Digital Literacy: Tools and Methodologies for Information Society

Citation

du Preez, M. (2009), "Digital Literacy: Tools and Methodologies for Information Society", The Electronic Library, Vol. 27 No. 1, pp. 193-194. https://doi.org/10.1108/02640470910934920

Societal changes have not only impacted on the way people communicate information, but also on the place and role of knowledge in society. These changes brought about societies' development from oral societies to literate societies as well as the emergence of the current information society. The use that the Information Society is making of information and communication technologies to communicate, store and disseminate information has further contributed to a breakdown of global and international boundaries. The result is a completely interconnected society in which digital media has abolished the identity between the physical and social space which once used to characterise human communication.

These social changes are now also changing the forms in which people store and use information and build their image of reality. This requires members of the information society to be digitally literate as digital media has become the new information storage medium. Digital media is now also increasingly impacting on society's formative processes, forcing a pragmatic shift in the management and organisation of these processes. This shift therefore makes it possible to talk of digital literacy.

Rivoltella's Digital Literacy: Tools and Methodologies for Information Society, discusses the characteristics of the information society and digital literacy particularly from an educational point of view. The book strives to define a conceptual framework for understanding the social changes produced by digital media. It also strives at creating a framework within which digital literacy can act as a tool to assist younger generations in interacting critically with digital media and their culture.

The book consists of 18 chapters and is divided into four sections. The first section “The information society: a conceptual framework” provides a theoretical framework of the main transformations produced by information and communication technologies in modern society. This framework is built from different points of view. It investigates the modalities according to which knowledge is socially built. It also investigates the tools supporting this social construction as well as the social and epistemological implications thereof.

The idea in the second section “The information society: educative researches” is to present some recent research about new media consumption. The aim of this section is to point out that information and communication technologies not only transform social practices but also represent educative challenges.

The authors of the third section “Media literacy: definition and perspectives” try to define the role and the perspectives of what could be called a new media education. The final section “Media literacy: educational outlines” supports this discussion by providing some case histories to support the development of digital literacy strategies in schools and in information education environments.

Digital Literacy is an authoritative and thought provoking book. It is intended for scholars wishing to acquire an understanding of the social changes resulting from new information communication technologies and the educational challenges digital literacy is presenting them. The book is well written, includes references at the end of each chapter and concludes with a useful index.