Beyond Literacy

In order to satisfy the information needs of the intended receivers information design comprises analysis, planning, presentation and understanding of a message—its content, language and form. Regardless of the selected medium, a well designed information material will satisfy aesthetic, economic, ergonomic, as well as subject matter requirements. Information design is a multidisciplinary , multi-dimensional and worldwide consideration with influences from areas such as language, art and aesthetics, information, communication, behaviour and cognition, business and law, as well as media production technologies. This paper has two main sections. The first section, Literacies , presents views on literacy. The second section, Information Design , presents several views on information design. As a discipline information design has three main areas of knowledge: (1) infog-raphy, (2) infology, and (3) infodidactics. Information design encompasses studies of the way a representation should be designed in order to achieve optimum communication between the sender and the receiver. Literacies In the industrialized, cultural sphere, we are bombarded with information via the media, at home, in school, at work, and in society in general. It is difficult at times to avoid information and it may be just as hard to obtain the information that we really need at the time. Audio, text, and visuals compete for our attention. It is quite possible that we miss the information in which we are really interested. In addition to radio, television, books, newspapers, and magazines , vast amounts of information are distributed in the form of advertising throwaways, posters, placards , and photocopies. Throughout the 1980s, major changes occurred in the way our society produced, stored, and accessed information. Monfils (1993) concluded that regardless of the specific application of technology, consensus had been reached on the increasing impact of modern information technology on all aspects of our lives. Modern research and development produce more information than ever before and people frequently find that their knowledge is inadequate and fragmented. Traditionally, the concept of literacy was restricted to the state of being literate. A literate person is one who is able to read and write printed text. Consequently, an illiterate person is unable to read and write. However, reading and writing means more than recognizing words; it also implies comprehending the meaning of the words that we read or write. During recent decades, however, people have recognized the need for a wide array of other literacies as well. It is no longer enough …