Literacy Questions- Free write 9/14/11

•     Facebook is used because it keeps you involved with the people around you. It allows you to keep in touch with people that you do not normally see. You can see what is going on with your friends and family. Every day on the web allows people to contribute, distribute, and consume. We distribute pictures and statuses about what we want to share with others, and what we think is important for people to know. We consume information by reading posts others have shared. We contribute to the Facebook community by writing and sharing our ideas, thoughts, and opinions after we have consumed the information. Social networking helps in becoming more literate. Since it is a communicating site, it forces people to share more ideas and write more than they usually would. It allows for people to be more social, and communicate their ideas since there is always a space to write a thought. 

•     People read print and digital texts differently. Books with texts are everywhere, and it is older than reading online. People are used to reading information in books rather than on the internet. Digital texts can be presented differently, than just in a book. The websites can have pictures and be designed creatively, so it draws the reader in. 

•     There is a difference in bring a participant of the digital realm versus being an active, critical, and digitally literate. If you are participating, it means you know how to use the internet, but are not really involved in it. Being active means that you are consuming information you have seen, and commenting on it or using it. It also means that you know how to use different programs and communicate online through email, blogs, or Facebook.  

• Being literate is an important factor in being digitally literate. To communicate at all, you have to know the basic understanding of writing, reading, and talking. Knowing those skills will be able to help you communicate online. You will have to be able to read information, comprehend it, and then respond. You have to be literate to be digitally literate.