Over the past few years a number of white papers have been written defining technical literacy. He predicts an economic order in which knowledge, not labor or capital, is the key resource technically literate individuals will require. A number of years have passed since the last quotes. I have asked our T.H.E. Journal Editorial Board Members to give some thought to the question and give their short description of technical literacy. We also talk of visual literacy, mathematics literacy, science literacy, and other similar concepts.
Technical literacy refers to basic competency with computers.
For example, typing, still part of most uses of word processing and other computer applications, will probably soon be replaced by voice input. At the lowest level, technical literacy involves knowing how to turn on a computer or other devices, to start and stop application programs, communicate with networks, obtain intended information from the Internet and use e-mail. It includes the ability to save, print, file and transfer files electronically. At higher levels, computer literacy becomes more detailed, involving the ability of power users to manipulate complex applications, install and remove software, organize and maintain file systems, keep up with technical bulletins, and to fully exploit the multimedia capabilities of computers and software, including installing simple add-ons such as memory, modems and storage drives. To be technology literate is to be encumbered by the knowledge of obsolescence, overwhelmed by the dynamics of the present, but yet infatuated by the potential of the technology of the future.