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Digital law deals with users needing to understand, that stealing, or messing with somebody's work is not right and there needs to be consequences. Hacking or downloading music, movies or stealing someones identity is against the law.

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People don't use proper digital etiquette because its simply not thought. Most people when talking about others etiquette fell weird about it. Often rules are set to stop inappropriate use, but sometimes rules are just not enough and people believe that proper digital etiquette needs to be tough.

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Etiquette is a fancy word for 'manners'. You might hear the term 'netiquette' when people are referring to the manners we use when dealing with others in an online environment. Task 1: Take a...

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Communication has grown to many different forms such as e-mail, phones, texting, etc. and with these new forms of communication people need to learn how to use them correctly. Everyone can keep in touch with each other through all these different forms but because of all the different options, not everyone knows how to use it correctly.

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While technology is growing and most things can be done over electronics such as buying/ selling goods, people still need to be cautious that other countries are still new to this and many illegal activities are being done over electronics. People have to learn how to be an effective user in the digital community and use everything correctly.

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Schools have made a huge progress in the department of technology. Schools are focusing on teaching the students how to use the technology and are being thought to learn anywhere anytime. As new technology comes out learners need to adapt and learn how to use it fast

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The University of North Carolina (my undergrad alma mater) created a minor in 2012 called Composition, Rhetoric, and Digital Literacy. Headed by Professor Daniel Anderson, this course of study is known as the CRaDL minor (pronounced "cradle"). The program's website summarizes the program as "emphasizing both conceptual and practical concerns related to composing and to digital culture and communication." The foundations of this program, while not exclusive to the field of Information Studies, translate nonetheless. When viewed together as a unit, I think that CRaDL studies are astonishingly relevant to Library Sciences.

Digital technologies are reshaping and invigorating the way we think about literacy, rhetorical practice, and composing writing at large, according to researchers Jessica Enoch and David Gold. In focusing on digital literacy skills, today's library and information science professionals are taking important steps forward in the field.

It's my view that a librarian with proficiency in digital literacy who lacks in composition and rhetoric skills is like a computer without the most up-to-date software. They are functional, but not as effective as they could be.

As a graduate of UNC and the CRaDL program, and now a new graduate student in the iSchool's LIS master's degree program, I personally can attest to the relevancy of this course of study in the field of information science today.

Multimodal composing, expository writing for the digital humanities, and an early introduction to the idea of "digital literacy" all pushed me toward pursuing my library and information science degree.

Now that I'm at the iSchool, I can further attest to the usefulness of the skills I gained when studying CRaDL. Having a background in digital literacy, accompanied by aptitude in rhetoric and composition, is making the transition into becoming a professional in the field that much easier. I value my CRaDL skills just as much as my research, analysis, or interpersonal skills, which is really saying something.

Defining CRaDL

Time for a few quick definitions:

The American Library Association defines digital literacy as "the ability to use information and communication technologies to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information, requiring both cognitive and technical skills."

In his book Digital Rhetoric: Theory, Method, Practice, Douglas Eyman turned to Aristotle's definition of rhetoric: "the art (techne) of finding out the available means of persuasion" for a given argument.

Finally, composition, as defined by Joan M. Reitz's Dictionary for Library and Information Science is "the putting together of words to express an idea, sentiment, thesis, analysis, or conclusion, as in a work of poetry or prose, or in the form of a writing exercise."

CRaDL Skills: Why Do They Matter?

Why does any of this matter? Librarians seem to be getting along just fine the way things are now, right? What could composition and rhetoric really offer to the field?

Literacy and Library Science are known to go hand in hand. However, as Carolyn Handa said in her guest-editor letter in the journal, "Computers and Composition": "The word 'literacy,' meaning the ability to read and write, has gradually extended its grasp in the digital age until it has come to mean the ability to understand information, however presented."

Literacy has evolved into the idea of digital literacy, which has earned its place in libraries around the world. In learning about and incorporating digital literacy into librarianship practices, I believe that we must also consider the use of composition and rhetoric. Rhetoric, digital literacy, and composition should be treated as a unit in the field of library science in order to best understand information in a digital age.

Enoch and Gold say "New scholarship emerging out of the digital humanities works not only to see technology as a mode of literacy, as those in our field may understand it, but rather to use technology to develop digital tools and platforms that position scholars to do more robust as well as new kinds of interpretive and historiographic work."

We who value new scholarship and the digital humanities should value rhetoric and composition just as much as digital literacy. These tools are incredibly valuable in a digital age, especially when fostered and used together to develop a higher understanding of information studies.

If you think of the field of librarianship as a canvas, digital literacy is the paint with which librarians make great things, but composition and rhetoric are the brushes. When you put them all together, and have the skills to use them, you can end up with a masterpiece: a great librarian.
What do you think about the concept of digital literacy? Would you say this comes naturally to most in the library field, or that it's something we must all work at to improve and perfect? Leave your comments here!

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CRaDL: Composition, Rhetoric, and Digital Literacy in Library Science - Information Space

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The University of North Carolina (my undergrad alma mater) created a minor in 2012 called Composition, Rhetoric, and Digital Literacy. Headed by Professor Daniel Anderson, this course of study is known as the CRaDL minor (pronounced "cradle"). The program's website summarizes the program as "emphasizing both

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Digital communication is growing and becoming bigger which can exclude others from this. All people should have digital rights and be able to access electronics to be connected to everyone else. Others people able to connect to everything need to remember that others don't have access to everything so more resources will need to be given to them to help them become an active citizen.