In a recent workshop I held here in Ottawa, the topic of digital and media literacy came up on a few occasions. I wanted to examine this a bit further and share some quick thoughts.
Let’s start with some definitions courtesy of Wikipedia:
- Digital Literacy is the knowledge, skills, and behaviors used in a broad range of digital devices such as smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktop PCs, all of which are seen as network rather than computing devices.
- Media Literacy is a repertoire of competencies that enable people to analyze, evaluate, and create messages in a wide variety of media modes, genres, and formats.
If the global events of the last few months have reinforced anything in my mind, it’s that digitally literate internet users tend have low levels of media literacy and media literate internet users tend to have low levels of digital literacy. I would love to see an evolution occur where media literacy includes digital literacy and vice-versa, as I think they are inseparable in this day in age.