Information and digital literacy in education via the digital path

Note: This list, written in 1996 by Phil Agre is the best advice I can give people who are helping novice users with computer issues. Phil Agre was a visionary technologist and this list was up on his website forever but has been up and down lately so I am reprinting it.

Computer people are generally fine human beings, but nonetheless they do a lot of inadvertent harm in the ways they “help” other people with their computer problems. Now that we’re trying to get everyone on the net, I thought it might be helpful to write down everything I’ve been taught about helping people use computers.

Welcome to the Microsoft Digital Literacy Curriculum. The goal of Digital Literacy is to teach and assess the basic concepts and skills needed to use a computer. Computer technology can help you in your everyday life to develop new social and economic opportunities for yourself, your family, and your community.

Whether you are entirely new to computing or have some experience, this curriculum will help you understand computers better.