According to Gregory Ulmer, Electracy is really ones capacity to be literate in electronic based media vessels. He believes that having a firm understanding of electracy is key in the changing times; the transition to this electronically dominated society. I believe Electracy goes farther that simply being literate in mass media vessels. What is electracy to me? Electracy is the ability to gather, understand, analyze and use unique information generated by an individual.
This information comes in all forms; images, text, videos, instillations and design of the products we buy. Electracy also means you are exposed to these forms of mass, hyper and virtual media.
As time change from print based material, hard copy archives and things to that effect, electronic sources of information and communication take over where these forms of recording information once stood. More and more information is becoming digitalized and stored on tiny chips, and therefore, is becoming ever increasingly more efficient to access information online as appose to libraries or archives. This shift from physical to digital is demanding a change in the people who need and want to access that information. Those it may simply be at ones finger tips, it takes a new set of skills and knowledge to access this information and to know what is legit, and what isn’t. This skill set is what makes up how we as individuals become electrate.
I would fully agree that it is important for people to be electrate, since mass media is all around us and is the main source of communication to the people. With an understanding of electracy, the general public can become take in the media bombardment and use it more efficiently and effectively.
As for an individual, person to person definition, electracy is really what each individual sees it as, since we are right in the transition stage from print to pixel. Over time, electracy will develop into something more structured and permanent. For now, people such as ourselves will advance and discover the bits and pieces that will collectively determine a concrete definition in the future. For now, we must explore its possibilities and become what we each think electrate is.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electracy
https://mpm17fall2009friday.wordpress.com/ (electrate post)
http://www.english.ufl.edu/faculty/gulmer/index.html (quick review)
http://enculturation.gmu.edu/4_2/edbauer.html (review on Ulmer’s book, Internet Invention: From Literacy to Electracy.
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