Information Literacy And Digital Literacy

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Information and digital literacy play vital roles in our society and are necessary tools for citizens to have in this growing information age. Information literacy is “the ability to recognize the extent and nature of an information need, then to locate, evaluate, and effectively use the needed information.” (“Information Literacy Definition”, n.d.) Digital literacy is “the ability to find, evaluate, utilize, share, and create content using information technologies and the Internet.” (“What is Digital Literacy?”, n.d.)The purpose of this essay is to show the contrasting and similar experiences people have had acquiring both digital and information literacy. To do this, I interviewed two citizens from different generations, one a millennial…show more content…
As a result, classes have been designed for adults and elders who are having difficulty adjusting to a digital world (Gloria Jacobs, 2014). In my interview with family friend and 62-year-old, Steve Garza, acquiring digital literacy was difficult to do at first but grew progressively easier over the years. Garza was introduced to his first computer in the early 80’s at the age of 32 to which he said the experience was “difficult to get used to since it was a very new thing”. With no formal computer classes or training, he became digitally literate through “trial and error” and the pressure to “evolve” with his generation as computers became more prevalent. Though throughout the years, he claims that digital literacy became a “necessity” when the World Wide Web was introduced. With more information being available online, Garza says his generation was practically “forced” to become digitally literate in order to keep up with the rest of the world. On the contrary, millennial and 18-year-old friend, Clemens Koolen, grew up surrounded by technology, which made it fairly easy for him to become digitally literate. At the age of 5, Koolen was introduced to his first computer, which he remembers it to be a “not so difficult thing, with the exception of learning how to use the keyboard.” As the digital age evolved, Koolen kept up to date with technologies’ various complexities and improvements. With the rise of the Internet, he also learned how to navigate
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