This has been a real roller coaster for me. This course provided me the most accurate and vivid description of "digital literacy". I just can't describe it, at all. But I lived it. I know I lived it
Digital literacy is about getting lost, about swimming or browsing around until you land on a recognizable or useful shore Wix.com.
It's also about a simple phrase that too many of us (I for certain) don't say enough-"I don't know." You will find yourself more times than not (get used to it), stuck. Unable for instance to upload a video from youtube onto WindowsMovieMaker that you will bet your next month's rent that you just did two glasses of pinot noir ago.
It's also overwhelming and confusing (like life). Things-apps come to you from all over, some useful and most for a fee. My pc is not talking to me at the moment. Oh, it's trying but nothing it's coming out. If I had to guess, I think it has to do with age (had it for nearly ten years), widgets, jing, prezi, wix and others all staring at me from the desktop.
It's most importantly extremely empowering. "I can't do it" is now just another application's name or someone's wikipage. If you don't mind a good swim and getting lost, you can now for very little monetary resources, do just about everything from stalking your favorite celebrity with stalkceleb.com (not a real site. At least not yet), change career path (I'm now a self proclaimed web-designer), befriend strangers that you'll never meet (or who don't exist), receive an education in your pajamas, become a celebrity (naked vids and pics get mad clicks), write haikus or twit, set up a one man/woman successful business on your bed, etc...
It's certainly affecting and changing the way education and information are viewed and consumed. It's going to be very difficult, very soon, for anyone to explain to a teenager why he/she needs to read this or that book. Or even take this or that class. Teenagers are walking around with millions of books, essays, definitions, concepts in their pockets. So why do they need to take out thousands of dollars of debt, sit in classrooms for ten-twelve years when they can just wiki it.
It's an eye opener. I enjoy my privacy and solitary. But I also love to learn new things and keep abreast of the world's latest developments. I now understand the importance of twitter and how information can twit you by if you're not careful.
It's humbling. I can't say that I'm "digitally illiterate" because Cameo already claimed it. But I can probably say my digital alphabet...
Thank you Prof Peele
Thank you Class
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