Critical Digital Literacy: Analysing

Insights: Using, Analysing, and Creating in Digital Spaces

I have discovered over the past three weeks that using, analysing, and creating in digital spaces are concepts that are all intertwined with each other. A person, as I have experienced myself, must be able to use a digital space—in a basic manner at the very least—in order to appropriately analyze that space or the content it holds. Once this is achieved, and analyzing has occurred, then I have found that the task of creating in that digital space myself, if much simpler because I understand the meaning and purpose of the space I am using.

For example, I mentioned in my class discussion post this week that I had a bias and reservations towards the social network of Instagram before I began to use it. Due to creating this bias before experimenting with the space personally, I prevented myself from being able to effectively analyze the space and create accurate judgments. However, once I began to use Instagram on my own, I learned the basic operations of the network, which allowed me to deconstruct the content that I discovered and re-evaluate my conclusions about this space. Ultimately, I learned that the purpose Instagram employs, of sharing through image posts, allows people to gather information about many different ideas, may they be for businesses, hobbies, education, or sharing personal events; and this is a digital space that unites people based on their connections in various ways.

Wordle and My Awareness of Analysing

(Hinrichsen & Coombs, 2014)

Throughout my creative ‘make’ tinkering this week, I tried an application called Wordle, to create a textual image that incorporates all of the words I have found to relate to the concept of analysing, in the context of digital spaces. The words that I chose to conclude summarize the process of analysing as illustrated by Hinrichsen and Coombs (2014). They break analysing down into three steps; deconstructing, selecting, and interrogating, which can be seen in the figure I have included here. Based on this idea, I created this Wordle to highlight the major themes of analysing that can especially be used in a classroom setting to teach students. 

Students must be able to make informed decisions in digital spaces. This includes applying “critical, aesthetic, and ethical perspectives to the production and consumption of digitised material” (Hinrichsen & Coombs, 2014). This all comes down to the ability to analyse. As I was made aware of the importance of analysing this week, I used this concept in my Wordle creation. To determine the words I would include, I analysed the information presented to me and chose appropriate terms that accurately captured the theme.

 

Wordle is a resource that teachers can use in their classrooms for any subject or topic to help students analyse the information they are given. It requires students to decipher important terms from the rest of a text and also allows for creativity and the use of a digital space while doing this. Incorporation of these skills into one activity is an effective way to enhance the analysing skills of students while teaching other subjects as well.

Resources I Used This Week

In this one blog post, I have used numerous resources to help with using, analysing, and creating in digital spaces. As mentioned, I used Wordle to create my visual image that is included here. I also used Instagram as a resource that highlights my own personal experience in the digital world of analysing. Finally, I used my course webpage and discussion board to access information presented to me by my classmates and professor about this week’s topic: analysing!

References

Hinrichsen, Juliet & Coombs, Antony. (2014). The five resources of critical digital literacy: 

A framework for curriculum integration. Research in Learning Technology. 21. 10.3402/rlt.v21.21334.