Intl. Inform. & Libr. Rev.

(1997), 29, 403–413

Mediacy: what it is? Where to go?*

HITOSHI INOUE*, EISUKU NAITO* & MIKA KOSHIZUKA*

A BSTRACT
The author re-examines the concepts in the light of “digital
literacy” to determine the problems, tasks and fields of
common interest. He reviews the government actions in Japan
in providing access to digital knowledge and in creating
information literacy, such as schools, higher education, life-long
education, etc. He explores which findings in recent develop-
ments in Japan can be of common interest and shared with
other advanced, as well as developing countries. Finally,
possibilities for future international co-operation are
discussed.

©1997 Academic Press Limited

D IGITAL L ITERACY: P ERCEPTION OF THE C ONTEXT AND C ONCEPTS

Literacy: Definitions
The year 1990 was “UN International Literacy Year” and a 10 year effort
was started to reduce illiteracy. In January 1989, the American Library
Association defined that:
“information literacy is a survival skill in the Information Age. Instead of drowning in
the abundance of information that floods their lives, information literate people know
how to find, evaluate, and use information effectively to solve a particular problem or
make a decision — whether the information they select comes from a computer, a
book, a government agency, a film, or any number of other possible sources.”,,3

In search of the “contemporary meaning of literacy,” Behrens

presented an historical overview of the information literacy from the

*Research Associate, National Centre for Science Information Systems (NACSIS), Japan.
*Opinions expressed in this paper are those of authors, they do not necessarily reflect institutions
and individuals cited.
1
Opinions expressed in this paper are those of authors, they do not necessarily reflect institutions
and individuals cited.
2
NACSIS. 3-29-1, Otsuka Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 112, Japan. Fax: + 81-3-5395-7064.
3
American Library Association Presidential Committee on Information Literacy. (1992) Final
Report ED 315 074 IR 053 029. American Library Association, Chicago, IL, USA.
1057-2317/97/030403 + 11 $25.00/0 lr970059 © 1997 Academic Press Limited
404 H. INOUE, E. NAITO & M. KOSHIZUKA

1970s to 1990s. The contemporary meaning of information literacy is

impossible to define. However, Behrens suggested that “the concept
implied a continuum which presented different degrees of development at
which individuals were functional.” In her overview, a shift from computer
literacy to general information handling, knowledge and skills is traced
over the literature and movements since the 1970s. One trend that was
introduced in this review was that information literacy is being considered
as part of a wider literacy continuum. Behrens summarized that:

“literacy is viewed as an evolving concept, its meaning dependent on the social and
individual requirements of a specific society. Since literacy has to be reconsidered in its
culture, social, economic, and political contexts, its definitions should take into
consideration the expanding information needs of society.”4

Literacy, as McGarry discussed in the “Definitions and meaning of

literacy”,5 is a slippery concept to define. There are many literacies
combined with tools of human activities for writing and reading. These
technical terms of literacies are all parts of one seamless web, not discrete
components of a social process. The hand is a tool of the brain, yet the
brain is constantly influenced by the span and scope of the tool (hand) it
uses.6 Literacy depends on the availability of writing technology, however
crude. It has an economic base. Literacy requires a cultural context for its
definition and measurement. Ideal literacy, as McGarry stated by quoting
Scribner, is “simultaneously adaptive, socially empowering and self
enhancing, enhancing for the human spirit,;” or, he said that “the ability
to think critically and search for meanings in their own lives and the lives
of others.” As there are many literacies, so there are as many relevant
specialisms and interest groups.
As McGarry suggested, literacy and education have been political
issues since Plato’s time. Functional literacy implies measurability,
adaptability to a given cultural context, and the possibility of a return on
human capital investment. Skills defined by the functional literacy concept
are relative to the level required by a functional social group. McGarry

4
Behrens, S.J. A. A conceptual analysis and historical overview of information literacy. College &
Research Libraries 55(4) p.318.
5
McGarry, K.J. (1994) Definitions and meaning of literacy. In K. Barker & R. Lonsdale (Eds). Skills
for Life? — The Meaning and Value of Literacy. Proceedings of the Youth Libraries Group Conference,
University of Birmingham 1992. London. Taylor–Graham pp. 3–17. Within only 15 pages of short
but very inspiring account, McGarry introduced a variety of literacy such as: adult literacy, computer
literacy, cultural literacy, electronic literacy, environmental literacy, experimental literacy, film literacy,
functional literacy, ideal literacy, information literacy, music literacy, print literacy, literacy retention,
schooled literacy, television literacy, visual literacy, writing literacy, literacy for work, mean-minded
functional literacy, etc.
6
McGarry op. cit. p.93.
 MEDIACY 405

defined five stages of information storage and transmission in society:7 (1)

oral stage; (2) alphabet stage; (3) manuscripts stage; (4) print stage; and (5)
electronic stage. Stages co-exist in non-linear harmony. At each stage,
people require skills and knowledge of utilizing knowledge, thus, the
meaning of literacy has been changing.
The advent of the Internet and www characterized the image of daily
life to come. Information literacy, although a good balanced definition
from ALA exists, tends to limit its flavor only to computer hardware,
particularly of keyboards. It is rapidly becoming one of the fundamental
requirements in citizen life of understanding, as well as creating, contents
of network information resources which vastly consist of digital data. Here
is the reason that segmentation, somewhat against the suggestion of
McGarry, is demanded between the information literacy and the digital
literacy.
The contents of Multimedia are a united entity of data contents and
mechanisms (including hardware) to handle them. In this regard, the term
“computer literacy” shall be extended to include the capability of data
(multimedia data) handling. Thus, mediacy, another new term, emerged
to meet the social demand of the electronic stage defined by McGarry.
Still, this new term is a part of one seamless web, not discrete components
of a social process. Emphasis in the usage of mediacy seems to be the
capability of utilizing both multimedia as contents and computers and
networks as information tools.

Information Literacy: a Japanese Definition

The emphasis of the revised curriculum in regard to information literacy
education is as follows:

• Promote information literacy: information literacy positioned

equally with “reading, writing, and arithmetic,” to be one of the
basic endowments of pupils and students who are to live in an
advanced information society. (Information literacy is a basic
individual capability of subjectively choosing and utilizing infor-
mation and information media.)
• Revitalize school education by information media: teaching methods
shall be enhanced by subjectively utilizing information media such
as the computer.

7
McGarry, K. (1993) The Changing Context of Information — An introductory analysis: 2nd edn. Library
Association Publishing, London, Ch.3, pp.59–105.
406 H. INOUE, E. NAITO & M. KOSHIZUKA

• Establish information morality (ethics): fundamental recognition

(information morality/ethics) shall be promoted on social sig-
nificance, value, impact, responsibility of information and informa-
tion media.
• Coping with the sunny and dark side of information society: taking
the best advantage (sunny side) of information and information
media; consideration shall be given to the dark side such as
dependence on information, dilation of virtual experience, informa-
tion crime, etc.

The definition of information literacy above, by the Japanese Ministry

of Education, Science, Sports and Culture (Ministry of Education in
short), is composed of four elements:

(1) The capability of judgment (evaluation), selection, organization, and

processing of information, as well as of information creation and
communication.
(2) The understanding of characteristics of information society and the
effects of information over society and human beings.
(3) The recognition of the importance of, and responsibility for,
information.
(4) The understanding of the foundation of information sciences, the
learning of basic operation skills of information and information
devices (particularly the computer).

This Japanese version means “a basic individual capability of

subjectively choosing and utilizing information and information media”
(authors’ English) and equally positioned as “reading, writing and
calculus,” to promote “critical thinking power, critical appraisal of
information and information media.”

Implications to Asian Setting

Diversity forms the background of the Information Superhighway in Asia,
the Pacific and the Middle East.8 It is observed among nations in these
regions in: population; economic development; social development;
culture; languages; religion; education systems and literacy; and diffusion
of information medium. The population which holds these diversities

8
Naito, E. (1996) Organizational measures required, at the national level, to ensure the convergence
of telecommunications, broadcasting and computer networks, and the conditions for regional and
international co-operation. UNESCO Committee of Experts of Asia, the Pacific and the Middle East
on Communication and Copyright in the Information Society, New Delhi, India.
 MEDIACY 407

composes a substantial share of the world population, geographic area,

and energy consumption.
Information access is also diversified in the traditional form via paper
and in advanced methods via digital form in these nations in Asia, the
Pacific and the Middle East. Gaps of information access exist between
these regions and the advanced countries, as well as between the urban
and the rural areas within each country. These characteristics form the
very basic fundamentals and set the conditions of the regional develop-
ment of the Information Superhighway in the Global Information
Infrastructure.
Observation is made by Torrijos that there are emerging trends that will
require a dramatic shift in strategies in terms of developing the National
Information Infrastructure (NII):9

• cultural pluralism (ethnic diversity);

• increasing need to promote development of scientific values (analysis
skill; interpretation skill);
• support of positive aspect of a culture;
• educational reform;
• discouragement of cultural practice that promotes the degradation
of women;
• stratification of society into those considered information-poor and
information-rich as the cyber culture; and
• legal and ethical issues.

Whatever mediacy, digital literacy or information literacy is, nations,

particularly in Asia, are trying to catch up in terms of information
education with Western countries, as well as competing with neighboring
countries. However, there is one crucial difference with Western countries
where the number of characters or scripts is less than 100 when excluded
from the style of font. Japanese characters, for example, borrowed from
China about 1500 years ago, number more than 8000. When characters
in China are included, the number of characters exceeds 60 000. If the
style of font, such as bold or italic is counted, the number of characters is
multiplied. To make matters worse, new characters have appeared ever
since. Chinese, Japanese and Korean characters, rooted in China, can
evolve, change shapes and have new meanings.
When the computer was introduced in these countries during the early
1970s, native character handling was vital to all application developments.

9
Torrijos, D.E. (1996) Address. In Report on the Experts’ Donors’ Meeting on the Development and Training
of Information Professionals in Asia and the Pacific. Cuezon City, Philippines, pp.25–27.
408 H. INOUE, E. NAITO & M. KOSHIZUKA

An unsophisticated method of character input resulted in a barrier to the

modernization of the literacy problems; it still sets the major issues of
information systems development.
Before discussing the difficulty of developing the keyboard, the literacy
of the characters is discussed. This basic and classical literacy is common
among many other languages, such as Arabic or Indian scripts. These
scripts include a great number of non-Western countries, where the
original issue of literacy is the major concern. In this context, computer
literacy, rather than mediacy, in these countries, has a multiple
structure:10

• familiarization to Western (a–z) keyboarding (user);

• development of native character generating method(s) on Western
architecture (user);
• redesign (localization) of Western products to the native language
environment, which creates extra investment and the delay of
product release (manufacturer); and
• repeated redesigning may create conflicts among versions of
products (manufacturer).

When these points are solved, it would prevent not only cultural
colonization of national integrity but also the colonization of the
computer industry who in many aspects, keeps the nation’s integrity.

G OVERNMENT ACTIONS TOWARDS THE D IGITAL E RA : JAPANESE

E XPERIENCE IN E DUCATIONAL S YSTEMS
Policy Development by the Japanese Ministry of Education
A Japanese National Council on Education Reform was set up in August
1984 as an ad hoc advisory committee to the Prime Minister. Until August
1987, the Council submitted four successive reports to the Prime Minister
with eight major subjects:

• the basic requirements for an education relevant to the 21st

century;
• the organization and systematization of lifelong learning and the
correction of the adverse effects of undue emphasis on educational
background;

10
Naito, E. & Sato, T.K. (1996) Data Book of Cultural Convention in Asian Countries: In Pursuit of Common
Data Container. SEARCC ’96, Bangkok.
 MEDIACY 409

• enhancement of higher education and individualization of higher

educational institutions;
• enrichment and diversification of elementary and secondary
education;
• improvement of teacher quality;
• coping with internationalization;
• coping with the information age; and
• review of educational administration and finance.

In the last report in 1987, the Council presented three basic points of
educational reform:

• the principle of putting emphasis on individuality;

• transition to a lifelong learning system; and
• coping with various changes in our society, including inter-
nationalization and the spread of information media.

In responding to these reports, the Cabinet issued a policy paper

“Policy Guidelines for the Implementation of Educational Reform” in
October 1987, which set the current direction of information literacy
education in elementary and secondary schools in Japan.
In 1989, a new revised curriculum for elementary and secondary
schools was introduced by the Japanese Minister of Education, with strong
emphasis on information education.11 The revision was made under the
following five observations:

(1) Information society: computer applications in industry and com-

merce, and network applications, represented by banking and
tourism fields, manufacturers, wholesalers, and shops which are
about to link to homes. Development of forms of knowledge handled
by computer/network (i.e. multimedia). Computer applications in
electronic products for home use (washing machines, video
machines, telephones, etc.).
(2) Information application of the citizen’s life: broadcasting (radio, TV,
newspapers, satellite and cables) and TV games.
(3) Information applications in township: computer applications among
facilities for lifelong education such as libraries, museums and so on,
which enable the citizen to learn individually.

11
(1991) Manual for Information Education. Tokyo, Japan. Ministry of Education, Science and Culture,
p.230 (in Japanese).
410 H. INOUE, E. NAITO & M. KOSHIZUKA

(4) Characteristics of information development: (i) digitization; (ii)

networking (computer and communication); (iii) database creation
and utilization; and (iv) convergence of media (multimedia).
(5) Social demand on curriculum change in elementary and secondary
education: pupils and students are already surrounded by computers
and computer applications. Information literacy education is
demanded for them to be a member of the community.

The emphasis of the revised curriculum in regard to information

literacy education is as stated previously under the section on “Informa-
tion Literacy: a Japanese definition.

Initiatives in Japan
Activities to promote literacy (mediacy) have been initiated in Japan. The
allocation of computers (PC) to schools was started in 1987 by the
Ministry of Education. The current target of allocation is as follows:
Types of school: total number of schools: target number

Elementary school: 23 977: 22 PCs (one PC per two pupils in a computer class)

Secondary school: 10 498: 42 PCs (one PC per pupil)

Junior High school: 3054: 42 PCs (one PC per pupil)

Special school: 902: 8 PCs (one PC per one pupil)

After 10 years of the program, about 85% of elementary schools have

completed the allocation of personal computers. This is the government
initiative under the Ministry of Education. There are many initiatives by
the public and private sector, among which only two examples are
introduced below: the Konnetto Plan (an industry driven project) and the
100 School Networking Project (a government driven project).

The Konnetto Plan

The Konnetto Plan (http://www.hamajima.co.jp/tim/ko_net.html) is a
project for promoting the development of the multimedia environment
(firstly network link, then contents development; backed by professional
staff aids) in school. The plan is based on the fact that most elementary
and secondary schools already have PCs. The plan was started in April
1996 by the Nippon Telephone and Telegraphs (NTT) and the Japanese
Ministry of Education.
 MEDIACY 411

The plan aims at installing the ISDN network links and at promoting
the Internet access by providing:

(1) One hundred NTT staff appointed to be a support power all over
the country;
(2) a donation of 300 000 yen to each participating school (elementary/
secondary/junior high);
(3) home page space and the mailing list services; and
(4) support and promotion of home page creation.

As of February 1997, more than 30 companies and individuals are

participating with the promotion committee. They are Internet providers,
telecommunications companies, major software houses and major
computer companies. The Ministry of Education provides information to
schools in the country. This project is characterized by its nature of being
industry driven, with staff aid from the leading telecommunication carrier
as well as its provision of the seed money.

The 100 School Networking Project

In 1993, the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry
(MITI) and the Ministry of Education started a plan providing network
links to 100 schools in the country (http://www.edu.ipa.go.jp). Schools
were invited to join the project and selected by three criteria: capability of
teaching staff; current installation of PCs; and planning quality. As of
February 1997, there are 111 participating schools (108 schools and three
audio-visual centers). The number of original applications was 1,543
schools in 1994. The Center for Educational Computing operates the
project (http://www.cec.or.jp) with the close co-operation of the Infor-
mation-technology Promotion Agency, Japan (IPA) (http://www.ipa.go.jp)
as the secretariat.
Since February 1995, a facility allocation was started, which has been
network link, telecommunication devices, server machine, and client
machines when necessary. This project, which is government driven, has
several focuses such as: (a) autonomic original planning; (b) shared
development of teaching software; (c) support for operation; (d) mailing list
and news groups; (e) technical support; (f) training courses; (g) conferences
and seminars; and (h) publicity.
The 100 School Networking Project has achieved various subsequent
projects such as:

• the National Germination Map: a group learning project for

elementary school pupils;
412 H. INOUE, E. NAITO & M. KOSHIZUKA

• the Acid Rain Survey: co-operative data collection of acid rain;

• the mailing list of project teachers;
• trial news groups for school pupils and students.

Two projects, among others, represent activities to promote mediacy in

Japan. Government and industries are co-operating and competing in
their initiatives for the next step in computers, telecommunications, and
multimedia.

I MMEDIATE F UTURE TASKS

In the ALA Presidential report of 1989, six points of recommendations
were made:

(1) We must all reconsider the ways we have organized information

institutionally, structured information access and defined informa-
tion’s role in our lives at home, in the community, and in the work
place.
(2) A Coalition for Information Literacy should be formed under the
leadership of the ALA, in co-ordination with other national
organizations and agencies, to promote information literacy.
(3) Research and demonstration projects related to information and its
use need to be undertaken.
(4) State Departments of Education, Commissions on Higher Educa-
tion, and Academic Governing Boards should be responsible for
ensuring that a climate conducive to students becoming information
literate exists in their states and on their campuses.
(5) Teacher education and performance expectations should be mod-
ified to include information literacy concerns.
(6) An understanding of the relationships of information literacy to the
themes of the White House Conference on Library and Information
Services should be promoted.

Although the recommendation is almost 10 years old and the last point
is of national significance, the recommendations still have strong
suggestions of universal applicability among advanced countries to
promote information literacy or mediacy.
Despite the investment in computers and telecommunications either by
the public or private sector, the creation of a group of experts in
multimedia handling as well as network technology is an urgent task to
lead the mass movement towards mediacy, as shown in the projects in
Japan.
 MEDIACY 413

In many of the developing countries, however, in terms of information

education and information industry, the immediate tasks may not be the
same as the ALA recommended or as the Japanese cases. Owing to the
social and cultural values, national goals are under different settings. Huge
investment is needed, not only for national development of information
infrastructure but also for private installation at homes, together with the
development of human resources, particularly in multimedia handling
(both accessing and creating). Regional and international co-operation
should be sought in this regard.

P OSSIBILITIES FOR THE F UTURE I NTERNATIONAL C O - OPERATION

Language is a classical barrier and efforts to overcome this, either
international, regional or national, have been continuously investigated.
Apart from the language barrier, the development of an information
infrastructure has been the major concern in the last decade and through
to the next. Again, it requires huge investment and national strategic
development, on which the developing countries are catching up. The
remaining areas/economies have a classical/academic problem of
funding, not only for promoting mediacy, but also the literacy of its
original sense — reading without tools and writing by a simple stick (or
pencil). The UNESCO International Literacy Year still has the mission to
promote the original literacy, together with mediacy, regardless of nations’
states of developments. Redefinition of the International Literacy Year
would create a target for the years to come.
A mechanism to share expertise on multimedia should be devised
internationally. A human resource development plan will be initiated on
multimedia handling in native languages and thus keep the cultural
integrity of nations.