Abstrakt
Today, most people use technology not only during their formal education, in their professions or jobs but also in pastime activities in which they are motivated to produce a digital artifact (e.g., music, art, movies, apps for mobiles) or to solve problems related to their interests or hobbies. These pastime activities have a very strong creative potential.
At the beginning, people usually have an idea or a problem to consider without having any notions about which technology would be needed or even if they are capable of using such technology (see DIY or makerspace initiatives). People having such problems use technology to find solutions.
In such cases, they rarely have any prior specific training and they start learning autonomously in their own time, using their own way and having in mind their own idea of digital artifacts. As a result of their creative approach, they may come up with one or more "original" solutions.
The development of young people's skills to use digital technology is not only a school issue provided by the curriculum but also mainly derives from their day-to-day experience, interest, and needs outside the school context. Young people tend to learn from one another in their free time how to use technology, share with each other what they have done with technologies, consult each other, and discover how to use technology and for what.
Consequently, this entry aims to present growing digital literacy through creativity and autonomous learning.