How I developed multiple digital literacies

There’s no doubt that digital literacy has transformed how things are done in the world today. One such aspect is in literacy. Growing up and at the beginning of my education, I got introduced to an environment where pencils, writing exercise books, pens, reading literature, paper textbooks, blackboard, and different colored chalks reigned supreme. These were the days when I was in Primary (elementary and middle) and part of secondary (upper)school.

After a suitable donor donated some computers to our school, just like that, the computer was as a subject introduced in the syllabus. This was when I got a glimpse of what digital literacy looked like, and I made the giant leap into the future. I have to admit that it was a privilege to get the chance to study computers since this enabled me to bridge the past modes of learning and incorporate all those into digital form through various digital media available.

Traditionally, when reading, it was essential to have the materials in paper form to turn through each page as they learn. Digital literacy has made me leave most of this behind. The various ways in which I have enhanced my digital literacy are:

• Audiobooks:These have made it possible to get the content of an entire book in audio format, and I can get the whole book on the go, when walking, driving, riding, and this is so much time-saving. I find more comfortable to listen to a book than sit down to read it.

• Flash drive:Rather than carry hard copies of documents around, I have found that when I have them scanned and stored on my memory stick. I’m able to attach and send them by email to multiple recipients, and this saves me from the backlog of having to worry about carrying too much paperwork around.

• Podcast:Several educational contents has been done in podcasts and all I need to do it to select which podcast I need to listen to, and I get enriched that way. Example TED podcast and religious podcast.

• Compact Disc and Digital Video Discs:These have also made it possible to have all materials that exist in audio, video, and data formats to be stored here and are accessible whenever I need them. They replaced the traditional tapes and vinyl disks, which were analog forms of doing things. I remember the first compact disc I got was from the R&B musician Brandy 2004 Afrodisiac album, I had to save up for months before I could afford to buy it.

• Modern phones:smartphones have revolutionized how we do things in the literary world since I can do much of what I’m used to doing on the computer, on my smartphone. For instance, I can submit paperwork on my phone, read on the phone, listen to audiobooks, send and receive emails, and a host of other things, not forgetting listening to music, radio and watch Netflix with my phone, very convenient.

• Cloud technology:This form of storage has made it possible for me to store my documents, data, and information in the cloud storage system, where I can quickly retrieve them for reading, editing, or to use them when needed. This I can do anywhere with internet access.

• Internet:Today, the internet is a very vital resource. Most of my reading I do online, and internet is a digital medium that has made this possible. I would say even newspapers and research materials are right at our fingertips, thanks to the internet. It goes without saying that this resource is being used to appeal to customers in many businesses because everyone needs to be in a Wi-Fi environment to be able to do something like reading on their gadgets while in a mall, bus, airplane, coffee shop, etc. This enables them to multitaskEven the traditional ways of learning have gone digital, like online classes which I have seen tutors in a classroom, but they stream those lessons to reach a broad group of learners. Also, some documents, paperwork, or books which I have in hard copy have been able to be scanned and saved in digital transcripts for ease of access.

All in all, digital literacy has hugely changed my reading literacy in that I do not need to rely only on one traditional hard copy media to get any content. They come in various soft digital forms, and this is very convenient for me.