Literacy is from a Latin word meaning, “One who knows the alphabet.” From the beginning, it referred to someone who could read and write. As communication technologies have developed, the word has been applied to each new medium. “Visual Literacy” goes back at least to the 1940s, for instance. I would extend literacy from “knowing the alphabet” to mean “knowing how to use the tools of communication.”

As new media–new communication tools–appear and improve, their value will continue to change. Value, of course, is also situational. YouTube is a tremendous educational tool. It’s much less valuable, perhaps, in creating group communications. The exact opposite might be said of Second Life, or blogs or fora.

As I wrote in my paper, I find the very concept of trying to weigh one medium against another to be inherently incorrect, unless the situation is clearly defined and hard data available.