Communication Design Quarterly Jun 2024

The Post-Digital Life of Transnational Activists: Develop a Tactical Technological Literacy

Chen Chen

Abstract

This article examines the technological literacies reflected by participants in the transnational "White Paper Movement"/"A4 Revolution" in the Chinese diaspora, against the Chinese government's stringent "dynamic zero-COVID" policy. The analysis reveals how protestors engaged with the technological literacy framework of Hovde and Renguette (2017): functional and conceptual; critical and evaluative, in layered and interconnected ways. But these literacy skills are also extended tactically where they must not only know how to use technologies well, but also understand how a technology works enough in order to use it subversively. Thus, this article proposes a tactical technological literacy to contribute to the theorization of a "post-digital" life-especially in transnational activism contexts-where not only do people have to consider how (not) to use technologies (in the broadest sense) in both online and offline spaces but also how technologies may impose constraints and oppression on their daily life. The article ends with some pedagogical implications on how to foster a tactical technological literacy in TPC classrooms.

Journal
Communication Design Quarterly
Published
2024-06-01
DOI
10.1145/3655727.3655729
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Topics
multilingual writers

Citation Context

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