This weeks reading was, once again authored by Adrian Miles.  His work is always a great read.  It’s easy and uncomplicated and assists me in understanding the course.  I am very under skilled in terms of website knowledge and understanding how things are created in the world of the internet.  Web code and the likes are extremely foreign to me, so this week may be a challenge.

What I’ve taken from Miles’ reading is that network literacy is how information is transmitted in new-age ‘realms,’ such as digitally and through the media as opposed to traditional means of print media.  But just because you are ‘network literate,’ does not mean you are ‘computer literate,’ (which I am definitely not).  Network literacy allows us all to be interconnected.  We do not have to understand every technicality of how the internet works, but understanding the basics helps– things like font and text.  Through Network literacy we are able to be ‘peers’ and support each other through our learning through sharing.  I think this is vital in learning and studying in our generation.  We are so focused on the media and on the digital that we need to incorporate it into our tertiary education.  Most of us have been raised with the privilege of technology and naturally discovering it, so the progression of technology into our education is not going to be a shock.  Books and print media are becoming less and less common.  Yes, they are a priceless resource, but network literacy offers so much more.  Network literacy utilises the interconnectedness of the internet and the media to create information in one large sum.  I can’t think of any occasions that I have thought of visiting a library BEFORE I visited a website.

Websites are published using formats like RSS and XML which allows these informants to link.  To me, this means that there is a universal website language that people try to use in order to simplify sharing and connecting work through different services.  This makes research more time efficient and productive.

I can see that I have a long way to go in this course.  I’m excited for the challenge; to learn about networked media and network literacy.  At this point, I don’t want to further discuss this reading for fear of embarrassment of my lack of knowledge in the matter, but I am looking forward to this weeks lecture and workshop to discuss these ideas further.

 

 

In text quotations:

Miles, Adrian. Network Literacy: The New Path to Knowledge [online]. Screen Education, No. 45, 2007: 24-30.