Position Paper #3 Digital and Media Literacy

 Digital and Media Literacy Worldwide

   We as human beings have the right to know about digital and media literacy. With this right, it gives knowledge about technology and everything on the Internet. In the past, students and adults of all ages didn't have much access to know about digital and media literacy. The way students obtain digital and media literacy is through school. Many children in the golden days didn't have the funds to learn about digital and media literacy. That is where schools came in and provided laptops and computers for students to enhance their digital and media literacy skills. Schools were the basis of the early stage of knowing what digital and media literacy is. Now with advancements of technology, children and adults of every demographic have acquired the ability for literacy and help close the world's digital divide. Knowing what digital and media literacy is will help you amplify your critical thinking capability. Let us first understand what digital literacy is and then develop how media literacy plays a part also.

    Digital literacy refers to an individual's ability to find, evaluate, and compose clear information through writing and other media on various digital platforms. It is evaluated by an individual's grammar, composition, typing skills and ability to produce text, images, audio and designs using technology (Digital Literacy Wiki). Pivoting back to the past, schools provide every opportunity to learn efficiently about technology and media. During my middle school days, teachers provided laptops or had access to the school's computer lab where we would learn about accessing templates like Microsoft, PowerPoint, or Excel. They made sure we gained this knowledge to gear us up for high school. In high school we were pretty much a given that knew how to access PowerPoint, Excel, and Microsoft Word. Microsoft Word was the basis of high school research papers. Teachers allow us to use these templates to gain our understanding of how technology and media works and to correctly operate things of the Internet and media. With this new age of technology, students are learning individually instead of collectively because of devices such as tablets, smart watches, advanced iPhone, and much more. Now it is much easier to obtain the importance of digital literacy.

    Everyone is at their pace of learning digital literacy  but at the end of the day all still gave a sense of understanding of digital literacy. This advancements  in this technology and everyday occurrence brush with technology is not to only help young kids but adults also. It is never too late for an adult to hone the talent of digital literacy even if the advancements might be too overwhelming. The technology used nowadays is flexible and suitable for older adults to understand and learn. There are curriculum and programs set in place to highlight the use of digital literacy for all ages. Now I will discuss 3 startups that involve using digital literacy. These startups are incorporating digital literacy to their businesses and help decrease the digital divide. To adapt to today’s world and emerging technologies, it is important to cultivate digital literacy skills. Startups provide digital literacy solutions that engage children through gamification and teach them computational thinking skills. Teaching children how to think algorithmically and solve problems using a computer helps them better adapt to the challenges of the digital age when they grow up (Top Startups for Digital Literacy).

    Singaporean startup Jules provides digital literacy education through computational thinking to schools and individuals. The startup specializes in early childhood education by integrating programming, animation, and game design expertise. Additionally, Jules provides simulated training, analytics dashboards, and gamification practices to help children build computer literacy skills ( Top Startups for Digital Literacy). Jules is teaching young children in Southeast Asia to develop critical computer thinking skills and digital literacy from the start of early childhood. The target audience for the Jules startup is toddlers age 4 to 8. With toddlers learning about digital literacy at a very young age where these critical ages are the ages where they start holding cognitive memory is very important. Jules uses both an online and curriculum atmosphere to teach digital literacy. Jules is doing a lot for parents and people to appreciate so their child would know early on about digital literacy. With technology progressing every day, it is crucial that new generations keep up with the developments.

Jules is in partnership with UNICEF, Cherie Hearts, Sherwood Childcare, and SINDA which stands for Singapore Indian Development Association. The next startup provides digital literacy to companies and their employees. Effective digital culture development in an organization starts with competence evaluation, which helps determine the digital literacy levels of employees. The assessments help organizations determine their weaknesses by measuring the company’s digital culture level, as well as evaluate candidates’ digital competencies.

     TANu is a French startup providing digital competency assessment and development services to businesses. The startup enables the evaluation of employees’ and candidates’ digital skills, as well as progress assessments. Commonly, an assessment covers everyday topics such as the internet and social media behavior, technological awareness, e-business knowledge, and data processing skills (Top Startups For Digital Literacy).

    Last but not least is startup company Gaptain. Gaptain is a startup based in Spain that offers digital literacy skills and promotes cyber security. Digital competence helps individuals and businesses avoid risks, misinformation, and security breaches related to digital activity. To teach essential digital literacy skills, startups design personalized programs based on individual usage of digital devices. For example, digital assessments help parents identify potential risks related to children’s device usage and tailor an education plan to eliminate them. Gaptain conducts an audit of children’s digital activity and designs education sessions targeting identified problems. Gaptain also offers child-centric cybersecurity services and compiles digital maps, classroom digital activity reports, and maps of specific risks to ensure the safe use of digital devices (Top Startups For Digital Literacy).

    All the things contribute to how important digital literacy is. Digital literacy is vital for students and adults to be forever learners of the Internet and media. Now as I previously stated, I will further discuss media literacy. Media literacy encompasses the practices that allow people to access, critically evaluate, and create or manipulate media. Media literacy is not restricted to one medium (Media Literacy Wiki). Media literacy is the capacity to interpret different types of media and understand what it means. The different forms of media are television, radio, cinema, newspapers, magazines, and Internet-based websites. Developing an understanding of these components and applying them to everyday life will increase your impact of recognizing media literacy. Down below I will list 10 media literacy programs set in place. These programs are in and outside of the United States. 

1. Action 4 Media Education
2. National Association for Media Literacy Education
3. Campaign for a Commercial
4. The Center for Media Literacy
5. Canada’s MediaSmarts 
6. Media Education Foundation 
7. Free Press
8. The Museum of Broadcast Communication
9. Project Look Sharp
10. The News Literacy Project 

           
    The society as a whole have more than enough opportunities to learn about digital and media literacy. The importance of digital and media literacy is to enhance our skills about the Internet and media and to grow as a people. The more we know about digital and media literacy will help obtain key academic skills and life skills.