This document discusses Emilia Ferreiro's views on digital literacy and ICTs. It makes three key points: 1) ICTs like computers and the internet have revolutionized communication and introduced new forms of literacy, though new technologies have always faced resistance from educators at first. 2) While ICTs can expand access to knowledge, there are political concerns about who controls the knowledge promoted through these technologies, with organizations like the World Bank seeking to define education in economic rather than intellectual terms. 3) There is doubt that ICTs alone can solve illiteracy in developing countries, as globalization and the knowledge promoted through these technologies may primarily serve first-world economic interests rather than empower

1. Emilia Ferreiro on the ICTs and Digital Literacy
Ferreiro, E. (2004) Alfabetización digital, ¿de qué estamos hablando? Actas de las 12ª Jornadas de
Bibliotecas Infantiles y Escolares. Salamanca: Fundación Germán Sánchez Ruipérez,
We are in the face of a big revolution in education and
the responsible for this change is the so-called ICTs
(Information and Communication Technologies). They
also account for the different view of life between
generations; we (most adults) witnessed the change;
today's kids are born with it. We read books, wrote
letters, posted mails to communicate; they hit a
button or click to call someone, or chat.
However, revolutions have taken place all along
literacy history. To mention something, the graffito
pencil replaced the quill or fountain pen; the ballpoint
pen replaced the pencil; notebooks replaced scrolls,
calculators facilitated mental operations; typewriters
put both hands to work and fingers became more
functional; television took the educational process out
of the classroom. It is to be noted that every time a
change was introduced to the school life, teachers and
staff were always reluctant to incorporating these new
mechanisms in their practices. For instance, the pencil
was a sharp weapon; the pen could spoil pupils'
handwriting; calculators ruined students' ability to
calculate; typewriters were noisy and eliminated the
aesthetic of handwriting; television dissolved families
and their messages were doubtful (they still are).
But in the end, new technologies have been
incorporated. And they should. The advent of high
technology shows a scenery in which students are
engaged in decoding a complex world of images (in
motion, preferably), graphs, audio, among others,
simultaneously. This kind of decoding information is
meant to put an end to the historical linear nature of
the writing system, of decoding, of learning itself.
Teachers, badly paid and unprepared for the high-tech
school, should be aware of the fact that the
educational revolution is inevitable. In general, they
must be ready to lead their students into the new

2. digital literacy system, bearing in mind that "literacy"
implies the ability to comprehend messages that are
there, and produce them, likewise; no matter the
format or code they are expressed in.
The ICTs are welcome provided they are used to teach
or learn through different languages or codes or they
offer knowledge from different sources, other than the
teacher and the books.
The political issue of ICTs
A very abrupt turn comes up when we analyze the
word 'knowledge'. What is the knowledge our
students are acquiring (In the so-called third-world
coutries - badly developed coutries)? Globalization
jumps onto the scene; the concept of globalization
encompasses unity, breaking walls, bringing peoples
together democratically. However, the proposal of
globalization comes from the "First-World Counties"
Let us consider the following facts:
 The President of the World Bank, James
Wolfensohn, in 1996 proposed (and reaffirmed
in 1999) that the World Bank be re-defined as
the "Knowledge Bank".
 Later on, a high chairman of the World Bank
stated: "traditional education is a just-in-case
education; we need to make it a just-in-time
education"
 Similarly, a high chairman of Microsoft,
doomed the paper literacy by stating "There's
no more distinctiveness between the rich and
the poor, the big and the small; it's all the 'fast'
and the 'slow'.
The 'knowledge' they are talking about is
'encapsulated', consumable, disposable, perishable;
the knowledge of production and consumption. It is
not the knowledge of science philosophy or arts;
theorizing, demonstrating, discovering, creating. The
key word is 'Interconnectivity', which is a synonym of
globalization. The ICTs play a major role. The World
Bank called themselves the 'knowledge managers' and
our governments are subjugated to them. The hope to
reach high-tech and access useful, rich, enjoyable, or
empowering information to Latin American countries
is rather weak. That is the kind of 'democracy' we can
expect.
Are the ICTs the solution to overcome illiteracy in
'third-world, under-developed, badly-developed
countries'?