Suddenly, you're totally interested. I want to put a picture of my wife next to me. To me, that's authentic literacy. If Bennahum's intuition and perceptions are correct, beyond the concern for individual fluency, the issue of digital literacy has deep implications for society as a whole. If these tools are so powerful and such an important part of our economy and culture and society, there's something profoundly undemocratic about limiting knowledge to an elite few.
Much hope rests on the democracy of the Internet's capability to distribute knowledge.
Encouraging digital literacy precisely because it is an open system can turn even the most determined Luddite into an enthusiast. Michael Manekin is a freelance writer. He lives in New York. Inc. All rights reserved.