Digital literacies are the media through which people communicate in the sphere of modern technology. Someone who is digitally literate has harnessed the ability to understand technological discourse and to communicate in such forums as email, text message, or the internet. Literacy, in any sense of the word, deals with the understanding and capability of an individual to communicate--thus digital literacy deals with the individual's understanding of how to communicate in technological contexts. To be digitally literate, one must understand the language of technology, which has arisen through a worldwide push for efficiency, expediency, and immediacy.
Scanning the text messages on any cell phone would uncover a new set of words and language that someone without a cell phone might not comprehend. For example, many people from earlier generations would not understand the acronym "lol", simply because they have not been exposed to digital dialogue. Ultimately, such digital dialogue is the result of people's efforts to make themselves and their communications more efficient--and digital literacy is the ability to understand said language and utilize it. A prerequisite for digital literacy is a understanding and ability to use the language of efficiency.
I use the term language in a broad sense--I refer not only to the daily communications of individuals but also with a person's ability to interact with technology. The ability to word-process, for example, presents an understanding of modern technological language because it is an instrument of efficiency. By the same token, a knowledge of how to play computer games is not essential to becoming digitally literate, because games do not exist for the purpose of efficiency or expediency.
Digital literacies refers to participation in the modern world, where over the past 25 years there has been a shift in values to accommodate rapid communication and information. One who is digitally literate has embraced these values and puts them to practice through technology.
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This post did a great job of addressing that our world has become efficient in every aspect of our lives, including technology. Other examples of efficiency include things like Easy Mac and Gripz Crackers. To have our technology "efficiency-ized" was expected as well as necessary to keep up with us. Also, I liked how he touched on the idea that being able to play games does not mean your are digitally literate because of the fact that they are not purposefully meant to be efficient. The literacy needed to move forward in our world is not a game literacy, but a technology literacy of what is considered "important" like Microsoft Office and even social networks like Facebook and Twitter for marketing purposes.
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