Core 1-Exploring Digital Literacy

Brittany Ehrenman

Professor Moody

ENC 1102 Sec 105

11 February 2010

Core 1- Exploring Digital Literacy

Living now in a technology based society, everyone needs to be able to keep up with the advancements and the quickness of the electronic world. It’s very hard to keep up with technology when you’re not learning it at the same speed that it is progressing. I feel that I am not very technologically savvy. Just a few months ago I installed, by accident, two antivirus softwares. I was totally unaware that you’re never supposed to do this. I had to call my brother and he had to explain to me over the phone how to fix my computer. My brother is really how I learned how to use a computer, and still is my computer manuel. Although I know how to use the basic functions of a computer, there is a lot that I need to learn. I feel that living in a computer ruled world, it’s imperative to learn the tricks of the trade when it comes to technology and for everyone to eventually become digitally literate.

Bolter, author of “Introduction from Writing Space”, writes about how printed bookswere the highest form of value for writing, and how computers are taking over that reign. He argues that the printed books should capture and speak of importance to the readers. Call me old fashion, but I still love and respect how years past did things when there wasn’t this new craze of technology swarming the world. Bolter claims we as a society are losing that. I was never taught or tried to teach myself how to use a computer to a farther extent. As far as technology goes, I feel that I can categorize myself as being acquainted with it. I can do the basic functions of a computer, like performing Word documents and aspects of it like PowerPoint presentations and spreadsheets. I can browse the web with ease and navigate through relatively new websites with no problems. I can catch on relatively quickly with easy things like playing games on websites or chatting with friends through Skype and AIM. I also know how to play video games and use game consoles such as the Wii, just like most people my age probably would. I am also very good with learning how to use new phones, like when I got my Blackberry phone. Within minutes I already knew how to take pictures, change ringtones and pretty much know where everything is. Considering the DeVoss reading of “The Future of Literacy”, it seemed that mostly all of the students discussed in that reading were highly skilled in technology. Although they might have been more advanced than our normal society, I feel that I am severely lacking in what I really need to know of computers and technology. Just like Danielle DeVoss does, I too learned how to use basic functions of a computer through watching my brother. I probably should have asked him to teach me the harder aspects of a computer like video editing. There are a lot of aspects of this that I definitely need to learn for prospective later use.

I feel that technology hasn’t shaped me in the way that I wanted it to. The blame could be put on me though. I never realized that I could potentially need to know certain aspects of the computer I don’t already know. I feel that myself, and others, use it as a comfort for just enjoyment. I honestly have no objections to using it like that, because using it for recreational purposes is one of the main reasons for computers. I have a lot of fun just fooling around on it and playing games just to pass the time, but I feel that my youth uses it much more than they should. The over usage of networking websites just for playing useless, monotonous games like Mafia Wars or Farmville isn’t going to help me learn how to use a computer for the long haul. Even using a computer to “learn” through CD-ROMs doesn’t seem to really help much. I tried preparing myself for the SATs through software and I couldn’t, I had to use a book. Something tangible in my hands is more likely to help me than staring at it on a computer screen. There seems to be only a small percentage of people like me that do feel this way. I’m sure the older generation do, but the younger generations, and even people my age, seem to love the way everything is conforming to the computer screen. It surprises me that I do feel like this, but until I feel fully secure in being digitally literate, I’ll probably always feel this way.

With all of the aspects of computers that I don’t necessarily know how to use, I need to be aware of the future. Technology is never going to slow down; it’s here to stay. With any profession that I choose for my life, I need to be fully aware of how to actually use different software’s or things like spreadsheets that could possibly be used towards my profession. A possible law career I will need to be confident in using Excel spread sheets and browsing the web for articles and case studies. For a possible medical career, I will need to know how to read certain scans and other medical machinery. Presentations for businesses are just made easier because of computers, so any business, whether it is law or even medicine, will be using some sort of computer based program. If I am asked to make a business website, that is something that I would definitely need to learn how to do. I need to prepare myself and make sure I know how to actually use most things that I would be using in a professional environment. Jobs rely so much on technology, if I don’t know how to use a software, that could potentially cost me a job opportunity. Knowing that I need to learn quickly, maybe going to a computer class and being taught how to use things like Excel will better my chances for the future. Because of the age that I am and the society that I have grown up in, I should be expected by prospective employers of knowing how to use a computer properly.

I feel that I do depend on technology way more than I would like to. For research papers I, like so many others, do run to Google because of the safety crutch we have for the internet. Instead of having to look through pages of a book in the library, we know that with one click we can get the information right in front of us in the comfort of our own homes. With the way technology is exceeding, what need will there really be for libraries? It seems like they will just turn into museums for people to walk around in and tell their children how people actually had to carry those things called books around with them.

It’s odd to see how fast technology gets better, and how fast we all have really adapted to it. People who have lived their whole lives without it are adapting fairly quickly to it. What’s even more interesting is to think of how technologically advanced our society is going to be in five, ten, fifteen years. How much better technology is going to be and if things we use now will even be around then. With the new Nook out, I think people will start carrying books around with them less and less. Normal, everyday things we take for granted may not even be relevant in a few years. It’s realistic to think like this, but it’s also a fact that not everyone is going to be ready for this change. To be ready, I feel that people at a young age should really start learning the real functions of a computer besides web browsing and searching Google. Maybe taking harder computer courses in high school instead of Typing 101 will help us more in the real world. I took Technology Studies one and three in high school and still have trouble understanding how to use certain things on a computer. If I’m having trouble with it after taking rigorous courses, there are probably many people out there like me that are struggling with becoming digitally literate. I think what would have helped me more in preparing me for this technology would have been knowing at a young age at how this technology will actually affect my life, and be in it for the rest of it.


Work Cited:

Selber, Multiliteracies for a Digital Age. Chapter 1 (1-29)

DeVoss, Danielle. The Future of Literacy. Chapter 7 (183-210)

Audience Awareness Article

Russell C. Long, author of "Writer-Audience Relationships: Analysis or Invention?", discusses the preconceived notions writers have of their audiences. He feels that the reader plays a very active role in this two way situation and when writing, the writer needs to be aware of the readers activity. He characterizes the writing as different structures being used like either a rhetoric or poetic stance. There can either be two ways of utilizing the readers while the writers are writing, either acknowledging them or not. Through proper rhetoric this can have a healthy balance. One specific thing to keep in mind is not to wonder who the audience is but rather who do I, as a writer, want my audience to be.

Part Two

The jobs that I would be considering for a future profession, I feel, wouldn't be too hard to handle, in the sense of the digital aspect. As much as I want to completely deny it, the advancement in technology is never going to slow down. Even if my specific job may not require me to be great at specific things, I feel that to get by and what life may throw at me, I should be prepared for anything. I'm obviously not looking for a job in the future that has any real depth to it in computers since I'm not very good at things that aren't for generic purposes. For this matter I will cross off Computer Engineering off my list. For a future profession, in either the Health field or a Law field, I see myself using Word documents a lot, whether it's making spread sheets, writing letters or making powerpoint presentations to certain people. Although I'm trying to make future technology sound so appealing to me right now, I am aware that there will be a time where I won't be as sufficient in technology when I will need to be for a potential job. For possibly making a website for a future company, I will need to make sure I'm competent enough to fulfill these tasks at hand.