In a recent email exchange with a colleague, the following question was put forth to me, “How is broadband access going to increase literacy?”
Not claiming to be an expert on the issue, I decided to dig a bit deeper in order to try to have a more informed response. Here’s my reply:
“Thanks for the question. It pushed me to dig deeper into issues of literacy within the context of media education, universal access to broadband and the digital divide. Here are a few observations:
Recent research has addressed the challenges of “the participation gap” and other divides within a “participatory culture”. For example, MIT’s New Media Literacies program, as mentioned earlier, produced a White Paper for the MacArthur Foundation titled, “Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century” (PDF Download).
In the Executive Summary, the authors write:
A central goal of this report is to shift the focus of the conversation about the digital divide from questions of technological access to those of opportunities to participate and to develop the cultural competencies and social skills needed for full involvement. Schools as institutions have been slow to react to the emergence of this new participatory culture; the greatest opportunity for change is currently found in afterschool programs and informal learning communities. Schools and afterschool programs must devote more attention to fostering what we call the new media literacies: a set of cultural competencies and social skills that young people need in the new media landscape. Participatory culture shifts the focus of literacy from one of individual expression to community involvement. The new literacies almost all involve social skills developed through collaboration and networking. These skills build on the foundation of traditional literacy, research skills, technical skills, and critical analysis skills taught in the classroom.”
The Digital Divide Network adds that the document is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.
Nolan Bowie (Harvard) and Mark Warschauer (UC Irvine) have both addressed the participation gap within the context of reading and writing proficiency, alongside a growing list of other literacy skills (including media) needed to compete not only in today’s global economy, but in ways that include empowering workers with the ability to ask for wage increases, read bus schedules in order to get to work, etc. (See “UNIVERSITY and the Digital Divide” ).
In his 2002 essay, “Reconceptualizing the Digital Divide,” Warschauer writes
Content and language, literacy and education, and community and institutional structures must all be taken into account if meaningful access to new technologies is to be provided.”
The Community Technology Centers’ Network provides workshops for educators and trainers in this area, including “Tools and Strategies for Working with Limited Literacy/English Proficient Adults” within the context of computer and Internet literacy education. During my time as Chapter President of ACMEBoston, I became friends with a number of people who served in the CTC VISTA Project. Many of whom dedicated their time to similar initiatives, including teaching videoblogging workshops to public access TV producers in the City of Boston as a form of individual and community empowerment for workshop participants.
I look forward to more time researching these topics, but my overall impression is this: people who advocate for bridging the participation gap in a participatory culture recognize that basic reading and writing proficiency is a necessary starting point. It is this foundation upon which other literacy skills can be built and used by people to become more educated, informed and empowered participants in our society.
Thanks again for the dialogue.”
I’m still learning.
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On Monday, February 25 the Berkman Center for Internet & Society is hosting a one-day FCC Hearing on the future of broadband network management practices. 