Types of Literacy

In “Literacy and the Introduction to Ecology of Written Language” Barton defines literacy as “competent and knowledgeable in specialized areas.” Upon reading this definition the idea of computer literacy, political literacy, and so many other areas that we define ourselves as “literate in” couldn’t have been clearer to me.

The idea of literacy in general however is still unclear since one can be very literate in one area but be completely illiterate in others. Though, in my experience one who cannot read properly or at an appropriate level for their age are considered to be the ultimate definition of illiterate. Never mind the fact that they may be very literate in other areas. Today I feel that a shift is being made in that the new marker for illiteracy is being able to use a computer. Though this shift is in its infancy stage, it is there.

The area of computer literacy is one in which there are many gaps between those that could be considered computer literate and those that would not. In my job I often have to provide technical assistance to the many sites (schools) that we have around the state of Michigan. While doing this I have found that many of the people that I speak with do not know how to properly use a computer, many times I have to explain terms that I consider simple such as “window,” “browser,” and “cursor”. And these are the people that are teaching the youth in these areas (mostly low-income areas). In my mind this is just perpetuating the cycle of computer illiteracy.

Each of the readings for this week got me thinking about the different community-based literacy programs, especially when Grabill mentioned that he was surprised by the lack of program diversity. Prior to this I assumed that there were many different programs to promote and teach literacy in almost every community. As a grant writer currently working on a project to teach computer literacy to adults and youth in the Greater Lansing area using broadband stimulus money, perhaps this would be worth investigating and mentioning in the required “statement of need” especially since one of our goals for this grant money is to establish a public computer center for the surrounding community.