anging environment.Just how can computer literacy be defined? We have already concluded it encompasses some sort of basic understanding of computer application software and that these applications evolve at such a rate that one must not ignore their own pending move back into the realm of illiteracy. But what does this basic understanding include? At first, being computer literate meant understanding the inner workings of a computer3 : both the element of hardware (physical equipment) and the element of software (digital binary data stored on some form of savable media). Obviously this definition can no longer hold true as a large majority of todays computer users have no knowledge to the hidden aspects of modern computing. Rather we have adapted the basic knowledge to include only the use of application software used in business, education, some forms of production, and pleasure (among a limited list of other uses). For example, a person well versed in the use of word processor and spread sheet applications may be considered computer literate, as they very well may posses the basic skills needed to operate a computer in a productive fashion. This does not necessarily imply one must be productive to be literate, as a person who understands the use of an application used for browsing the internet may also be literate while remaining completely unproductive.Furthermore, if one was to separate, in a fittingly binary manor, the computer literate from the illiterate, who is to say which group is better off? Obviously being computer literate in the early twenty first century is not completely necessary, however, if ratios of computer literate to illiterate increase at so much as half the rate they have in the past twenty years it will not take long before society has firmly and implicitly declared that being computer literate is a necessity of everyday life. Will we ever see a time when those who are computer illiterate will be looked upon by...
