techliteracy

[|21C Skills] and "Literacy"
(the [|21C framework])

[|Creating a New Civilization]: The Politics of the Third Wave 1995 - Alvin and Heidi Tofler (Dr. James Parry (TIE) presentation slide -- 1990's)

=[|Programming: The New Literacy] February 2008=

Excerpts:
===="//That is, what are the key skills humans must possess in order to be considered literate? Some writers assume that the definition of literacy will continue to be what it always has been: "The ability to carefully read and write a contemporary spoken language." Others specify that the term will apply only to fluency in one or more of the languages spoken by the largest numbers of people, those certain to be important over the next nine decades of the century; candidates include Spanish, English, or Mandarin Chinese//."====

===="//I believe the single skill that will, above all others, distinguish a literate person is programming literacy, __the ability to make digital technology do whatever__, within the possible one wants it to do -- to bend digital technology to one's needs, purposes, and will, just as in the present we bend words and images. Some call this skill human-machine interaction; some call it procedural literacy. Others just call it programming//."====

===="//Just about every young person programs (controls his or her own digital technology) to some extent. Many actions considered merely tasks -- setting up a universal television remote, downloading a ringtone, customizing your mobile phone or desktop -- are really programming. Doing a Web search is programming, as is using peer-to-peer or social-networking technologies, or eBay, or creating a document in Word, Excel, MySpace, or Facebook -- and toss in building your avatar in Second Life. Today's kids are such good programmers that parents who buy expensive high tech gadgets, such as camcorders or home theaters, often hand them to their children to set up (program) for them//."====