We define literacy conventionally as the ability to read and write. So when I ask you in writing “Are you literate?” your (in-)ability of reading the question marks the answer. You can read or you cannot. A lot of our ideas with regard to meaningful participation in society and democracy, our independent agency as a consumer and our ability to lead a decent life and have employment today rely on the skill of literacy, which we frankly take for granted.

First, it is amazing that the arc of history led us to a point where we consider our classic definition…