Digitial Literacy

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 Growing up literacy meant reading books, magazines, newspapers, etc.  All that has changed since the virtual world came into existence.  Now we dig into the digital world and focus on digital literacy.  For a good explanation of what this term means check out this article from Education Weekly:  What is Digital Literacy?

One of the things that  can irritate me the most in this day and age is false information.  Unfortunately, it runs rampant on the internet and not everyone has the right tools to identify it.  Even the most tech savvy kids in the current generation don't always know how to spot something fabricated.  I think schools, colleges and libraries need to work hard to build a strong foundation of digital literacy in both youth and adults of all ages.  The News Literacy Project is a good place to start.  Cornell University has also put together a useful LibGuide for evaluation: Questions to Consider.  

Comments

  1. Ellen DooleyOctober 16, 2023 at 9:42 AM

    Those are helpful summaries and resources,Natalie. It would be so nice to see those break the cycle of misinformation, often perpetuated by older people at the helm of traditional and social media companies, by being integrated into schools' curriculums. A source I came across when researching for my blog this week was AP's Fact Check: https://apnews.com/ap-fact-check. The trick is how to get those who don't trust media to allow such tools to be inserted into the cycle.

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  2. Samantha MatherneOctober 17, 2023 at 12:56 PM

    I think libraries offering more ways to educate the public about digital literacy in general would be fantastic. There is a negative stigma given to older generations for not being very tech savvy, but people of all ages could use more training in digital literacy. Working in a library, I have encountered patrons from teenage years through the elderly being clueless about how to use various types of technology or knowing how to tell when information found online is not accurate.

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  3. Anna V.October 17, 2023 at 4:53 PM

    These are great resources, thanks for sharing! I agree, there should be more training in digital literacy. Technology is constantly changing, anyway, so keeping current can be a challenge.

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