Digitalisation affects how people live and interact, but also learn and work. It accelerates the changes in our society at a higher speed than ever before, impacting, all sectors and geographical regions. Investing in digital skills will be of the utmost importance.
However, there is a growing need to promote and invest in digital literacy to overcome the multiple dimensions of the digital divide in many African countries Uganda inclusive.
Digital literacy is all about how you use, consume, and share digital data.
Digital literacy is the ability to navigate various digital platforms and understand, assess and communicate through them. When you read a book on a candle, consider the accuracy of a news report linked in your social media newsfeed or create and share a YouTube video, you are displaying digital literacy. Digital literacy encompasses a wide range of ”new” technology, even the technology you’re using to access this concept! Some signs of a digitally literate individual include being able to find the right tools to consume information and to share and create content for others.
Digital literacy is important because we live in a tech-dependent world. Today, you can order for boda boda transport from your smartphone, read the news on a mobile tablet or take books with you to the beach on a digital e-reader.
We need to become digitally literate to keep up with the changing times. In years past, people communicated through written letters, and this required strong reading and writing skills. We now communicate through email and text, which requires those same skills but also needs digital literacy skills as well. This makes digital literacy important not only for being successful in the workplace, but in society as well.
- Training IWU members on how to use digital tools in the virtual world the ‘New normal’ is going to be IWU’s strategy in bridging the digital divide in Uganda.