Communicative
Literacy always involves communicating for a particular purpose. As a result, the Communicative element of digital literacies is always closely aligned to the Constructive element as it involves making something — a thing some may term a social object. 1 Having the knowledge, skills and understanding to do this constitutes the nuts and bolts of literacies in digital networked environments. Indeed, some (including Howard Rheingold) talk of a separate ‘network literacy’. 2
As the ways in which we can communicate using digital devices proliferate, so too do the ways in which we need to develop the Communicative element of digital literacies. All of the ‘essential elements’ are deeply interconnected, but it is evident just how symbiotic the Cultural and Communicative elements are.
After all, communicating effectively using a particular digital technology involves knowing, understanding and applying certain norms and assumptions. These can vary subtlety from (for example) social network to social network, or even between using a mobile phone compared to a landline.
I have added my voice many times to the chorus of people calling for the removal of arbitrary filtering restrictions in educational institutions. Whilst I understand that they have a ‘duty of care’ to protect young people, developing a true understanding of the power of networks (and, indeed, networks of networks) requires more immersion than they are often currently allowed.
How can young people be expected to behave appropriately if they have not been guided through the communication protocols and norms of a given platform? We are setting them up to fail.
Although none of the essential elements of digital literacies are more or less important than any of the others, the Communicative element is nevertheless pivotal. That is to say that whilst any of the elements can be paired with others to be developed, the Communicative element will almost always be involved. It may, therefore, be a good idea when developing this element to plan to go slightly deeper each time in a particular area. 3
1. A social object is “the reason two people are talking to each other, as opposed to talking to somebody else.” I’m using the concept slightly tangentially here. See gapingvoid.com/so for more on social objects. ↩
2. See, for example, bit.ly/JhkhVH ↩
3. David Buckingham, an academic in this field, talks of developing “a systematic awareness of how digital media are constructed and of the unique 'rhetorics' of interactive communication” (Buckingham, 2007, p.155). ↩