Digital literacy is an individual's ability to find, evaluate, and communicate information using digital devices or digital media platforms, as well as the ability to navigate, evaluate, create, and communicate information in digital environments. Digital literacy combines technical and cognitive abilities; it includes using information and communication technologies to create, evaluate, and share information, and critically examining their social and political impacts.
Digital literacy initially focused on digital skills and stand-alone computers, but the advent of the internet and social media use has shifted some of its focus to mobile devices.
Digital literacy is related to, but different from, other forms of literacy. Information literacy focuses on the ability to locate, evaluate, and utilize information through numerous formats. Media literacy refers to the ability to analyze and interpret media messages and their influence. In contrast, digital literacy integrates these competencies while also including the practical use of digital tools, participation in online environments, and the creation of digital content. This broader scope highlights the interactive and participatory nature of digital spaces. While media literacy and information literacy can play a role in one's digital literacy, digital literacy refers to the digital platforms and the way information and messages are interpreted and conveyed.
History Digital literacy was first defined in a book published in 1997 by Paul Glister. Glister referred to digital literacy as the ability to understand and use information in multiple formats from a wide range of sources when it is presented via computers. Since this definition, digital technology has evolved, allowing the true definition of digital literacy to evolve as well. While digital literacy is not limited to computers, it does recognize digital technologies as a medium of messages that require specific literacies to understand, interpret, separate truth from fiction, and allow new meanings to be constructed.
Research into digital literacies draws from traditions of information literacy and research into media literacy which rely on socio-cognitive traditions, as well as research into multimodal composition, which relies on anthropological methodologies.Reddy, P., Sharma, B., & Chaudhary, K. (2020). Digital literacy: A review of literature. International Journal of Technoethics (IJT), 11(2), 65-94. Digital literacy is built on the expanding role of social science research in the field of literacyAu, K., and Jordan, C. (1981) "Teaching reading to Hawaiian children: Finding a culturally appropriate solution". as well as on concepts of visual literacy,Dondis, 1973, A Primer in Visual Literacy computer literacy,Molnar, A. (1979). The Next Great Crisis in America and information literacy.
The concept of digital literacy has evolved throughout the 20th and into the 21st centuries from a technical definition of skills and competencies to a broader comprehension of interacting with digital technologies.
Digital literacy is often discussed in the context of its precursor, media literacy. Media literacy education began in the United Kingdom and the United States due to war propaganda in the 1930s and the rise of advertising in the 1960s, respectively. Manipulative messaging and the increase in various forms of media further concerned educators. Educators began to promote media literacy education to teach individuals how to judge and assess the media messages they were receiving. The ability to critique digital and media content allows individuals to identify biases and evaluate messages independently. Both digital and media literacy include the ability to examine and comprehend the meaning of messages, judge credibility, and assess the quality of a digital work.
With the rise of file sharing on services such as Napster an ethics element began to get included in definitions of digital literacy.Bawden, D. (2008). Origins and concepts of digital literacy. Digital literacies: Concepts, policies and practices, 30(2008), 17-32. Frameworks for digital literacy began to include goals and objectives such as critically examining the political dimensions and power dynamics embedded in processes of digitization or datafication; as well as understanding the importance of becoming a socially responsible member of their community by spreading awareness and helping others find digital solutions at home, work, or on a national platform.
Digital literacy may also include the production of multimodal texts.Selfe, C. L. (2007). Multi-Modal Composition. Cresskill: Hampton. This definition refers more to reading and writing on a digital device but includes the use of any modes across multiple mediums that stress Semiotic meaning beyond graphemes. It also involves knowledge of producing other types of media, like recording and uploading video.
Overall, digital literacy shares many defining principles with other fields that use modifiers in front of the term "literacy" to define ways of being and domain-specific knowledge or competence. The term has grown in popularity in education and higher education settings and is used in both international and national standards.Knobel, M & Lanskear, C. (2008). Digital Literacies: Concepts, Policies, and Practices.
Academic and pedagogical concepts The pedagogy of digital literacy has begun to move across disciplines. In academia, digital literacy is part of the computing subject area alongside computer science and information technology,Furber, S. (2012). Shut down or restart?: The way forward for computing in UK schools. while some literacy scholars have argued for expanding the framing beyond information and communication technologies into literacy education overall.Leu, D. J., Zawilinski, L., Castek, J., Banerjee, M., Housand, B., Liu, Y., & O'Neil, M. (2007). What is new about the new literacies of online reading comprehension. Secondary school literacy: What research reveals for classroom practices, 37-68.
Similar to other evolving definitions of literacy that recognize the cultural and historical ways of making meaning,The New London Group (1997). New Literacy Studies digital literacy does not replace traditional methods of interpreting information but rather extends the foundational skills of these traditional literacies. Scholars have argued that digital literacy should be considered a part of the path towards acquiring knowledge.
The current model of digital literacy explores six skills listed below. Reproduction literacy: the ability to use digital technology to create a new piece of work or combine existing pieces of work to make it unique and applicable to personal understanding. Photo-visual literacy: the ability to read and deduce information from visuals. Branching literacy: the ability to successfully navigate in the non-linear medium of digital space. Information literacy: the ability to search, locate, assess and critically evaluate information found on the web and on-shelf in libraries, including validity of that information Socio-emotional literacy: the social and emotional aspects of being present online, whether it may be through socializing, and collaborating, or simply consuming content. Real-time thinking: the ability to process large volumes of stimuli at the same time
Artificial intelligence (AI)
Digital literacy skills continue to develop with the rapid advancements of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in the 21st century. AI technologies are designed to simulate human intelligence through the use of complex systems such as machine learning algorithms, natural language processing, and robotics.
The introduction of AI presents a new media platform that requires the skill of digital literacy. Learning how to use Artificial Intelligence comfortably, in a productive manner, is part of that literacy, but does not make it up entirely. Digital literacy does not simply refer to the use of these technologies, but rather the practices, attitudes, and behaviors that it supports. Using Artificial Intelligence in practice, as a way of conveying and receiving information, separating truth from false, or creating new meanings and ideas, is an example of digital literacy.
As these technologies emerge, so have different attempts at defining AI literacy - the ability to understand the basic techniques and concepts behind AI in different products and services. Many framings leverage existing digital literacy frameworks and apply an AI lens to the skills and competencies. Common elements of these frameworks include:
Know and understand: know the basic functions of AI and how to use AI applications Use and apply: applying AI knowledge, concepts and applications in different scenarios Evaluate and create: higher-order thinking skills (e.g., evaluate, appraise, predict, design) Ethical issues: considering fairness, accountability, transparency, and safety with AI
In society
Digital literacy is necessary for the correct and effective use of various digital platforms. Literacy in social network services and Web 2.0 sites help people stay in contact with others, pass information in a timely manner, and even buy and sell goods and services. Digital literacy can also prevent people from being taken advantage of online, as photo manipulation, e-mail frauds and phishing often can fool the digitally illiterate, costing victims money and making them vulnerable to identity theft. However, those using technology and the internet to commit these manipulations and fraudulent acts possess the digital literacy abilities to fool victims by understanding the technical trends and consistencies; it becomes important to be digitally literate to always think one step ahead when utilizing the digital world.
The emergence of social media has paved the way for people to communicate and connect with one another in new and different ways. Websites like Facebook and Twitter (now X), as well as personal websites and blogs, have enabled a new type of journalism that is subjective, personal, and "represents a global conversation that is connected through its community of readers." These online communities foster group interactivity among the digitally literate. Social media also help users establish a digital identity or a "symbolic digital representation of identity attributes."Dixon, Mark (2005). "Identity Map" . Oracle. Without digital literacy or the assistance of someone who is digitally literate, one cannot possess a personal digital identity (this is closely allied to, but unique from, web literacy).
Research has demonstrated that the differences in the level of digital literacy depend mainly on age and education level, while the influence of gender is decreasing. Among young people, digital literacy is high in its operational dimension. Young people rapidly move through hypertext and have a familiarity with different kinds of online resources. However, for young people, the skills to critically evaluate the content found online show a deficit. With the rise of digital connectivity amongst young people, concerns of digital safety are higher than ever. A study conducted in Poland, commissioned by the Ministry of National Knowledge, measured the digital literacy of parents in regards to digital and online safety. It concluded that parents often overestimate their level of knowledge, but clearly had an influence on their children's attitude and behavior towards the digital world. It suggests that with proper training programs, parents should have the knowledge in teaching their children about the safety precautions necessary to navigate the digital space.
Digital divide