Introduction
I learned how to drive a car when I was 15years old. Back then, we had driver’s education in school. After learning all the basics and passing the road test, I got a permit. During that time, you had to read a road map to travel by car to areas that you were not familiar with. However, there were no road map literacy classes at my school. This left me without the skill and understanding of how to read a road map. I associate this experience with having digital literacy today.
In this TEDtalk with Sir Ken Robinson he talks about Las Vegas being in a place where it shouldn’t exist. He mentions that this is due to the power of the human imagination. Creativity necessarily relies on the human capacity to think of things that do not exist and find ways to bring them into existence. As I watched the video, and completed reading that were assigned, I recalled the evolution of communication and transportation all around the world. There was a time when riding a horse and buggy was the most practical mode of transportation for families. Fast forward to today. Who needs roadmaps when we have smart cars that can drive themselves.
There was a time when communication depended on someone riding on horseback from point A to point B. In today’s technology-driven communication landscape, we have wearable technology that instantly connects us to whomever we desire. In addition, smart watches can monitor our heart rate, count our calories, remind us of things we may have forgotten, answer email, and place video calls to most anyone around the world, instantly.
Digital Citizenship vs. Digital literacy
Growing up with this being the norm and not knowing anything other than reliance on and daily usage of technology, gives you digital citizenship. However, it doesn’t automatically give you digital literacy. It doesn’t make you digitally illiterate either. There is a journey that each person will need to take to attain and maintain digital literacy. With each iteration of our “techy” devices comes with it a need to understand how and when to incorporate it into your daily routine.
What’s the Relationship?
Today, our daily routines are designed with tech in mind. As a result, I can imagine what it is like to be a digital citizen Vis-a-vis the creation of a digital world and possessing little to no digital literacy. Both creativity and digital citizenship demand digital literacy.