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Today, a variety of digital communicative technologies have permeated all aspects of human lives, from the mundane to the sublime. Further, the way humans converse with each other and participate in social events has undergone significant transformations over the years.
With the changing landscape of conversations and human actions and subsequent digitalism, the idea of literacy has become more complex and its nature more fluid than ever.
Several studies have shown that the nature of literacy has always remained deictic. To put it another way, the concept of literacy, historically, has kept evolving and has been understood differently in different historical junctures.
Take Colin Lankshear and Michele Knobel's studies, for instance. In the past while literacy was understood as an ability to read, write and communicate to sustain common human affairs, the learning materials used to be either printed text books or handwritten stuffs or oral narratives.
Learners could be deemed literate if they had the basic skills of letters and numeracies required to carry out the functions of reading, writing, speaking and listening.
But now, literacy covers a range of new abilities and skills that an individual needs to actively participate in a technologically-driven society.
In other words, the concept of new literacy, in general, and digital literacy, in particular, which emerged in the 1990s, now generally refers to one's ability to take part in digitally-coded semiotic resources available on digital platforms, such as social networking sites and both online and offline learning environments.
While digital participation largely entails production, consumption, dissemination and reproduction of newer forms of knowledge, an individual needs a vast range of creative, critical and security skills to safely function in these platforms.
To put it another way, it is a requisite for an individual to master the digital skills in order to effectively navigate and curate these resources, collaborate with each other for humane causes and strive for one's well-being.
Therefore, digital literacy can be conceptualised as a greater enabler for individuals to utilise technology and internet-mediated platforms for human voices, actualise life opportunities and leverage human development.
It is worth noting what Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen has emphasised.
He believes that humans have freedom of choices, which are set by values of unique social contexts. For this to happen, the greater responsibility goes to society and social actors to arrange the resources for human choices in the digital age.
Nonetheless, on top of that, literacy has a crucial role in shaping individuals' awareness and agency to make the right choices for one's actions, enhance the skills and help live the life that they value for.
