This document discusses bridging the digital divide and digital literacy. It defines digital literacy and describes a digitally literate person. The document also discusses different frameworks for digital and media literacies, including Rheingold's five literacies, 21st century skills, and transliteracy. Finally, it addresses challenges around different generations and their relationship with technology.

1. Bridging the
Digital Divide
TechNet 2012
Bobbi Newman
librarianbyday.net
@librarianbyday

2. Let‟s talk about
Digital Natives

3. Zickuhr, 2011

7. The Myth of
the Digital
Native

8. Being digitally literate is about
far more than access to
technology, it is about using
technology well.

9. We are floating (or sinking) in a
sea of technology.

10. The illiterate of the 21st century
will not be those who cannot
read and write,
but those who cannot
learn, unlearn, and relearn.
- Alvin Toffler

12. We are exposed to more
mediated messages in one day
than our great-grandparents
were exposed to in a year
-Center for Media Literacy

13. Digital
Literacy

14. 66 million Americans are
without
basic digital literacy skills
-Usdan 2012

15. You keep using that word.
I do not think it means what you
think it means.

16. Digital Literacy?
Media Literacy
Visual Literacy
Computer Literacy?
Technology Literacy?
Information Literacy?

17. Digital Literacy is the ability to use
information and communication
technologies to find, evaluate,
create, and communicate
information, requiring both cognitive
and technical skills.
-ALA Digital Literacy Taskforce (2011)

18. A Digitally Literate Person:
Possesses the variety of skills –
technical and cognitive – required to
find, understand, evaluate, create,
and communicate digital information
in a wide variety of formats
-ALA Digital Literacy Taskforce (2011)

19. A Digitally Literate Person:
Is able to use diverse technologies
appropriately and effectively to
retrieve information, interpret
results, and judge the quality of that
information
-ALA Digital Literacy Taskforce (2011)

20. A Digitally Literate Person:
Understands the relationship
between technology, life-long
learning, personal privacy, and
stewardship of information
-ALA Digital Literacy Taskforce (2011)

21. A Digitally Literate Person:
Uses these skills and the
appropriate technology to
communicate and collaborate with
peers, colleagues, family, and on
occasion, the general public
-ALA Digital Literacy Taskforce (2011)

22. A Digitally Literate Person:
Uses these skills to actively
participate in civic society and
contribute to a vibrant, informed,
and engaged community
-ALA Digital Literacy Taskforce (2011)

23. Rheingold’s
Five Literacies

24. Attention

25. Participation

26. Collaboration

28. Network Smarts

29. 21st Century Skills
Framework –
Adapted for Libraries
and Museums
by
Institute of Museum and Library Services

30. Learning And Innovation

31. Information, Media, And
Technology

32. Life And
Career

33. 21st
Century
Themes

34. Hobb’s Four
Components

35. Tool Skills and
Access

36. Authorship and Creation

37. Representation

38. Online social
responsibility
and
digital
citizenship

39. Transliteracy

40. the ability to read, write and
interact across a range of
platforms, tools and media from
signing and orality through
handwriting, print, TV, radio and
film, to digital social networks.

41. Privacy

42. Questions?
Bobbi Newman
bobbi.newman@gmail.com
www.librarianbyday.net
http://www.flickr.com/photos/drachmann/327122302/

43. References
• ALA supports FCC proposal to fund digital literacy training through public libraries. (2012,
April 3).District Dispatch. Retrieved from http://www.districtdispatch.org/2012/04/ala-
supports-fcc-proposal-to-fund-digital-literacy-training-through-public-libraries/
• Aspen Institute to Advance Recommendations of the Knight Commission. (2010, May
18).Knight Foundation. Retrieved from http://www.knightfoundation.org/press-room/press-
release/aspen-institute-to-advance-recommendations-of-the/
• Becker, S., Crandall, M. D., Fisher, K. E., Kinney, B., Landry, C., & Rocha, A. (2010).
Opportunity for American Library Association. (2011). The state of America's libraries: A
report from the American Library Association. Chicago, IL: American Library Association.
Retrieved from
http://ala.org/ala/newspresscenter/mediapresscenter/americaslibraries2011/state_of_ameri
cas_libraries_report_2011.pdf
• Clochesy, J. M. (2008). The experience of diversity by generation: how to bridge the
differences. Diversity Factor, 16(4), 1
• Dempsey, B. (2007). What boomers want. Library Journal, 132(12), 36-39.
• DiMaggio, P., & Hargittai, E. (2001). From the „digital divide‟ to „digital inequality‟: Studying
internet use as penetration increases. Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University: Center
for the Arts and Cultural Policy Studies.
• Elmore, L. (2010). Generation gaps. Women In Business, 62(2), 8.
• Federal Communications Commission. (2010). Connecting America: The National
Broadband Plan. Washington, D.C: Federal Communications Commission.
• Fox, A. (2011). Mixing it up. HR Magazine, 56(5), 22.

44. References
• Genachowski, J. (2011, November). FCC & “Connect to Compete” tackle barriers to broadband adoption,
Face Sheet for Chairman Genachowski Remarks on Broadband Adoption, Speech presented in
Washington, D.C. Retrieved from http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-310924A1.pdf
• Gilbert, J. (2011). The millennials: a new generation of employees, a new set of engagement policies.
Ivey Business Journal, 75(5), 26.
• Hoffman, J., Bertot, J. C., Davis, D. M., & Clark, L. (2011). Libraries connect communities: public library
funding & technology access study 2010-2011. Chicago: American Library Association. Retrieved from
http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/857ea9fd.
• Institute of Museum and Library Services (2009). Museums, Libraries, and 21st Century Skills (IMLS-
2009-NAI-01). Washington, D.C. Retrieved from
http://www.imls.gov/assets/1/AssetManager/21stCenturySkills.pdf
• Jenkins, H., Clinton, K., Purushotma, R., Robison, A., & Weigel, M. (2006). Confronting the challenges of
participatory culture: Media education for the 21st century. Retrieved from
http://digitallearning.macfound.org/atf/cf/%7B7E45C7E0-A3E0-4B89-AC9C-
E807E1B0AE4E%7D/JENKINS_WHITE_PAPER.PDF
• Johnson, L. (2010). Resolving Intergenerational Workplace Conflict. Baseline, (107), 17.
• Jones, C., Ramanau, R., Cross, S., & Healing, G. (2010). Net generation or Digital Natives: Is there a
distinct new generation entering university? Computers & Education, 54(3), 722–732.
doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2009.09.022
• Lancaster, L.C., (2003). The click and clash of generations. Library Journal, 36-39.
• Lippincott, J. K. (2007). Student Content Creators: Convergence of Literacies. EDUCAUSE Review, 42(6),
16–17.
• Margaryan, A., Littlejohn, A., & Vojt, G. (2011). Are digital natives a myth or reality ? University
students ‟ use of digital technologies. Computers & Education, 56(2), 429–440.
doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2010.09.004
• McCarty, M. (2011). Welcome to the new world of work. Officepro, 71(5), 34.
• O'Donovan, E. (2009). Managing generational diversity. District Administration, 45(8), 68.
• Pita, K. (2012). Five Generations in the Workplace. Fairfield County Business Journal, 48(8), 27.
• Prenksy, M. (2001), “Digital natives, digital immigrants”, On the Horizon, Vol. 9 No. 5, pp. 1-6.

45. References
• Rheingold, H. (2012). Net smart: How to thrive online. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
• Richtel, M. (2012, May 29). Wasting Time Is New Divide in Digital Era. New York Times Online. Retrieved
from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/30/us/new-digital-divide-seen-in-wasting-time-
online.html?_r=3&pagewanted=all)
• Saveri, A., Rheingold, H., & Vian, K. (2005). Technologies of cooperation. Palo Alto CA. Retrieved from
http://www.rheingold.com/cooperation/Technology_of_cooperation.pdf
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doi:10.1108/00012530910973776
• Tennant, R. (2010, September 29). Managing Personal Change. Digital Libraries, Library Journal.
Retrieved from http://blog.libraryjournal.com/tennantdigitallibraries/2010/09/29/managing-personal-
change/
• The Knight Commision on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy. (2009). Informing
Communities: Sustaining Democracy in the Digital Age. Washington, DC: The Aspen Institute.
• Thoman, E., Jolls, T., & Center for Media Literacy. (2008).Literacy for the 21st century: An overview and
orientation guide to media literacy education. Santa Monica, CA: Center for Media Literacy.
• Usdan, J. (2012, July 23). FCC Chairman Announces Jobs-Focused Digital Literacy Partnership Between
Connect2Compete and the 2,800 American Job Centers. Broadband.gov. Retrieved from
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• Why Broadband Service in the U.S. Is So Awful. (2010).Scientific American. Retrieved from
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on the public library. Aplis, 22(2), 83-88.
• Zickuhr, K. (2010). Generations 2010. Washington, D.C: Pew Research Center‟s Internet and American
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