Computational literacies

If there are multiple views on what counts as literacy, there seems to be a range of views on what counts as computational literacies in the fields of science, media and computing. While not specifically focused on the notion of computational literacies, Peppler & Kafai (2007) recognize that youths must be able to participate in new media cultures by "learning the [necessary] visual, semiotic, aural and technological literacies" (pg. 5). Scratch, a programming tool, presents opportunities for youths to participate by creating digital productions. One can argue that the representational form underlying the literacies being supported by Scratch is concrete in nature, as opposed to the abstractions underlying diSessa's (2000).

Wing (2008) characterizes the ability to operationalize abstractions and understand the relationships across multiple layers of abstraction as computational thinking, or arguably, as computational literacy. He contends that this form of computational thinking is useful across multiple disciplines such as economics and biology. Such a claim however, needs to take into account the basis of the representational forms that underlie specific genres and their social niches (diSessa, 2000). But what exactly is the representational form that underlie computational thinking or Boxer for that matter (Sandoval, 2001)? Could the box model, even if abstract, serve as a basic notation system that can affect other genres and social niches? How does abstraction work as a principle, and is there an underlying model that we can use to understand different forms of media? How does abstraction help us understand the fundamental representational form of Scratch, which is quite concrete?

To address these questions, it is perhaps useful to take into account what abstract and concrete representations do for learners. It may very well be that abstract forms of representations may be instrumental for experts, whereas novices learn better with concrete forms of representations, but a combination of both concrete and abstract is arguably present in both Scratch and Boxer. The degree of abstraction and concrete however varies tremendously, largely because there is no single model that informs the creation of notation systems. I'm unsure as to whether this interpretation is valid, and more thinking is definitely required to make sense of literacy in general.

In terms of the model, diSessa's pillars of literacy can be embedded as part of the lifeworld; the material, social and cognitive aspects of literacy is relevant to how individuals think about being literate and how objects are imbued with these affordances. Note that the 3 aspects of literacy maps on to Bourdieu's (1986) forms of capital; economic, social, cultural (note that individual disposition or habitus is a culmination of these 3 factors according to Bourdieu). I have not changed the basic design of the model, but have instead used the model to illustrate how one may think about literacy by using the model.