Skills or literacies?

What does it mean to be digitally ready? How can we ascertain what is necessary for someone to be digitally literate? The answer may be changing just about every other month, as new devices, tools and services appear and are rapidly assimilated into the repertoire of individuals everywhere. We know there are digital divides between those who have and don't have. Some of these divides are socio-economic, others are technical based on geographical location, still others are about willingness to engage, or the skill to be able to use tools effectively. I prefer to use 'literacies' to indicate the ability to be digitally ready. Literacies reach beyond skills. I wrote a series not so long back on this blog about some of the digital literacies I considered to be vital if any individual was to effectively harness the potential of digital media and technology. I also mapped out some of the skills for Learning 2.0, based on the work of Mark Federman.

Skills and literacies are often used interchangeably, and this is not reprehensible. However, I think a clear distinction should be made between them if we are to fully apprehend many of the nuances and emerging aspects of learning through digital media. We are digitally ready when we are able to utilise our tools effectively, and we are digitally literate when we are able to act appropriately and make reasoned decisions in the face of the relatively unfamiliar culture of the digital ecosystem. Let me give you some examples of literacies that derive from immersion in a culture.

I spent two years living in Holland, where I attended an international school. Although most of our lessons were in English, some were in German, and I also picked up a fair understanding of Dutch too. We had to learn the subtle nuances and some of the intricacies of these languages to fully participate within the culture we found ourselves. Basic conversational language was usually enough, but to appreciate the finer aspects of life in Holland and Germany, we had to learn a few of the idioms and some slang too.

When visiting Islamic cultures, or meeting Muslims, it is not acceptable for a man to touch a woman. Several times I have seen colleagues embarrass themselves when they try to shake a Moslem woman's hand. In some cultures it is offensive to show someone the sole of your foot. In other cultures, nudity is perfectly acceptable. Culture consists of shared symbolism and understanding. When the symbolism isn't shared by everyone, problems arise. How do visitors learn and understand these conventions?

While I was driving around the mid-west of America on project work, I had to adjust and adapt my previously learnt driving skills to driving in another culture. 30 years on from my driving test I consider myself fairly adept and practised at driving in the UK. This wasn't enough though. I had to adapt to the new environment of driving on the right side of the road, and the left side of the car. It took a little practice before I was comfortable. The gear shift had to be changed by my right hand (I am used to changing with my left) and there was a need for me to understand not only the unfamiliar road signs, but also different conventions and unwritten rules of driving in America. These were literacies that I had to build around the basic skills I had already mastered. I still made mistakes, some quite embarrassing, but the longer I drove around, the better I got at not annoying other road users. Gradually I became road literate by my immersion in that culture of road use.

In the same way, when we take our first steps into new environments such as social media, mobile telephony, or online forum discussions, we need to assimilate those cultures, which probably have existed long before we grace them with our presence. In texting or e-mail for example, most people know that using CAPITAL LETTERS is tantamount to shouting. There are subtler distinctions, such as the use of abbrevations. My 83 year old father made the mistake of breaking some bad news on Facebook, and supplementing it with LOL. To him it meant Lots of Love. To my teenage children, it means Laughing out Loud. Appropriate for him in his own understanding, but innappropriate and potentially offensive to those already assimilated into the culture of sqeezetext.

In summary, skills are essential elements for any practice. Literacies take us beyond functionality into a deeper level of participation where we begin to appreciate and then adapt our behaviour to the demands and expectations of a new culture. If you can't read the signs, how do you know which direction to go?

Image from Wikimedia Commons


Skills or literacies? by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.