Virtual Environments: Is one life enough?

With the demise of print and the increasing reliance on digital storage and repositories what does it now mean to be literate? Are we required to be metaliterate? and what might that even mean?

Digital literacy leads on to Digital Citizenship which is becoming a more serious topic with the increase in online and virtual activity, in both our professional and personal lives. During our visit to Virtual Ability Island last week we discovered that the community has a code of behaviour by which residents are expected to abide. How are such codes developed and enforced? Should there be penalties for breaching them and if so, what kind? Do residents have a responsibility to contribute to their communities, the virtual environment, the metaverse? How do we avoid virtual chaos? These questions have been debated from the early days of online engagement but while communities were small, or controlled by corporations, they were largely implicit. As the metaverse expands and becomes more of a community environment there is a greater need to discuss and agree on approaches to regulation governing acceptable behaviour.

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Preparation for this class

Please read the text (approx 21 minutes).
This must be completed before class where we will be discussing the following questions:

1. What is a digital citizen?
2. How might the move from reading to digital viewing change society?
3. Is too much information worse than too little?

Essential Reading

• Hill, V. J. (2020). Metaliteracy and our Metamodern Times [Blog post.]
  Here is a summary of each chapter https://docs.google.com/document/.
  (Reading time 10 minutes).
• Ribble, M. (2017). Nine Elements of Digital Citizenship. In Digital Citizenship.
  The concept of a digital citizen is coming into focus and leading to the establishment of principles that outline the rights and responsibilities of 21st Century online citizens.
  (Reading time 8 minutes).

Additional reading

• Wikipedia contributors. (2018, November 29). Digital Citizen. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
  This entry gives a solid overview of the concept of Digital Citizenship.
  (Reading time 8 minutes).

Conclusion

By now you should have a greater understanding of the breadth and diversity of online virtual collaboration and how it is becoming an ever increasing factor in our professional (and social) lives.

Guest speaker – Valibrarian

Valibrarian (Valerie Hill in the natural world) is a Library and Information Science researcher currently living in Seattle, Washington. Her interests range from traditional literacy to metaliteracy and new media formats (virtual reality, augmented reality and virtual worlds). Her most recent book is Metamodernism and Changing Literacy: Emerging Research and Opportunities, 2020.

Valerie also serves as the Director of the Community Virtual Library and sits on the Board of the Virtual Worlds Education Consortium. You can read her blog Valibrarian.