โ21st Century Literaciesโ compiled by Cathy N. Davidson
Media theorist and practitioner Howard Rheingold has talked about four โTwenty-first Century Literaciesโโattention, participation, collaboration, and network awarenessโthat must to be addressed, understood and cultivated in the digital age. (see, http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/rheingold/category?blogid=108&cat=2538). Futurist Alvin Toffler argues that, in the 21st century, we need to know not only the three Rโs, but also how to learn, unlearn, and relearn. Expanding on these, here are ten โliteraciesโ that seem crucial for our discussion of โThis Is Your Brain on the Internet.โ
โข Attention: What are the new ways that we pay attention in a digital era? How do we need to change our concepts and practices of attention for a new era? How do we learn and practice new forms of attention in a digital age?
โข Participation: Only a small percentage of those who use new โparticipatoryโ media really contribute. How do we encourage meaningful interaction and participation? What is its purpose on a cultural, social, or civic level?
โข Collaboration: How do we encourage meaningful and innovative forms of collaboration? Studies show that collaboration can simply reconfirm consensus, acting more as peer pressure than a lever to truly original thinking. HASTAC has cultivated the methodology of โcollaboration by differenceโ to address the most meaningful and effective way that disparate groups can contribute.
โข Network awareness: What can we do to understand how we both thrive as creative individuals and understand our contribution within a network of others? How do you gain a sense of what that extended network is and what it can do?
โข Design: How is information conveyed differently in diverse digital forms? How do we understand and practice the elements of good design as part of our communication and interactive practices?
โข Narrative, Storytelling: How do narrative elements shape the information we wish to convey, helping it to have force in a world of competing information?
โข Critical consumption of information: Without a filter (such as editors, experts, and professionals), much information on the Internet can be inaccurate, deceptive, or inadequate. old media, of course, share these faults that are exacerbated by digital dissemination. How do we learn to be critical? What are the standards of credibility?
โข Digital Divides, Digital Participation: What divisions still remain in digital culture? Who is included and who is excluded and how do basic aspects of economics, culture, and literacy levels dictate not only who participates in the digital age but how we participate?
โข Ethics and Advocacy: What responsibilities and possibilities exist to move from participation, interchange, collaboration, and communication to actually working towards the greater good of society by digital means in an ethical and responsible manner?
โข Learning, Unlearning, and Relearning: Alvin Toffler has said that, in the rapidly changing world of the twenty-first century, the most important skill anyone can have is the ability to stop in oneโs tracks, see what isnโt working, and then find ways to unlearn old patterns and relearn how to learn. This requires all of the other skills in this program but is perhaps the most important single skill we will teach. It means that, whenever one thinks nostalgically, wondering if the โgood old daysโ will ever return, that oneโs โunlearningโ reflex kicks in to force us to think about what we really mean with such a comparison, what good it does us, and what good it does to reverse it. What can the โgood new daysโ bring? Even as a thought experimentโgedanken experimentโtrying to unlearn oneโs reflexive responses to change situation is the only way to become reflective about oneโs habits of resistance.