Technology Trends and Issues

Defining Technological Literacy

Given the current state of technology, a researcher should have little difficulty in finding relevant definitions that embody a spirited understanding of underlying technical and societal interactions that craft a view of the technically literate person. As an exercise, extracting the common elements from various experts’ definitions of technological literacy should result in a generalized perspective that would provide a foundation supporting further literacy definitions for aspects of technology such as computers or genetics. However, this is easier than it sounds. As Gagel (1997) confirms, “defining technological literacy has proven to be an unexpectedly complex and difficult task”.

The difficulty in defining technological literacy is exposed by a number of factors. One factor relates to understanding perspective and determining whether the term is best defined by putting the emphasis on “technology” or “literacy” or whether the subject is best approached laterally. Indeed, Gagel describes the technological literacy from a technology perspective as opposed to defining literacy and then establishing parameters supporting technological literacy. Perhaps this approach contributed to the author’s difficulty in defining the term. As technology is so diverse and crosses many boundaries, perhaps the definition of technological literacy should do likewise, and not be restricted to either a “technology” or “literacy” perspective.

Another factor contributing to the difficulty in defining technological literacy involves the improperly weighting of computer influence on the term’s definition. In a speech given by former President, Bill Clinton, this misunderstanding is propagated further. He states, “Today, technological literacy – computer skills and the ability to use computers and other technology to improve learning, productivity and performance – is a new basic that our students must master. “ (Clinton, n.d.) Clearly, this mindset is remiss and precludes the contribution of myriad other technologies affecting our daily lives. According to Harrison, “Computer literacy is but a subset of technological literacy, but if this mindset is not encouraged, then the richness of technological literacy will not be passed on to next generations. As technologists, we have the daunting task of reversing this rapidly flowing river.” (Harrison, 2000)

So, the question is how to define “technological literacy” without being trapped in too narrow a perspective and without utilizing a specific technology to add meaning to the term. It is important that society controls technology for it to serve us purposefully in our daily lives and lifestyle in general. For us to control technology, an understanding and knowledge is required to allow us to make informative decisions on how it will affect our lives.