User:Lawilson415/sandbox

Article Draft (21 February 2018)
Please visit User:Nhuffman/sandbox for the article draft.

Article Suggestions/Sourcing (17 February 2018)
Suggested Improvements for Digital Literacy:

One of the main areas of improvement for the Digital Literacy article is narrowing down our ("our" being a societal "our) understanding of what the term actually means. Currently, the Wiki page extends the definition into multiple paragraphs and is convoluted; while I recognize that the term and field is nuanced, I feel as if there are better ways to communicate this complexity.

I would also like to see the "Values of Digital Literacy" section expand and become more clear to the reader. The values, of course, are ever expanding, but the current subheadings and paragraphs within the subcategory seem dated and do not begin to fully encompass the 21st century importance of digital literacy.

The article touches on Academic and Pedagogical concepts within digital literacy, but I am curious whether or not the addition of controversies surrounding digital literacy would be a worthwhile addition to the article. Because of the importance emphasized throughout, it seems imperative that people also understand what digital illiteracy entails and what damages are possible if one is not able to fully navigate our new digital world. Related to that, the section on the "participation gap" seems oddly out of place; I would like to see this concept infused throughout the article rather than lumped into a category by itself.

Kst96 (talk) 03:04, 6 March 2018 (UTC) Your wants for improvement in Digital Literacy are great, and I think they will help greatly improve the article. I think you are on the right track by saying you can simplify a complex situation. I agree the "Values of Digital Literacy" section could be improved, and I think your team did a good job of doing so in your draft. Keep up the good work!

Sources:
 * "Developing the Concept of Digital Literacy in the Context of Schools and Teacher Education", http://www-tandfonline-com.proxy-um.researchport.umd.edu/doi/full/10.11120/elss.2013.05010025?scroll=top&needAccess=true
 * "Should mobile learning be compulsory for preparing students for learning in the workplace?", http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.proxy-um.researchport.umd.edu/doi/10.1111/bjet.12134/epdf
 * "Digital Literacy as a Boost Factor in Employability of Students" https://books.google.com/books?id=rMcDDgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ViewAPI#v=onepage&q&f=false
 * James, Carrie. Disconnected: Youth, New Media, and the Ethics Gap. MIT Press, 2014. Jacobs
 * Jacobs, Walter R. Speaking the Lower Frequencies: Students and Media Literacy. University of New York Press, 2005.

Articles to Review
Article 1: Digital Literacy: I am proposing this article for consideration due to its applicability to the study of digital rhetorics. Additionally, the page itself does need extensive editing, and could, in many ways, be divided into much larger individual pages. The current page on Wikipedia explores areas of personal interest such as youth engagement and digital citizenship, but without much depth. Because these areas are so important to the expansion of crowd-sourced information and ensuring that digital literacy is accurate, providing correct and in-depth information for these areas is crucial. Sources available for this page do include the expansive sources already within the article, as well as a more nuanced (and contemporary) revisiting of Richard Lanham's "Digital Literacy" from 1995 and Paul Gilster's text from the late 1990's.

Article 2: Web Accessibility: The area of Web Accessibility is particularly interesting to me because I am deeply invested in the area of equity and accessibility. Because the internet, by default, allows for such incredible access across class and ability level, digital rhetoric is able to appeal to a much wider audience than traditional formats. However, this appeal will be lost if users "forget" accessibility should be at the forefront of every conversation: are our videos captioned? are our images described? does the webpage allow for text-to-speech? does the website seamlessly allow the user to toggle between colors or font sizes? Exploring this article and area of interest will also allow for individuals to see if there is any legal footwork between the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and website domains, explore personal favorite websites to see if they even have accessibility guidelines (Wikipedia does), and otherwise consider obstacles that they may not have considered before in accessing the internet.

Article 3: Digital Citizen: The third article I am suggesting for further review is 'Digital Citizen.' In the United States, our society finds itself experiencing significant tensions over what it means to be a citizen, and I am interested in exploring this idea of digital citizenship as it relates to 'actual' citizenship. What does it mean to be a citizen of a digital world if the tangible reality around you says you do not belong? What does this mean for marginalized communities that have only found belonging in anonymous chat forums or blogs? Additionally, this idea ties in with that of digital literacy: is there a good way to be a digital citizen, and what does that look like if there is?

Article Evaluation
Immediately, the first thing I noticed on the Wikipedia page for "Digital Literacy" was the fact that Wikipedia noted that the information on the page had multiple errors, and perhaps most concerning, was the fact that the links within the article seem to be questionable. The lead itself is rather long and seems as though the attempt was made to fit in all pertinent information into the lead.

Despite these concerns, the information about Digital Literacy is well-detailed and cited throughout. I appreciate the ways that the authors of the page have worked to create a nuanced understanding of digital literacy across fields of interest, ranging from socioeconomic status to academic pedagogy. However, there are sections of the article (for example, 'digital citizenship') that seem to be overly detailed and ultimately take away from the main idea of understanding digital literacy. The links throughout the article are active and the 'External Links' list is very inclusive and provides a great springboard for other people to dig a little deeper into digital literacy if they wish. Additionally, it is noted within the article that Wikiversity has learning resources specifically about digital literacy, which speaks to the importance and the relevance of having terms. The page is also a part of 4 WikiProjects including Education and Computing, and the 'Talk' sections seems to have inspired quite a bit of discussion about the "actual" definition of digital literacy. Many people within the Talk page seem to oppose including certain related words or concepts, while many others have presented coherent arguments as to why those words are included. At this time, it does not seem as though much effort has been made to reduce or remove any of the "questionable" terms. One area which does not seem to get much attention is the area of accessibility through a(n) (dis)ability lens, though there is some attention to accessibility as far as immigrant status or SES. In the future, I would expand upon the ideas of accessibility within this article to ensure that the information does stay relevant for all demographics.