Digital literacy 101. Good video from The Onion about Google flexing muscle and suspending Gmail for 2 hour to remind people of how reliant they are on it. People believe this!
"You've all heard there's no such thing as bad publicity. On the internet this is doubly true. When you link to a website - regardless of the reason - this strengthens its position in search engines. This means that a bad review of a website makes it more popular.
When you are discussing or alerting others to a website that promotes a fraud, scam, cult or other questionable business and you link to that site, search engines will (after a while) improve the offending site's rank.
Therefore, more people will find these shady websites, and will be exposed to their content without getting the proper context.
That's where donotlink comes in.
With donotlink.com, you can link to sites without giving them "Google juice".
Using donotlink.com instead of linking to questionable websites directly will prevent your links from improving these websites' position in search engines."
"NEW DELHI, INDIA: Aimed at promoting digital inclusion across the country, NASSCOM Foundation along with leading IT companies like Google and Intel is organizing the second Digital Literacy Week (DLW) from 9-13 December, 2013."
"The 5 Resources Model provides a framework to articulate the scope and dimensions of digital literacies. It is based on an established model of literacy which is underpinned by critical perspectives (the Four Resources Model of Critical Literacy, after Luke & Freebody). It has been adapted for the digital context.
The model has been developed to encompass the varied perceptions and meanings attributed to digital literacy. On the one hand some stakeholders put a strong focus on ICT, i.e. the skills involved in using computers, software and digitally enabled devices; others emphasise the social and interpersonal, creative and communicative skills highlighted by social media and Web 2.0; there are also critical and intellectual approaches associated with the term digital scholarship. Different stakeholders tend to emphasise different skillsets. The model therefore provides an overarching framework against which groups can develop a shared sense of the parameters and scope of digital literacy. This can inform the curriculum and map to graduate attributes as well as contribute to staff development and employability agendas."
Still to read but looks good. Aleks wrote a lot in the UK on computing, society and culture especially from a gaming perspective. Saw her give a really good talk on virtual worlds and education in Paisley once.