Bringing the Web Back: The Digital Literacies We Need Right Now

Keynote at the 2019 Digital Literacy Symposium. Who are we when we're online? And how can we engage in digital spaces in ways that don't undermine the mandates, practices, and ethos of higher education? The keynote explores the underpinnings of our emergent information ecosystem. Digital and open spaces are being weaponized, while pervasive surveillance and predatory practices are normalized. Trolling and bots are regular features of social landscapes, and people are often hesitant to engage online in fighting the echo chamber. Concepts of what it means to know are increasingly generated outside the academy, in Silicon Valley AI frameworks. What does this mean for higher ed, and for the future of knowledge in a data society? Bonnie will explore ideas grounded in adult education histories and contemporary open practices—including participatory digital literacies and the pro-social web—that may be ways we can ALL help bring the web back from the brink.