In an interesting piece by Adrian Miles “Network Literacy: The New Path to Knowledge” he looks at the communications sphere known at networked literacy.

He begins by looking at a comparison between print literacy and networked literacy using Penny (a student) and how she visits a library to get out a book.

Miles begins to explain that to be network literate is not the same as, being computer literate.

This can be seen in the same way that we understand print literate is much more than just being able to read and write.

Miles goes on to define network literacy as being able to participate as a peer within the emerging knowledge networks that are now the product of the Internet, and to have as ‘deep’ an understanding of the logics or protocols of these networks as we do of print.

While this definition still has a tendency to confuse me on multiple levels, the example he gave of his daily works began to unravel the given definition.

On a daily basis he might read something online that is relevant to his teaching. “I will write about this in my blog, providing a link to this content. I will also bookmark this site via my del.icio.us account so that I can find it again and so that others may also find it. Meanwhile, I’ve also added some academic references to CiteULike, and I know my students and others can get this information because each service provides custom RSS feeds that can be subscribed to. Next, I move two photographs from my mobile phone to Flickr, one of which I’ll be publishing into my blog and the other will be shared with some colleagues for a paper we’re writing together.” etc etc.

What I have come to understand from the piece is that networked literacy is the ability to weave together multiple media platforms (web pages, blogs, photo’s, video’s etc) and distribute them across the network in a simple manner.

Or as Jill Walker has defined it:

“Network literacy means linking to what other people have written and inviting comments from others, it means understanding a kind of writing that is a social, collaborative process rather than an act of an individual in solitary. It means learning how to write with an awareness that anyone may read it: your mother, a future employer or the person whose work you’re writing about.”

I think I like her definition better.