Income, religion, region, and party—all of these divide America. But another divide is the one between those who are digitally literate and those who aren’t. Ellen Carillo, associate professor at the University of Connecticut, works to shrink that divide, with her new book the MLA Guide to Digital Literacy. While it’s designed to serve as a textbook—with hands-on activities, writing prompts, and sample lesson plans all included—it also functions as more. It’s a real-life guide to evaluating sources and making sound choices for those struggling to withstand the derecho of information howling around us every day.

In this episode, Carillo breaks down eight guiding principles of digital literacy, clarifying that students are not the only ones who need to learn its lessons. It “plays a huge role in what it means to be a citizen.” Which is why each of us could use fifteen minutes or so of enlightened conversation on the hows and whys of the important and often-overlooked topic of digital literacy.