teachers must decide what it means to read and write digitally and how to assess those skills. Just as teachers were working to conclusively de-fine literacy, digital literacy arrived on the scene and the discussion started again.

Digital Literacies - Late Noughties

Lankshear, C & Knobel, M 2008 Digital Literacies: Concepts, Policies and Practices

Page 2

We believe it is important to emphasize the plurality of digital literacies because of:

the sheer diversity of specific accounts of “digital literacy” that exist, and consequent implications of that for digital literacy policies;

the strength and usefulness of a sociocultural perspective on literacy as practice, according to which literacy is best understood as literacies (Street, 1984; Lankshear, 1987; Gee, 1996). By extension, then, digital literacy can usefully be understood as digital literacies - in the plural;

the benefits that may accrue from adopting an expansive view of digital literacies and their significance for educational learning.

Beetham, H; McGill, L & Littlejohn, A (Prof) 2009 Learning Literacies for the Digital Age

Briefing Paper

Page 8

The phrase digital literacies or literacies for a digital age expresses a tension between two points of view:

education needs to carry on doing much what it has always done (literacy as a generic capacity for thinking, communicating ideas, and intellectual work)

education needs to change fundamentally (digital technologies and networks as transforming what it means to work, think, communicate and learn).

Digital Literacies - Present Day

Gillen, J & Barton, D 2010 Digital Literacies

Page 6

Digital literacies are in a deep and profound sense new literacies, not merely the traditional concept of literacy – reading and writing – carried on in new media.

eLiteracy or e-literacy/E-literacy & eLiteracies, e-literacies/E-literacies - Late Noughties

Martin, A & Grudziecki, J 2007 DigEuLit: Concepts and Tools for Digital Literacy Development

Page 254

It is also reflected in the definition of “eLiteracy” coined by Martin (2003: 18):

The awarenesses, skills, understandings, and reflective-evaluative approaches that are necessary for an individual to operate comfortably in information-rich and ICT-supported environments. … For the individual, eLiteracy consists of:

a) awareness of the ICT and information environment; b) confidence in using generic ICT and information tools; c) evaluation of information-handling operations and products; d) reflection on one’s own eLiteracy development; e) adaptability and willingness to meet eLiteracy challenges. (Martin, 2003: 18)

Lankshear, C & Knobel, M 2008 Digital Literacies: Concepts, Policies and PracticesBawden, D 2008 Origins and Concepts of Digital Literacy

Page 24/25

The phrase “e-literacy,” stemming from “electronic literacy,” and still generally used as a synonym for skills-based computer literacy, has been adopted in some quarters as virtually synonymous with digital literacy, as in the definition in a Leeds University (UK) glossary of teaching technology:

e-literacy—not to be confused with illiteracy, e-literacy is a much debated topic which goes some way to combine the traditional skills of computer literacy, aspects of information literacy (the ability to find, organize and make use of digital information) with issues of interpretation, knowledge construction and expression (http://www.leeds.ac.uk/glossaries)

Multiliteracies, Multi-literacies or Multiple Literacies - Late Noughties

Eyman, D 2007 Digital Literac(ies), Digital Discourses and Communities of practice: Literacy Practices in Virtual Environments

Page 9-10

Carmen Luke (2000) frames her articulation of digital literacy practices via the notion of “multiliteracies”:

The Multiliteracies of digital electronic “texts” are based on notions of hybridity and intertextuality. Meaning-making from the multiple linguistic, audio, and symbolic visual graphics of hypertext meansthat the cyberspace navigator must draw on a range of knowledges about traditional and newly blended genres or representational conventions, cultural and symbolic codes, as well as linguistically coded and software-driven meanings (p. 73).

Martin, A & Grudziecki, J 2007 DigEuLit: Concepts and Tools for Digital Literacy Development

Page 253

“Focusing on the idea of a range of distinct but interrelated literacies, some commentators use plural terms: thus Kellner (2002: 163) prefers the term “multiple literacies” which “points to the many different kinds of literacies needed to access, interpret, criticise, and participate in the emergent new forms of culture and society…”

“Tyner (1998: 63-68) recognises the need to refer to multiliteracies, but prefers to identify groups of linked literacies while retaining “literacy” as an overarching concept. Kress (2003) also supports developing a new theoretical framework for literacy which can use a single set of concepts to address its various aspects.”

Lankshear, C & Knobel, M 2008 Digital Literacies: Concepts, Policies and PracticesRantala, L & Suoranta 2008 Digital Literacy Policies in the EU – Inclusive Partnership

as the Final Stage of Governmentality?

Page 97-98

“Recent developments in the theory of literacy have in various ways emphasized the multiplicity of literacies. This idea has its theoretical grounds in the sociocultural tradition and its empirical base lies partly in the proliferation of digitalized information and communication channels in the past few decades. Alongside language, as James Paul Gee (2003, pp. 13–14) writes, these new information and communication systems involve many other visual symbols, such as images, graphs and diagrams, and the skills to use and interpret them. In addition, these “texts” are multimodal, that is, they mix words, images and other forms of information. Hence, multiple literacies are needed because there are di erent ways of reading and writing diverse multimodal texts.”ff

Media Literacy - Early Noughties

Bawden, D 2001 Information and digital literacies; a review of concepts

Page 6

This term is used to imply critical thinking in assessing information gained from the mass media: television, radio, newspapers and magazines, and (increasingly) the Internet (see, for example, the papers in the volume edited by Kubey (1997)).

‘Media literacy, the movement to expand notions of literacy to include the powerful post-print media that dominate our informational landscape, helps people understand, produce and negotiate meanings in a culture made up of powerful images, words and sounds. A media literate person - and everyone should have the opportunity to become one - can decode, evaluate, analyze and produce both print and electronic media.’ (Aufderheide and Firestone 1993)

Livingstone, S & Thumin, N 2003 Assessing the Media Literacy of UK Adults

Page 6-8

In its paper, ‘Media Literacy: Next Steps’, the BSC/ITC/NIACE working group offers a working definition which defines media literacy as follows:

‘Media literacy exists when the user not only has access to a full range of electronic media, but is able to comprehend the choices available and evaluate them’ (BSC (01) 33)

Livingstone, S 2004 Media Literacy and the Challenge of New Information and Communication Technologies

Page 3

The concept of media literacy, like that of literacy itself, has long proved contentious (Luke, 1989). The hugely significant skills of reading and writing have been augmented by the also-significant skill of “reading” audiovisual material from the mid-twentieth century onward. Today, as we witness a further major shift in information and communication technology (ICT), a new form of literacy is emerging, uneasily termed computer literacy or Internet literacy. This new form of literacy, if it is indeed “new,” and if it is appropriately labeled “literacy, lies at the heart of a series of lively debates intersecting the academy, the policy community, and the public.

Media Literacy - Late Noughties

Martin, A & Grudziecki, J 2007 DigEuLit: Concepts and Tools for Digital Literacy Development

Page 252

Media literacy has developed from the critical evaluation of mass media, and is a major educational and research activity in both the US and Europe. The Alliance for a Media Literate America offers the following definition on its website:

Within North America, media literacy is seen to consist of a series of communication competencies, including the ability to ACCESS, ANALYZE, EVALUATE and COMMUNICATE information in a variety of forms including print and non-print messages. Interdisciplinary by nature, media literacy represents a necessary, inevitable and realistic response to the complex, ever-changing electronic environment and communication cornucopia that surrounds us. (http://www.amlainfo.org/home/media-literacy)

Lea, M & Goodfellow, R 2009 Academic Literacies in the Digital University

Page 3

‘Media literacy’ education has been positioned as a locus of struggle between tradition and creativity (e.g. Lankshear & Knobel 2003 & 2006) which emphasises new approaches to design at the expense of conventional academic critique.

BECTA 2009 BECTA Digital Literacy 3 to 16 Review PART C: Catalogue Of Evidence

Page 13

Some definitions of media literacy are also interchangeable with the concepts at the heart of information and digital literacy. For example, Ofcom 1 defines media literacy as :

‘the ability to access, understand and create communications in a variety of contexts’.

This surely is such a wide definition that it could be used to describe information literacy, digital Literacy or any of what Bawden (Bawden_2001_UK_G) calls the skills-based literacies (computer literacy, IT literacy, library literacy, internet literacy etc).

Banzato, M 2009 Report_on_Conceptualisations_of_Digital Literacy Defining Literacies and Frameworks

Page 37

Media literacy, the movement to expand notions of literacy to include the powerful post-print media that dominate our informational landscape, helps people understand, produce and negotiate meanings in a culture made up of powerful images, words and sounds. A media literate person - and everyone should have the opportunity to become one - can decode, evaluate, analyse and produce both print and electronic media.

Title: Media literacy: a report of the national leadership conference on media literacyFull Reference: P Aufderheide and CM Firestone (1993), Media literacy: a report of the national leadership conference on media literacy, Aspen Institute, Washington DC

OFCOM 2009 Report of the Digital Britain Media Literacy Working Group

Page 4-5

3.1 There is no single, agreed definition of media literacy. Media literacy is an umbrella term covering a set of personal skills, knowledge and understanding of media and communications. It is a specialist term, not part of everyday language.

Media Literacy - Present Day

Fu, J & Pow, J 2011 Fostering Digital Literacy through Web-based Collaborative Inquiry Learning

Page 58

Media literacy has traditionally meant being a wise consumer of mass media.

Media literacy implies having access to, understanding of, and creating/expressing oneself using media (Horton, 2007). Ofcom (2009) extends this tripartite relationship and defines media literacy as the ability to access, understand, and create communications in a variety of contexts. From this

perspective, the term “digital literacy” better describes literacy in the digital age and stresses the balance of demystification and creation of media in the context of digital media convergence.

Goodfellow, R 2011 Literacy, literacies and the digital in higher education

Page 133-134

Media literacy, perhaps the most expansive and interesting concept for educators at this moment in time (for reasons that will be developed below), emerged from teaching about mass media by communications specialists within the schools curriculum. Early approaches to media literacy emphasised the interpretation of media practices rather than the productive use of media themselves and this influenced the development of the uniquely critical perspective that these communities have brought to the digital literacies debate.

Koltay, T 2011 The media and the literacies media literacy, information literacy, digital literacy

Page 212-213

...media literacy is an umbrella concept. It is characterized by a diversity of perspectives and a multitude of definitions. This can be seen as both a strength and a weakness for it: the field is open to new possibilities and innovation, while there are various and sometimes dissimilar notions about its nature (Mendoza, 2007).

Media literacy is generally defined as the ability to access the media, to understand and to critically evaluate different aspects of the media and media content and to create communications in a variety of contexts (European Commission, 2007).

Page 213

It is worth inspecting a Canadian approach, as well. The definition by the Ontario Association for Media Literacy (AML), cited by Duncan (2006), puts emphasis on the educational aspect:

Media literacy is concerned with developing an informed and critical understanding of the nature of the mass media, the techniques used by them, and the impact of these techniques. It is education that aims to increase students’ understanding and enjoyment of how the media work, how they produce meaning, how they are organized, and how they construct reality. Media literacy also aims to provide students with the ability to create media products. (Duncan, 2006)

Gutiérrez Martín and Hottmann (2006) also add that – on a more specific level – media literacy has to do with education, the primary objective of which is the following:

To increase students’ understanding and enjoyment of media, facilitate understanding of how the media produce meaning, how they are organized, and how they construct their own reality – all this while keeping in mind the skills and knowledge necessary to create media products. (Gutiérrez Martín and Hottmann, 2006)

Potter, W 2011 Media Literacy

Page 12

Many people have written about media literacy. One characteristic about all this thinking about media literacy is that authors will focus on different kinds of media. The most fundamental use of the term literacy applies to a person’s ability to read the written word. With the advent of additional technologies to convey messages, people have also written about the need for visual literacy, story literacy, and computer literacy, to name a few areas of media focus, I (the author) take a broad perspective that is concerned with people’s ability to access and process information from any form of transmission.

ICT Literacy - Early Noughties

Oliver, R & Towers, S 2000 Benchmarking ICT Literacy in Tertiary Learning Settings

Page 3

Most definitions of ICT literacy include a breakdown of the knowledge and skills of a computer literate person. These typically are categorised in ways, which facilitate some form of measurement and assessment. This breakdown often provides further insights into understandings of the terms and concepts.

ICT Literacy - Late Noughties

Erstad, O 2007 Conceiving digital literacies in schools - Norwegian experiences

Page 4

Fraillon, Freeman & Mendelovits 2006), define ICT-literacy as

“the ability of individuals to use ICT appropriately to access, manage, integrate and evaluate information, develop new understandings (create), and communicate with others in order to participate effectively in society”.

Martin, A & Grudziecki, J 2007 DigEuLit: Concepts and Tools for Digital Literacy Development

Page 250-251

ICT literacy is the interest, attitude and ability of individuals to appropriately use digital technology and communication tools to access, manage, integrate and evaluate information, construct new knowledge, and communicate with others in order to participate effectively in society. (van Joolingen, 2004)

Educational Testing Services 2007 Digital Transformation A Framework for ICT Literacy

Page 1

ICT literacy cannot be defined primarily as the mastery of technical skills. The panel concludes that the concept of ICT literacy should be broadened to include both critical cognitive skills as well as the application of technical skills and knowledge. These cognitive skills include general literacy, such as reading and numeracy, as well as critical thinking and problem solving. Without such skills, the panel believes that true ICT literacy cannot be attained.

Lankshear, C & Knobel, M 2008 Digital Literacies: Concepts, Policies and Practices

Soby, M 2008 Digital Competence – From Education Policy to Pedagogy: The Norwegian Context

Page 130

ICT literacy is using digital technology, communications tools, and/or networks to access, manage, integrate, evaluate, and create information in order to function in a knowledge society. The panel’s definition reflects the notion of ICT literacy as a continuum, which allows the measurement of various aspects of literacy, from daily life skills to the transformative benefits of ICT proficiency (Educational Testing Service, 2002, p. 2).

BECTA 2009 BECTA Digital Literacy 3 to 16 Review PART C: Catalogue Of Evidence

Page 32

In order to be realistic, policy holders should have three measures of digital literacy in terms of what is intended (by policy makers), what is implemented (by schools), and what is achieved (in students).

To have a well-rounded picture of the notion of ICT literacy in a specific context, three dimensions of ICT literacy - intended, implemented and achieved - must be investigated. Each dimension is related to different levels and aspects of an educational system: intended to top-level policy aims and strategic attitudes; implemented to middle-level teaching and learning approaches; achieved to base-level empirical learning activities and to students' experiences and outcomes. Different analytical perspectives and models are relevant for the analysis of ICT literacy within each dimension…the links and interactions between different analytical perspectives and frameworks that are applied in each dimension are apparent [see Figure xxx]:

Markauskaite_2006_AU_G

Banzato, M 2009 Report_on_Conceptualisations_of_Digital Literacy Defining Literacies and Frameworks

Page 26

[…] whatever a person needs to be able to do with computers and know about computers in order to function in an information-based society.

Title: My students use computers: learning activities for computer literacyFull Reference: Hunter B (1985), My students use computers: learning activities for computer literacy, Reston Publishing, Reston, CT Keywords: ICT literacy, learning, computer

Page 34

What is literacy with ICT?

Literacy with ICT means choosing and using ICT, responsibly and ethically, to support critical and creative thinking about information and about communication. Literacy with ICT contains ICT literacy (see Figure 1).

This representation shows the relationship between ICT literacy (i.e., demonstrating ICT skills) and literacy with ICT (i.e., choosing and using ICT, responsibly and ethically, to support critical and creative thinking about information and about communication across the curriculum). ICT literacy is a critical component of literacy with ICT, but it is not sufficient in itself. (see p.8)

Title: Literacy with ICT across the curriculum Full Reference: Literacy with ICT across the curriculum. A Recourse for developing computer literacy, 2006. Web Link: http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/tech/lict/resources/handbook/lict.pdf Keywords: computer literacy, ICT in student education, literacy with ICT

Information Literacy - Early Noughties

Bawden, D 2001 Information and digital literacies; a review of concepts

Page 9

This term seems to have been first used by Paul Zurkowski (1974). Its early usage, and in particular its emergence as a close relation to ideas of educational reform, particularly in the USA, are reviewed by Behrens (1994), Doyle (1994), Ridgeway (1990), Rader (1991) and Kuhlthau (1987).

Zurkowski’s initial usage of term, however, in a submission to the US National Commission on Libraries and information Science in 1974, in his capacity as president of the US information Industries Association, was rather different. Describing the information service environment within the USA, and focusing on the private sector, Zurkowski suggested that national information literacy within a decade was a reasonable goal. He saw information literacy as emerging from the transformation of traditional library services into more innovative private sector information provision, and the policy issues associated. Information literacy was associated with the effective use of information within a working, probably commercial, environment, and specifically with problem solving:

‘People trained in the application of information resources to their work can be called information literates. They have learned techniques and skills for utilizing the wide range of information tools as well as primary sources in moulding information solutions to their problems’.

Webber, S & Johnston, B 2003 Information Literacy in the United Kingdom: a critical review

Page 2

"Information literacy is the adoption of appropriate information behaviour to identify, through whatever channel or medium, information well fitted to information needs, leading to wise and ethical use of information in society."

Eshet-Alkalai, Y 2004 Digital Literacy: A Conceptual Framework for Survival Skills in the Digital Era

Page 101

The term Information literacy, as used in this article, refers to the cognitive skills that consumers use to evaluate information in an educated and effective manner. Information literacy works as a filter: it identifies erroneous, irrelevant, or biased information, and prevents its infiltration into the learner’s system of considerations (Gilster, 1997; Minkel, 2000). Information-literate people think critically, and are always ready to doubt the quality of information. They are not tempted to take information for granted, even when it seems “authoritative” and valid.

Campbell, S 2004 Defining Information Literacy in the 21st Century

Page 1 -2

Information literacy is not a term without definition. In fact, so much effort and ink has been dedicated to defining this term that Edward Owusu-Ansah has suggested calling a halt to defining the term and just getting on with the business of doing information literacy.

The most generally accepted definition of information literacy that one finds in the literature is the one put forward by the American Library Association in 1989:

To be information literate, a person must be able to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate and use effectively the needed information.

While this definition emanates from North America, it is not substantially different from those being applied in other countries such as the United Kingdom, South Africa and Australia and the Nordic countries.

Information Literacy - Late Noughties

Williams, D.A (Prof) & Wavell, C 2006 Information Literacy in the Classroom:

Secondary School Teachers Conceptions

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Information literacy is the term used to describe the ability to find and use information effectively in relation to need and purpose. It has been variously defined as the ability to:

“...recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate and use effectively the needed information” (Breivik, 1989);

“...identify, locate, evaluate, organize and effectively use information to address issues or problems at hand that face individuals, communities, and nations.” (Thompson, 2003); and

“...knowing when and why you need information, where to find it, and how to evaluate, use and communicate it in an ethical manner” (CILIP, 2004).

Martin, A & Grudziecki, J 2007 DigEuLit: Concepts and Tools for Digital Literacy Development

Page 251 - 252

An “Information Literacy Meeting of Experts”, held in Prague in 2003, led to the “Prague Declaration” (UNESCO, 2003) stressing the global importance of information literacy in the context of the “Information Society”. It includes the statement that:

Information Literacy encompasses knowledge of one’s information concerns and needs, and the ability to identify, locate, evaluate, organize and effectively create, use and communicate information to address issues or problems at hand; it is a prerequisite for participating effectively in the Information Society, and is part of the basic human right of life long learning. (ibid.: 1)

Irving, C & Crawford, J 2007 A National Information Literacy Framework Scotland

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Information Literacy is about:

‘knowing when and why you need information, where to find it, and how to evaluate it, use and communicate it in an ethical manner.’

Hjorland, B 2008 Information Literacy and Digital Literacy

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In her book Seven faces of information literacy (1997) Christine Bruce identifies seven categories of IL as experienced by Australian educators in two universities:

1. Information technology conception - using information technology for information retrieval and communication

2. Information sources conception - finding information

3. Information process conception - executing a process

4. Information control conception - controlling information

5. Knowledge construction conception - building up a personal knowledge base in a new area of interest

6. Knowledge extension conception - working with knowledge and personal perspectives adopted in such a way that novel insights are gained.

7. Wisdom conception - using information wisely for the benefit of others.

Banzato, M 2009 Report_on_Conceptualisations_of_Digital Literacy Defining Literacies and Frameworks

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People trained in the application of information resources to their work can be called information literates. They have learned techniques and skills for utilizing the wide range of information tools as well as primary sources in moulding information solutions to their problems. Title: The information service environment: relationships and prioritiesFull Reference: P Zurkowski (1974), The information service environment: relationships and priorities (Report ED 100391), National Commission on Libraries and Information Science, Washington DC.

Information Literacy - Present Day

Hague, C & Williamson, B 2010 Digital participation, digital literacy, and school subjects

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It is suggested that the 20 main skills which make up information literacy are:

questions, defining the task, making decisions, brainstorming, problem solving, identifying sources, locating sources, selecting sources, finding information within sources, reading for meaning, skimming and scanning, evaluating material, note-making, sorting and arranging, developing ideas, presenting findings, writing clearly, rhetoric, citing sources, evaluation and review.

Conclusion

In this introductory paper, we have introduced a broad selection of definitions of the terms

Digital Literacy, Digital Literacies, eLiteracy, Multiliteracies or Multiple Literacies,Media Literacy, ICT Literacy, and Information Literacy.

There has been no critical evaluation of these definitions as this will come later. We have simply put them down as a starting point for the rest of the Worcester Digital Literacy – WORDLE project.