What is Digital Literacy?

Digital literacy is becoming a common skill to most of the people now in 21st century. Though may not everybody realises this.

Digital literacy is the ability to effectively and critically navigate, evaluate and create information using digital technologies. In a more simple way, it is a skill we use to manipulate and transform digital media.

Different than traditional literacy, digital literacy is much more diversified. Instead of finding information, reading and prose composting, because of the power of internet, information is easy to be found.People vetting the information online, and skimming the reliable sources then they can compo it in multi way like information design, data visualisation even like blogging.

‘We need to extend the notion of ‘media literacy’ beyond the defensive notion of ‘critical reading’… [to] ‘digital literacy’ – a form of hands-on productive expression… using multiplatform devices to ‘write’ as well as ‘read’ electronic media’ (Hartley 2009, p. 21)

There is one thing that is important when people trying to become digitally literate is how to recognise. Digital world is a free and borderless space. It is a advantage and disadvantage at the same time. People can feel free to compose online but, it also make the information in digital world unreliable. This is why having the skill of digital literacy so important.

Digital literacy integrate our day and day life. When you send a e-mail, when you summit an assignment online and when you use search engine effectively. All this action without knowing, you already becoming digitally literate.