Technology Literacy
In a business-focused world that is fast evolving and changing day by day, staying ahead is sometimes hard. We may not always know everything we need to. But with technology, it is easier now to stay ahead.
What is technology literacy?
Technology literacy is the ability to use existing technology to achieve your target. You can use technology to access and analyse information, share what you know, and to create new things.
How to be technologically literate
Technology is a flexible and useful tool that can be used to make life easier for everyone. Living in a digital and information era, technology is a great way to learn new things and do things better. Learning to navigate the existing technology is essential in our times.
Technology can be efficient and quick, thus reducing the time we spend looking for information. Think about all the times you had to spend hours in a library looking for some information on one topic vs the seconds you spend looking it up online. You just need to know where to look, from the simple search to the advanced.
Being technologically literate also means knowing how to access, retrieve, store, and organise the information online. Not knowing this will limit you in certain situations. Let’s say that you have found some resources that you can use in a research paper. How do you store this in your computer for later use? How do you retrieve the information later for further reading? You have to know how to be methodical in your storage so that you can benefit from the ease of access that technology provides.
Being technologically literate also has the benefit of making your decision making process easier and more focussed. You have access to a multitude of information and you can make a very informed choice that is objective if you do a thorough research. The sheer availability of information means that anyone can access any information within minutes and make a good choice based on their personal preferences as well as objective information. This increases the ability of the general population to participate in the political or organisational process because they are better informed. This benefits everyone in the long run.
Elements of technology literacy
- Identify the possible sources and evaluate their credibility.
- Cross reference with other sources and make note of the source for any information accessed.
- Learn all the available technology that you can use in your quest for information.
- Be familiar or thorough with the more popular applications because these will be used by more organisations and people than those that are not so popular.
- Keep abreast of new technology and use them to make your work easier and faster.
- Use technology at any possible opportunity. Make use of it present your information in more attractive ways.
Being technologically literate can be a great asset in today’s world where we have access to so much information online. It is our responsibility to become familiar with the available technology so as to make the most of it.
