Literacy involves both the creation of composition and the reading, observing, and interpreting of composition.  However, how people define literacy, like art, may be seen as subjective. Still, in order for literacy to be effective, it must be meaningful for the composer and meaningful for the "reader." Author Douglas Hesse(2009), in his article, “Who Owns Writing,”presents his vision of the future of literacy: 

 

The richest programs of our futures feature writing in a welter of circumstances and genres, creative, journalistic, and professional, as well as civic and academic. They feature work in design – visual and aural as well as verbal. They fully imagine students in complicated worlds of school and work and politics, yes, but also passions, relationships, and art. (p.1255) 

 

Authors Dugdale and Clark in a report from The National Literacy Trust conclude: “This research presents overwhelming evidence that literacy has a significant relationship with a person’s happiness and success. It gives a clear indication of the dangers of poor literacy and also the benefits of improving literacy for the individual, the community, the workforce and the nation” (5).Diana Georges’(2009, p. 1443) conveys the caveat that stays constant, no matter the literacy:

Literacy must make meaning.