How to Win the Digital Literacy Contest

Digital literacy is the ability to find, evaluate and synthesize information online. In our Digital Literacy Contest students compete to answer questions using the Internet an library databases. These questions come in five categories. Study the websites listed below to improve your chances of winning greatly.

1) Nature

We are limited creatures. Humanity is only one of over 1.8 million species on the Earth. There are over 125 Billion galaxies in the Universe — each with 100 Billion stars. Surely it’s wise to remember our limits and appreciate nature. Learning require humility after all. We must acknolwedge our limits in order to grow (let alone to stay alive).

Contest questions may require using the following websites:

• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
• United Nations Environment Programme
• WorldChanging
• CARMA
• Earth911
• Nuclear Threat Initiative
• FreeCycle

2) Humanities

Existence is a mystery. The term ‘humanities’ refers to fields of study which explore this mystery using tools like literature, art, classics, philosophy and religion.

Contest questions may require using the following websites:

General

• Arts & Letters Daily
• MIT Open Courseware

• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

• FFFFound.com
• Reality Hacking
• Improve Everywhere

Contest questions may require using the following websites:

Science

• ProQuest Cambridge Scientific Abstracts database
• SpaceHack

Technology

• Tools (Delicious, FreeMind, TinEye, CouchSurfing, Kayak, Zotero, ShiftSpace, WayBackMachine)
• Techniques (Google Guide)
• Wikipedia’s underbelly (e.g. edits, article history, discussion page)
• Security and privacy (Tor, EFF, Guardian, etc.)