Digital Media

 

Marshall McLuhan

I found a greater understanding of digital media and digital literacy through these three videos. The first video, ‘Digital Media are Networked’, examines a negative side to digital media, that it is interconnected and interactive. While at first glance, this could bring people together, it has many ill side effects. The most harmful of which being that “anyone can post anything online, and make it look authentic”. Anyone being able to wield such authority speaks to the potential danger of digital media. Anonymity may also have an adverse effect in situations like this. When someone exploits their anonymity online, it is virtually impossible to ensure they face accountability or repercussions of some kind.

The second video explored the use of digital literacy in the everyday lives of most people. This has made me consider the various aspects of digital literacy and how they come into ordinary use. In recent years, digital media has come into use in many workplaces and as a result is developing a greater presence in education. As internet infrastructure developed, the number of tasks possible digitally has increased. For example, workplace communication and assignments are generally handled with virtual environments, in addition to a worldwide reliance on Zoom in recent memory. Despite the length of this video, it had me considering the vast presence of digital media in society, and how it’s going to evolve in the years to come.

The third video, a TEDx talk held by Doug Belshaw establishes the idea of regular literacy before homing in on digital literacy. An anecdote of a child’s ‘pre-literacy behaviour’ gives an idea of how basic literacy comes about in children and how that can correspond to digital literacy. I found it interesting how the connection is made between instinctual learning methods and his proposed ‘progressive’ teaching of digital literacy. This human behaviour is extended into menu systems such as an iPad interface. This style of interface differs from most that rely on branching logic. By simplifying menus into a home screen of icons, Apple has created “elegant consumption”.

He goes on to mention the effect of memes on digital literacy, more specifically the ‘remixing’ aspect of the internet. I see now that the speed at which communication happens on the internet has impacted the face of digital media over the past few decades. While memes are primarily comedic, they can have a real impact on the world around us. A suitable example of this is shown in the ‘Pepper Spray Cop’, John Pike, who ended up suspended from the police force because of his actions being publicised by the internet.

 

Sources:

MediaSmarts (2018) Digital Literacy 101 [online] Available from <https://youtu.be/b-HXiObDDnA> [accessed 10 Nov 2021]. 

University of Derby (2014) Digital Literacy and why it matters [online] Available from <https://youtu.be/p2k3C-iB88w> [accessed 10 Nov 2021].

TEDxWarwick (2012) The essential elements of digital literacies [online] Available from <https://youtu.be/A8yQPoTcZ78> [accessed 10 Nov 2021].