“The distinctive contribution of the approach to literacy as social practice lies in the ways in which it involves careful and sensitive attention to what people do with texts, how they make sense of them and use them to further their own purposes in their own learning lives" (Gillen and Barton, 2010, p. 9).

As I turn these passages over in my mind, a few questions come to mind.  What is referred in the first passage as literacy and what is this social practice? In Digital Literacies, the author writes that there can be multiple types of literacies attained by using digital technologies.

The subject of digital literacy and social practice is fairly complex and much research has been done in this field. All the papers I read for this blog examined the theoretical use of digital technology in the classroom with the exception of the paper "Beyond the ‘digital natives’ debate: Towards a more nuanced understanding of students’technology experiences" which compares some aspects of the use of digital technology in the classroom to the use of digital technology in every day life.

My back ground is in art and design. Although I am from a different generation than those considered “digital natives”, I have used digital technologies for a variety of purposes This has increased my literacy in many fields of interest. In this blog I would like to examine different literacies and how they are created or affected by different social practices. 

First, I would like to examine the idea that the social practice of using Facebook and other social media devices creates literacy. Facebook gives one an opportunity to connect with people from many parts of the world a chance to view postings that they consider interesting on a daily basis.  Many individuals and businesses use it as a form of advertising. Using Facebook, I have connected with different companies and individuals which has furthered my literacy in the fields of art and design. One example is a company in Australia owned by a gemologist who procures rough gemstone material from very small mining operations. He posts detailed photos which are very informative about where he goes and what he goes through to procure the stones and create the jewelry he sells on his website. Because I connected with his Facebook page, I have been able to become more literate about where and how gemstones are sourced.

The point of using digital technologies in education is to be able to increase the usage of many different media into curriculum design and thereby bring a the students into the learning process. In Digital Literacies, the author writes about how engaged a student is with using the internet: “A user of the screen...has several windows open at the same time – attending to chat, surfing the internet, listening to sound-as-music, is engaged in forms of ‘attention’ management entirely unlike the withdrawing, reflective modes of reading traditional written text” Certainly it is nice to understand that people enjoy using computers for a variety of purposes. I have to say that when I withdraw to research something on the internet, I use multiple screens and I don’t think it makes me more or less social.

Using digital technologies, more people can create work and supposedly communicate their points of view. But is that what's going on? The speed in which information is transmitted and consumed leaves little time to create quality work.  In the paper "Beyond the digital natives debate...", the author discusses this and states “For example, content creation activities (as measured by items such as creating text, graphics, audio or video) are consistently lower than might be anticipated given many claims about what young people are doing with technology.” Many times if a person creates something which others don't like, one becomes like a gladiator in the Colosseum with the crowd deciding "Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down". The term cyber bullying has entered the language, coined to refer to the way people can use the public forum of the internet to create new power structures anonymously. While this is certainly not a taught skill, it is a part of literacy of what social interactions can become in a digital environment where people have access to other people and interact anonymously.

The internet also creates a platform where everything is seen on the same scale. The most mundane You Tube video has a similar impact as a video of a historical event or someone committing a crime. The web creates a digital forum where artwork that took years to create in seen on the same scale as an animal video by an audience who consume it in less than a second and move on.There is pressure to create sensational work because there is so much material out there and the impact of anything that one create is over so quickly. In Literacy and the new technologies in school education: Meeting the l(IT)eracy challenge? the author writes about the change from print media to a multimedia platform and examines the idea that technical competence is also referred to functional literacy.

In The Educated Blogger, Huffaker writes about students writing a blog and how about how it increases one's ability to use language. While this is similar to keeping a journal, it has the advantage of giving students the opportunity to greater creative expression by using the ability to combine photos and other multimedia elements.

However, on the internet, many people disregard authorship, ownership of copyright and patent in reference to the creator when posting images they do not own the copyright for. Photographs and artwork are posted without attribution about the source or creator of the image. The attitude of users of Facebook and other social media platforms is that the old rules do not apply, that one does not need to give attribution to artists, photographers as if these media platforms create their own rules. However the question is what is accepted social practice? My accepted social practice is to make sure that all material I use or source is in the Public Domain or give attributions. I think this is an important point because this not just about the legality of using material created by someone else. It is also about respect for the work of other people and the respect for the concept of originality of work.

Is digital literacy defined by social practice and does it develop as one uses the internet? That is, can a person be considered literate if they can use equipment? The use of new technologies can create a gadget sensibility that the novelty of using a computer makes these expressions different from expressions of the past. Literacy about new technology requires literacy about all aspects of culture.

In Digital Literacies, Gunther Kress remarks: “Contemporary texts are becoming ever more multimodal, that is, they combine writing and image (on screen or page); writing, image, moving image, music and speech (on a DVD, on a website); or gesture, speech, image, spatial position (in f2f interaction). This requires that we think newly about reading and writing, but also that we think about the meaning-contribution of all other modes that appear in texts. We can no longer treat image as merely decorative, or even just as ‘illustration’: images are now being used to make meaning just as much – though in different ways – as is writing.”

Coming from an art background, I have never seen paintings or drawings as “just illustrations”. Studying art history and artists from many time periods has increased my literacy about artists, art work, the time periods they lived in, the social trends that influenced their work. From the illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages and Renaissance to the poetry of the Dadaists where graphic design was an integral part of the content and message of their work, and avant-garde film makers, media in many forms has been a source of information for me.

As the pace of life increases, our appetite for new content will increase. This does not insure that the content will have better quality or meaning. There will always be new technologies to explore-the question is what we do with them and can we go beyond their novelty to create original content that is meaningful and respectful of others in a world that relies more and more on digital communication?

Readings:
S. Bennett & K. Maton (2010) Beyond the ‘digital natives’ debate: Towards a more nuanced understanding of students’ technology experiences jcal_360 321..331 Faculty of Education, University of Wollongong, Wollongong Department of Sociology and Social Policy, Faculty of Arts, University of Sydney, Sydney

Durrant, C. & Green, B. (2000) Literacy and the new technologies in school education: Meeting the l(IT)eracy challenge? The Free Library 01 June 2000. Retrieved on January 24,2014 from http://www.thefreelibrary.com/literacy and the new technologies in school education: meeting the l(IT)eracy challenge? a063132991.

Gillen, J. & Barton, D. (2010) Digital Literacies: A research briefing by the Technology Enhanced Learning Phase of the Teaching and Learning Research Program. Retrieved on January 21, 2014 from Digital Literacies: A research briefing by the Technology Enhanced Learning Phase of the Teaching and Learning Research Program.

Huffaker, D. (2005) The educated blogger: Using weblogs to promote literacy in the classroom. AACE Journal, 13(2), 91-98.