Helping students become literate in a digital, networking-based society: A literature review and discussion

Abstract

In this article the author presents and explains in detail the elements, including the pros and cons, of two contrasting schools of thought in one of the key debates which the author introduced as a teaching tool at the UNESCO Training-the-Trainers (TTT) Workshop that took place in Granada, Spain, 27–29 October, 2008. That debate, briefly stated, is whether or not Information Literacy (IL) and Media Literacy (ML), to be truly effective, should be pursued as complementary concepts, not in some way opposing concepts. One side in this debate argues that the two concepts have mutually inter-dependent goals, and therefore should be ideally learned and pursued together, and, most effectively, learned and pursued in the context of Social Networking and Web 2.0 tools and applications. The other side of the debate disagrees, and concedes that while the two concepts are indeed inter-related, they should be pursued largely independently, with only an occasional cross-reference. The debate is directly related to the role which Information Literacy and Media Literacy play in helping students become literate in a digital, networking-based society.

Without necessarily taking sides in the debate, although expressing a preference for complementarity, the author contends that it is absolutely essential that all persons (not just students) learn to become both Information Literate and Media Literate in this digital world in which we now find ourselves. Additionally, the author contends that Web 2.0 and Social Networking tools, such as Facebook, Tuenti (in Spanish context), MySpace and Twitter, including the rich portfolio of applications they encompass, can substantially assist people in achieving that goal.

The author presents a number of case examples to support her thesis, drawn largely from Spanish libraries and Spanish educational institutions that already are using Web 2.0 and Social Networking tools extensively to train people to become digitally competent. The ideas presented in this article, both the theories and best practices, are current insofar as the Spanish context is concerned, but the original arguments and supporting evidence put forth by the author at the aforementioned Granada UNESCO 2008 TTT workshop have been updated because of new developments and ideas that have occurred since the workshop took place. However, the original materials which were presented to and debated by the participants and the expert-presenters, including the author, at the workshop, can be easily accessed at the public domain virtual space of the University of Granada website Universidad de Granada, 2008.

Two UNESCO TTT workshops, not just one, were actually organized at Granada. One was a traditional type held on-campus at the Library of Andalusia, and the other was an online, or a virtual workshop. During the on-campus workshop, as well as during the online workshop that preceded it, an interesting discussion took place between and among the participants and the expert-presenters concerning the necessity to redefine IL from its current, largely Web 1.0 focus and orientation, to the newer Web 2.0 focus, with emphasis on Social Networking. This article tries to capture, amplify and hopefully clarify the key points of this debate as it was presented by the author and then debated in the participant discussions which ensued (see http://www.slideshare.net/nievesglez/taller-alfin-unesco-sesion-paralela-alfin-20-presentation).

Keywords:

• Information literacy
• Media literacy
• Web 2.0
• Library 2.0
• Social networking
• E-literacy
• E-skills
• E-competency
• Digital natives
• Digital immigrants

Notes

1 You can see more information in website page http://bib.us.es/cursos_orientacion/index-ides-idweb.html.