I spent a recent weekend chatting with a diverse range of energy-literate experts and insiders – congressional staff, think tankers, NGO reps, energy company execs – and this question came up repeatedly.
"I mean literally literate".
The goal of this work was to determine if the MMM activity effectively allows for a beginner or novice to advance on the spectrum of comprehension for volcano-monitoring techniques and become more literate in conversing with experts.
"Any technical solution must take into account that a significant percentage of the electorate is not technology-literate," says cybersecurity expert Jeffrey Carr.
Both men helped jump-start the designation process, said Peg Breen, the president of the New York Landmarks Conservancy; Mr. Serrano put pressure on postal officials as a member of Congress, and Mr. Shahn helped inspire many literate, heartfelt pleas from art experts around the country.
Our method was based on small group discussions with people who were marginally literate and numerate, but nonetheless experts or valid representatives of their village communities.
If we as university biology instructors are to make progress on the challenge of transforming our novice undergraduates into expert biological thinkers who are scientifically literate, then we all need tools that can aid us in revealing student thinking and in analyzing what we do in the classroom that supports or hinders the development of this scientific literacy in students.
Many slaves were expert craftspeople; many, educated in madrasas, were literate; and some even owned or traded in slaves themselves.
Neither all men nor all women are alike, and there are plenty of women who are great experts on trivia, and on some seemingly trivial stuff that makes us culturally literate.
Experts say that the recently-discovered ancient Jiroft civilisation was one of the earliest literate societies in the world.
"The Anne Klein lady wants a nice red blazer," an industry expert told me, "but a customer for Isabel's clothes has to be literate in fashion to read their subtlety, and even then it's only fully apparent in a dressing room".
