Many people have tried to define the word 'literacy'. In my studies, I have noticed that most of these definitions concentrate somehow on the information that is contained in a person's mind: how much they actually know, or can recall from memory. I feel that these definitions are lacking in one important aspect: they fail to take into consideration the technology which we have available to us today. Today more than ever there exists a wide variety of ways to access the vast quantites of information which we as a society hold. Because of this technology, I feel that it is necessary to shift our focus when we define literacy.

One of the authors that I have studied is E.D. Hirsch, whose book Cultural Literacy falls into the category of authors who define literacy in terms of what a person knows. Hirsch is an extreme case; he feels that literacy entails a list of items which a person should know. Knowing every item on the list means that you are literate. Other authors are not as excessive as Hirsch, but their thinking tends to fall along the same lines; J.U. Ogbu's paper "Literacy and Schooling in Subordinate Cultures" is an example.

What Hirsch and others fail to realize (in part because of the time period in which they wrote) is that the technology we have available to us today greatly facilitates access to information. Many of the obstacles which existed in previous times, such as time, place, speed of access, and availability of information, are avoided through the use of technology. We are no longer restricted by the library's hours, or whether or not the bookstore has the book we want. A growing amount of information today is published electronically , and is therefore available twenty-four hours a day, every day of the year, to anyone, anywhere, with an inexpensive and readily available amount of computer equipment.

As an example, let's look at an average college student. Like most of us, she doesn't have much free time on her hands. However, she is very interested in environmentalist and activist groups, espically the Sierra Club. But it's 3:00 in the morning, so she can't call anyone. She's been thinking about joining, but she wants to get more information. Five or ten years ago, this person would have little choice but to go to bed and think about it next week. But this student has a computer on her desk which is tied into the campus network, which is connected to the Internet. She opens her World-Wide Web (WWW) browser, and sees the home page for her school (http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/). She remembers that there is a page called Lycos that will let her search for WWW pages (http://lycos5.lycos.cs.cmu.edu/cgi-bin/pursuit), so she scrolls down until she finds that link, and then clicks on it. She types the word "Sierra" into the keyword box and hits return. Less than a minute later, a screen full of web page addresses (also known as "URLs") comes up. She scrolls down until she sees the Sierra Club home page (1) However, a possibility which I feel is likely to benefit everyone involved, is that children will go to school long enough to be taught a very basic education; "reading, writing, and 'rithmatic," as it were, but including the basics of how to access this information; and then they will be let loose to explore whatever sort of topics interest them. I feel that this style of education will produce students who are motivated, interested, and excited about their own education.

It is very easy to get excited about this free flowing information which technology like the World-Wide Web and the Internet have provided. If we are to make full use of this new medium, it is necessary that people remain enthusiastic and encourage others to do so as well. The uses for the Internet are almost limitless, and I believe that its applications to education are equally limitless. The free exchange of information and ideas can be vital to the education of our children, but if we are to take advantage of it, we have to change the way we think about education and knowledge. We must cease focusing on what we know; the electronic medium takes care of that. We must concentrate on turning the information into useful knowledge that allows us to be and do what we most want.

Ben Cordes is an Electrical and Computer Engineering student at Carnegie Mellon University. He frequents the 'Net very often and can often be found hunting down new WWW links with his web browser. He can be reached at bc3q+@andrew.cmu.edu.

1. S.314, the "Communications Decency Act of 1995," is a bill which would make system operators criminally liable for the electronic distribution of "indecent, lewd, threatening or harassing" material. The bill would effectively require system operators to either severly restrict access or to maintain close watches on every piece of communication on their system, including "private" e-mail. This bill would also restrict privacy on the 'Net as well as freedom of speech. If you are interested in finding out more information about attempts to censor the Web, more information about S.314, or a citizen's petition against it, link here. For information about censorship attempts right here at CMU, link here.