Redefining Literacy in the Digital Age
The growing challenge over the last several decades is that new technology and various new media have altered how meaning is constructed — how language is used, and therefore, what literacy involves. Socio-economic differences have also influenced who has access to the tools that are changing these realities. While everyone is experiencing these changes, not everyone has access to the technology that supports the new skills required. This has resulted in the generational and social gaps growing faster — not only between those who have technology and those who do not, but also between literacy and language and, ultimately, the transfer of meaning itself. Along with the conventional generational differences between what is current and what is passed, we now also have a growing difference in the exchange of information and what is understood. Language is to be used appropriately, however, rules of appropriateness and accuracy are changing, and what may seem to be lacking in conventional terms is indeed the "new norm" in many instances. With that is also the reality that those changing rules are continuing to change and at an even faster rate.
Ultimately, if we are trying to evaluate literacy using old rules, old functions and old meaning, we are really not evaluating literacy as it exists now.
Applied Skills
We now have younger students who can decipher meaning from short visual cues, modified text and only when the media are mixed. That is, long scrolls of text are not read, but hotlinks are used to web out the logic and to create an understanding that is not dependent upon conventional literacy skills but a new literacy that exchanges meaning differently and, as such, uses language differently. In addition to various "threads" or logical flow of information, "multi-view" provides a multilayered schema of information that necessarily must be processed simultaneously in order for any kind of understanding to be reached.
In a 2009 article, I discussed the challenges to teachers and students — and thinking or cognition as a way in which some of this growing gap may be closed. Additionally, there is a generational gap that is growing between students and teachers, and learning outcomes are often still based on older uses of literacy rather than current skills. This means that most students disengage and drop out of the learning process, preferring opportunities that suit the skills they have. Unfortunately, those opportunities often still require formal education that depends on conventional literacy skills. Therefore, I would suggest that we do not have true data on literacy as we are essentially "comparing apples and oranges," so to speak.
General Lack of Understanding
What is becoming clear is that increasing numbers of students do not have the skills required to understand conventional information sources and media, and older generations of people do not understand newer informational environments or exchanges. So, when folks are encouraged to "read" websites, that is not happening by individuals on either side of that gap. Books are increasingly of the "e" variety; however, they are still linear and text-based. Most current students do not like to use e-books and prefer conventional textbooks — analogous to how, when visiting a museum, patrons prefer environments within which the antiques are displayed contemporaneously. In other words, what students are really saying is not that they prefer print copy books, but that if the style and flow remains in a conventional style, then please use the conventional tool.
However, current students prefer information in completely new and "mixed" formats, rather than in stylized books of any sort. Each generation has different literacy skills, unable to process information the same way. We're increasingly becoming people who only watch and listen – a characteristic reminiscent of medieval times. Gone is the view that it has to be written or printed in order to be a valued source. Currently, if it is heard or seen, then it has value. A great example of this is the smartphone's increased usage for all life contexts and to capture instances to share with the world.