(I opted to copy and paste my freewriting nearly word for word here, to better capture the stream of consciousness of the moment. But I thought my image at the end required a bit of commentary, so that is new.)

So, traditionally literacy = reading, writing (but also the community that informs those activities), so at first glance digital literacy might mean being proficient in using digital media and digital technologies. But I think there’s more to it than that. I think there’s a “presence” or even an “inhabiting” thing going on, where there’s an awareness of practices and an awareness of the conditions of that media.  It’s seeing / reading / thinking / writing choices we make – meaning making and all of those related ingredients  involved – that’s literacy too. Digital also means multimodal to me, visual + text + audio. But often I must say that digital is almost synonymous to me with technology, although I don’t think that’s entirely accurate. I’ve been teaching digital cyborg ideas to my students, and I must say that has been transforming – deepening – my thinking on this phrase, and what IS digital. Funny that digital = fingers / digits, yet much of digital isn’t a physical or geographic presence. It’s bound to our physiological state, but it's an extension as well (at least, that's what I'm trying to get my freshman writers to see).

Key Terms:  Awareness of conditions, BEING digital (like being John Malkovich – holy cow, what a reference!); also means being super- / hyper-aware of the surroundings and the existence. What does it mean to be working in a digital space? What does it mean to produce a digital text? Have I become so accustomed to thinking about working in a digital (i.e., online) space, mediated by a piece of electronic technology that connects me to that, that it’s the NORM for me? Existing without being reflective of the sensory inputs? When we interrogate the screen (Sherry Turkle) and the interface as an object of study, does that enhance our abilities to function, or does it amount to overkill?

The following image is a result of my in-class image search for the term "screen." My thinking started with Sherry Turkle's "Life On The Screen" as well as Kenneth Burke's phrase "terministic screens" so I was thinking of computer screens. But then I spotted an image of a window screen -- and in my mind that allowed me to take my thinking in some very interesting new directions.

http://www.ncmobilescreen.com/new/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/SanDiegoWindowScreens31.jpg

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