Reclaiming the articulated space: A cultural analysis of learning and appropriation of digital literacy among the ageing population in India

Most commonly held views on digital literacy (DL) impose a set of prescriptive notions of skills fixed in time and place. These views essentialize DL on the bases of “expert knowledge” and “best practices” theses, fiercely compromising the context-driven idea of user knowledge derived from improvisation and intuition. By examining a group of Indian senior citizens, the study argues that creative appropriations of the Internet and computer enabled technology (ICET) demystify the standard view of DL and reconceptualize the relationship between `end' and `means' of technology as relative rather than categorical. To this end, the study situates techne, defined as creative skills residing within users, within the ritual mode of communication. In the context of India, the framework is embedded in the traditional Vedic ideals that exert tacit but powerful influences on the appropriation patterns of Indian senior citizens. Using mixed method research (MMR) to examine the ICET appropriation by senior citizens, the study shows that not just the social secular context influences how we use technology, but the metaphysical traditions inherent within a cultural framework can also impact and motivate users' response to technology. Therefore, ICET can be a powerful site where the contemporary and the tradition converge.