SIS Research Seminar Series 2016

The multiple faces of digital

Dr Barbara Combes Lecturer, School of Information Studies CSU Secretary, and Literacy Section, IFLA President, Western Australian School Library Association

School of Information Studies A reminder

The digital information landscape in the 21st century

School of Information Studies Information in the 21st century A dynamic information landscape characterised by: • Technological change (new & old formats, delivery modes) Public Domain Web (8-10%) • Differentiation (layered landscape) • Overload • Complexity • Density • Decontextualisation • Access 24/7 The Web • AI enhanced & user friendly The = iceberg • Faster, smaller, convergent Internet • > Storage, cloud computing • Easy manipulation • Mulimodal • Multimedia The Deep Web • Interactive 90+% (Clevenger, 1999)

School of Information Studies Information in the 21st century Internet 2? Internet2 is a testing-ground networking environment where universities, companies, and government laboratories work together and develop advanced Internet technologies such as telemedicine, digital libraries and virtual laboratories.

Using state-of-the-art infrastructure, Internet2 members are connected to the Abilene network backbone, which uses regional network aggregation points called gigaPoPs. The Abilene Network operates at 10 gigabits per second and supports transfer rates 100 to 1000 times faster than typical broadband connections.

Today, with more than 300 member organizations, the Internet2 community currently includes more than 4 million individuals. Webopedia

School of Information Studies Information in the 21st century

Evolving technologies: • Multipurpose/functional mobile phones: iPhones, smartphones, ultra- mobile PCs (UMPCs), mobile internet devices (MIDs), PDAs, smart watches • Kindles, iPads, eBook readers • Digital cameras, video cameras • Flash drives, mobile memory, USB sticks, “the cloud” • Laptops, tablets, netbooks, notepads • Thin client technology • Wireless, bluetooth • Multi-user Web conferencing, Adobe Connect, online/flipped classrooms • LMS, BlackBoard/WebCT, Moodle, LAMs … • LMS (Library Management Systems) • 3D, stereophonic, haptic sensory devices, …

School of Information Studies Information in the 21st century

Web 2.0 Utilities – Interactive – Social - Public domain - One-to-many

RSS Feeds Twitter Nings Jing Wikis Blogs Voicethread Diigo Flickr Pinterest Weebly Instagram Yik Yak Facebook LinkedIn Google Plus Meetup Tumbler. TeachMeetWA …. Batac, A.J.

School of Information Studies Information in the 21st century

Web 2.0 Utilities to ensure your complete happiness!

Ludwig Gatzke

School of Information Studies Information in the 21st century

Apps, apps and more apps

GreenBook

School of Information Studies Information in the 21st century Apps, apps and more apps

Statista 2015

School of Information Studies Information in the 21st century

Large numbers of people do not have access to the Web.

Access = • Physical access = • infrastructure; • technology.

• Cognitive access = • finding information; • being able to read and interpret it; • being able to use and re-purpose it.

Simon Kemp

School of Information Studies Literacy in the 21st century

• Traditional literacy • literacy • • ICT literacy • Internet/network literacy • Screen literacy • Multimedia literacy • Digital ? • /discrimination • Information management • Information inquiry literacy? • Transformational literacies? ? • Metaliteracy • Higher order thinking - analytic and synthesis (making meaning)

School of Information Studies Literacy in the 21st century • Academic literacy • Business literacy • • Workplace literacy • Music literacy • Science literacy • Critical literacy • Media & (UNESCO) • Technology literacy • Adult literacy, • Lifelong learning • Lifewide learning • Just-in-time learning • Formal learning • Informal learning ….

School of Information Studies Literacy in the 21st century

Has the term literacy been hijacked?

What does it mean when added onto another word, eg. ?

In this context does the word literacy mean good at something?

Competent and skills based?

When used as a descriptor, is the term literacy interpreted to mean competency?

What does the word literacy mean?

Some definitions …

School of Information Studies Literacy definition

(Traditional) Literacy is: "... the integration of listening, speaking, reading, and critical thinking. It includes a cultural knowledge which enables a speaker, writer or reader to recognise and use language appropriate to different social situations. For an advanced technological society such as Australia, the goal is an active literacy which allows people to use language to enhance their capacity to think, create and question, in order to participate effectively in society." The National Secretariat for the International Year of Literacy, 1990.

School of Information Studies Literacy definition

(Traditional) Literacy is: ... the making of meaning and its clear communication to others. Truly literate people not only read and write, but regularly do so in order to sort out their ideas and put them in words, to fit them together and test hypotheses - ie. to make sense and meaning out of our world. Truly literate people acknowledge that they need to write things down, to talk them out, to read widely, to listen critically and to respond articulately. Truly literate people are thinkers and learners." Brown & Mathie, 1990

School of Information Studies Literacy definition

(Traditional) Literacy is: "... the foundation of effective citizenship, human communication and social integration in a literate society. Therefore it is important to foster the lifetime habit of purposeful and critical reading for information, education and recreation. Literacy is the foundation of learning in all areas of the curriculum." Holdaway, 1979

School of Information Studies Literacy in the 21st century (Traditional) Literacy is multi-faceted: Competencies – being able to: • Listen and observe - we do this first. Children listen, mimic and observe with all their senses (touch, taste, hear, see) • Speak - we do this second, seems we are ‘hard-wired’ for sound. Oral language is a foundational skill for reading and writing. (Moats & Tolman, 2009). • Read - Phase 1, learning to read, mechanics (deconstructing code) • Write - closely connected to reading and deconstructing code • View – this is more than just observation. It is the sophisticated deconstruction and interpretation of images, sound and motion. Making meaning from images and multimedia is highly subjective and interpretive.

School of Information Studies Literacy in the 21st century Viewing – a title?

The leader is an extremely powerful member of the Body Corporate team. (Note: The team may have to be told this.)

School of Information Studies Literacy in the 21st century (Traditional) Literacy is multi-faceted: • Understanding (comprehension/making meaning) • Critical (constructing/making meaning) • reading • thinking • learning • Re-purposing and using to meet a need Literacy is more than the mechanics or competencies of reading. It is understanding, using, re-purposing and communicating what you have read, seen, written and heard. Literacy is a foundational skill.

School of Information Studies Literacy in the 21st century

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Digital literacy also includes a range of competencies or skills: • computer literacy • ICT literacy • Web 2.0 literacy • network/Internet literacy • media/multimedia literacy • information management

These terms describe a set of skills required to be able to use/navigate and understand information in the digital environment.

School of Information Studies Digital Literacy

Digital literacy also includes knowledge, understanding and being able to apply concepts, standards and values, cultural mores and legal requirements, including: • ethical and appropriate use; • legal obligations/rules eg. intellectual property (IP); copyright, plagiarism; • cultural awareness/sensitivity when using technology; • access for the disabled; • privacy and safety in this environment; and • being able to use the digital information you have found and apply it for a new purpose.

Remember the digital landscape is characterised by:

School of Information Studies Information in the 21st century A dynamic information landscape characterised by: • Technological change (new & old formats, delivery modes) Public Domain Web (8-10%) • Differentiation (layered landscape) • Overload • Complexity • Density • Decontextualisation • Access 24/7 The Web • AI enhanced & user friendly The = iceberg • Faster, smaller, convergent Internet • > Storage, cloud computing • Easy manipulation • Mulimodal • Multimedia The Deep Web • Interactive 90+% (Clevenger, 1999)

School of Information Studies Digital Literacy

On a deeper level still digital literacy is about being and recognising what it means to be a global citizen.

At this level digital literacy moves beyond national boundaries and cultural and religious differences.

Is this a reality?

Perhaps not yet, but we should be teaching our students about this face of digital literacy.

School of Information Studies Digital Literacy

The information landscape of the twenty-first century is: • a very complex and evolving concept; and • currently populated by new and old information artefacts and people.

Both of these characteristics ultimately change the structure of the landscape itself and how society views it. Therefore, developments in technology affect the landscape and the humans who inhabit it and vice versa.

School of Information Studies Digital Literacy

Therefore, the term digital literacy, just like the term literacy, goes beyond the skills/competencies required to work in this environment.

There are layers of meaning to the term digital literacy, but it is used to mean many things, rarely defined and rarely taught to our children.

To be able to work in the digital environment a person also needs to have a high degree of literacy. ie. they have to be able to read well.

School of Information Studies Digital Literacy

Research since 2003 has been telling us that different skills are required to make meaning from information presented on the screen (Coiro, 2003; Birkets, 2004; Coiro et al 2007, Coiro et al, 2008; Coiro, 2009; Ricardson, 2008; Wolf, 2008, 2009; Ackerman & Goldsmith, 2009; Federman, 2010; Hanho Jeong, 2012; Jabr, 2013; Mangen et al, 2013).

A fundamental skill when working with digital tools and information is the ability to read, interpret and understand.

Research tells us that even good readers have difficulty reading and making meaning from information presented on the screen. Why we all print when reading for meaning?

School of Information Studies Digital Literacy

We need to remember: • Technology for learning is NOT compensatory, it is complementary. • It is a tool, not a solution. • Teaching and learning in an online environment is a different paradigm to f-t-f.

We require foundational skills to be able to learn in the digital environment of the 21st century.

• The first of these skills is the ability to read (mechanics of reading), interpret multimedia. • The second is to be able to understand what we have read (cognitive engagement), seen.

School of Information Studies Digital Literacy Once we have foundational skills we need to teach students how to: • use a range of media types including print, visual, multimedia; • use a rage of media tools including books, journals, internet, Web 2.0 utilities, browsers, …. • read, engage with and make meaning from a range of formats including text, images, infographics, multimedia; • manage vast quantities of information; • extract, collate and evaluate information and re-purpose it; and • present new information in multiple formats.

School of Information Studies Digital Literacy The term digital literacy: • is actually a concept; • is evolving as the digital landscape changes; • includes navigation skills and information management to ensure up-to-date, relevant sources are located in an accessible format and sources are well organised and documented to enable efficient retrieval; • Includes ethical and legal use of information, maintaining security and privacy (your information and others); • is about understanding how to be a global citizen; and • is about those capabilities which fit an individual for living, learning and working in a digital society.

School of Information Studies Digital Literacy The term digital literacy: • is often understood differently depending on disciplines, however, it should focus more on literacies than media.

Educators make assumptions about digital literacy: 1. the kids already know how to use technology – efficiently, effectively and appropriately; 2. if they can read print they can make meaning from text on screen; and 3. we don’t need to teach them.

Many teachers do not understand the term, nor do they use technology efficiently, effectively or appropriately.

School of Information Studies Digital Literacy

Back to our original question.

When used as a descriptor, is the term literacy interpreted to mean competency?

Probably, because most people do not engage with the deeper meaning behind a term such as digital literacy. We often only consider the word digital and at a very superficial level.

We use the term literacy as a descriptor in other contexts, because being literate is fundamental to how we communicate knowledge and meaning, and this includes the digital environment.

School of Information Studies Digital Literacy

Definitions Owen, S. (2013). Digital literacy, Deakin University. Retrieved April 2016. JISC. (2013). Developing digital literacies. Retrieved April 2016. University of Illinois. (2015). Digital literacy definition and resources. Retrieved April 2016. US Digital Literacy. (2015). Digital and for today’s learners. Retrieved April 2016.

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