Lateral literacy

A strategy much needed for deciphering and navigating in the new digital literacy, is
lateral- multidirectional thinking. This literacy marks a shift from the more structured,
well planned traditional book- like literacy.
Unlike the closely structured book environment in which the amount of information
and the order of presenting the information are predefined, the net environment is open
to rearrangement.
Linear structures following sequential logic, give room to non- linear, hypertext,
associative structures. On the one hand this loosely netted structure fosters creativity and is
open to new creations and interpretations, on the other hand, the new open- ended exploratory
environment is dynamic and even chaotic.
New cognitive skills are needed in order to navigate freely, yet mindfully among the many
sites, and from site to site, while using the hypertext. The ability to focus, as well as integrative
and summative skills are necessary in order to reconstruct knowledge out of huge chunks of
information arrived at, in an unstructured manner.

from: http://www.phil-inst.hu/mobil/2005/Aphek.pdf