There is no one universal definition of the term "computer literacy," which, in fact, is used so generally that people often preface references to microcomputers in education with their own definitions of computer literacy. The term is organized semantically in a variety of ways, and central to this semantic organization is a problem of…

Argues against the fractured view of literacy as a set of unrelated skills, and suggests that thinking and writing about computers could provide a means for students to see literacy from a broad-based interdisciplinary perspective. Describes a graduate course designed to explore connections between computers and literacy. (KEH)

Computers are necessary to the future of literacy in the United States, but they are not determinative. Instead the determining factor will be human values and political will, and so it is necessary to build the future on democratic ideology. Four premises underlie plans for a feasible and desirable future: (1) education must serve an increasingly…