DIGITAL LITERACY: CONSUMING AND PRODUCING DIGITAL INFORMATION
Digital Literacy: Consuming and Producing Digital Information
Allison N. St. John
California State University, East Bay
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DIGITAL LITERACY: CONSUMING AND PRODUCING DIGITAL INFORMATION
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Abstract
A student who is digitally literate is one who can read a webpage and multimodal content as well
as write digital text and create web content that contributes to the internet’s marketplace of ideas.
Students in the digital age are no longer just consumers of information; they are also a part of the
process of creating and sharing information. To help students build their digital literacy skills,
teachers can encourage students to share their writing online and become online participants by
responding, via blogs, comments, or wikis, to the writings of others.
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Digital Literacy: Consuming and Producing Digital Information
Introduction
Advances in digital technology are changing the ways in which we interact with text and
information. Since texts are no longer static when placed online, reading is no longer necessarily
a one-way experience, and students need to know how to both read and interact with online texts.
If students cannot “write to the screen […] they may be incapable of functioning effectively as
literate citizens” (Hawisher et al., 2004, p. 642). Today, text is often produced digitally and then
enhanced through the addition of such as images, audio, and videos (Gillen and Barton, 2010).
Screens on computers, monitors, televisions, and e-readers are beginning to replace paper (Gillen
and Barton, 2010). Information online can be produced and seen by anyone with access to a
computer, tablet, or phone. Because of all these changes, the ways in which students interact
with text are also changing. Teachers can prepare students will the skills necessary to participate
in the online reading experience by introducing the concept of digital literacy.
Defining Digital Literacy
Educators often define digital literacy with phrases such as “using computers, critically
reading webpages, and understanding how to view digital images” (O’Brien and Scharber, 2008,
p. 66). Digital literacy is not a term solely reserved for the act of reading; rather, the term digital
literacy acknowledges that the internet is not static and readers are also writers who engage with
other authors online (O’Brien and Scharber, 2008). In the past, reading and writing were thought
to be separate skills, yet both work together since internet users are both readers and writers of
online content (Sweeny, 2010). Because of this, information is no longer held and transmitted by
experts; instead, students participate in creating information that is introduced by experts as well
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as other online users and is then interpreted, understood, processed, and reported by a range of
online users who then become participants in creating knowledge.
Digital literacy includes the reading of multimodal and multimedia texts, such as images,
videos, animations, and audio (O’Brien and Scharber, 2008). Digital literacy links old ways of
understanding literacy with new technologies. Students are still engaged in the reading process
when reading an online text, and can apply reading strategies such as using text features,
identifying the main idea, predicting, paraphrasing, etc. However, the key difference in reading
online texts is that students are participants in the digital reading experience, and their online
responses contribute to the collaboration of ideas that are re-defining how information is
received and experienced. Students can respond to what they read and even interact with other
readers and sometimes the author of a text. Many online articles include comment sections where
students can add their own ideas about topics covered in the reading.
Websites like Wikipedia understand that users play a role in how information is
constructed. Wikis bring readers into the conversation by allowing them to make edits and
additions to posted content on a wide variety of topics. Prior to the internet, texts remained fairly
static, unchanged by readers. Readers were unable to respond to the ideas they were reading and
engage in instant communication. Wikis offer a shared space that allows readers to participate in
online conversations and contribute to the information being presented (Knobel and Lankshear,
2009). Reading, through the use of wikis and similar technologies, is not one-sided and readers
are encouraged to be active participants instead of passive learners.
Students can contribute to wikis as well as create their own web content, such as blogs,
articles, images, or videos. Students can also build their own websites to display and share this
content, or they can add their content to existing websites. Creating content is an important
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component of building digital literacy skills since this content can both act as a response to what
students have read online as well as a recognition of students’ role as both consumer and
producer of online content.
Historically, people have communicated using symbols that connect to sounds and oral
expressions. Early literacy was not static but closely connected to visual elements, such as facial
expressions and gestures (Bruce, 1998). Communication via the internet also used visual
elements such as images, videos, and audio in addition to text (Bruce, 1998). Therefore, students
have to understand how meaning is conveyed and understood through a variety of media
(Sweeny, 2010).
Building Students’ Digital Literacy Skills
Almost 78% of North Americans use the internet on a daily basis (Miniwatts Marketing
Group, 2012), yet many students continue to use the internet outside of school rather than for
education purposes (O’Brien and Scharber, 2008). Students should not just consume online
content, but become “producers and collaborators as well” (Sweeny, 2010, p. 122). Teachers in
all disciplines should work to help students’ build their digital literacy skills. Schools, however,
are faced with the difficult task of providing opportunities for students to build their digital
literacy.
Unfortunately, budget cuts affect schools’ ability to provide technology to students, such
as laptops in the classroom and e-textbooks, and much of students’ interaction with text is printbased (O’Brien and Scharber, 2008). Teachers who have access to technology in their classroom
or at their school often use technology as “add-ons to existing standards rather than as a
fundamental shift in literacy pedagogy and assessment” (O’Brien and Scharber, 2008, p. 67).
Because of this, students who interact with the internet daily are not necessarily applying
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effective reading strategies, not using web content for education purposes, and not recognizing
how their own posts contribute to their own learning and meaning-making.
Even if teachers and students do not have access to computers in the classroom or at
home, they often have access to school or community computer labs. Teachers can create a class
webpage using free online creators (such as Yola, Weebly, or CourseSites) and ask students to
post essays and other writings online. Students can add visual content, and teachers can
encourage students to post comments or create a blog. Once student content is online, it is no
longer directed towards an audience of one (namely the teacher) and is now accessible to the
entire online community, which then “changes the dynamic of writing from something that is
done to receive a grade” to placing “it in a social context” (Sweeny, 2010, p. 127). Using the
internet for academic purposes helps students to take writing more seriously and see the internet
as a tool for learning (Sweeny, 2010).
Conclusion
With the ever expanding internet, educators are no longer the only source for gaining
access to information (Hawisher et al., 2004). The internet allows users to not only access
information, but also become producers of online content. Information is being shared socially,
and the reading process is no longer exclusive of the writing process. Digital literacy helps
students effectively use the internet at home, at school, and in the workplace, ensuring that they
are productive users of as well as creators of information.
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References
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