 Meta-literacy encourages reflection, careful thought, action, and an awareness of how you feel about your learning. What are some of the active roles that emerge from this process? As we review the meta-literacy diagram, think about which ones you identify with the most. Meta-literate participants are actively engaged in interactive social spaces that include virtual and real world communities. Participation requires an emphasis on building communities of trust through responsible and ethical contributions by all of the members. Participants include voters, community members, volunteers, and facilitators. For example, imagine the important role of a local community organizer who gets people together to actively participate in a grassroots effort within a specific community. Trying to bridge differences among participants in any community or across vast divides requires effective communication. Meta-literate communicators adapt to and apply changing technologies to effectively create and share information with others. They are aware of how they deliver messages while keeping in mind diverse audiences in a global community. Effective communicators include journalists, editors, writers, public speakers, and teachers. Imagine how liberating it is for a blogger to self-publish a blog to communicate something entirely new to an online audience. At the same time, think about the responsibilities that go along with writing, editing, and posting the blog in an accurate, ethical, and truthful way. Communication oftentimes requires the translation of different kinds of information. From a meta-literacy perspective, this means more than translating from one language to another. Meta-literate translators adapt information from one form to another. This involves an understanding of how to translate ideas across formats and for multiple audiences. Translators include playwrights, artists, media developers, and game designers. Think about how filmmakers often adapt ideas from books and plays to create a movie. The filmmaker gives credit to where the original ideas came from and what inspired the new film. Authorship is a dynamic process that focuses on the creation of information in many different forms. Meta-literate authors continuously keep current to learn effective new methods for creating original information or synthesizing reliable content from verified sources. They also understand and advance digital ethics in producing and sharing content. Authors are podcasters, videographers, and songwriters. Imagine how digital storytellers construct narratives with digital images, narration, and multimedia. This is a creative process that requires an understanding of how to differentiate between original and repurposed materials when creating and sharing digital content. Meta-literacy advances the idea that learners are also teachers. Meta-literate teachers are open to working with others and taking responsibility for how learning emerges formally and informally. In collaborative information environments, knowledge is co-created and shared. Teachers are mentors, peers, colleagues, and collaborative members of a community. They have a responsibility for staying current and looking at issues fairly and objectively before sharing knowledge with others. Meta-literate collaborators understand that cooperative ventures build strong communities and result in positive and sustained outcomes that could not be achieved alone. Creators are Wiki editors, members of a project team, and volunteers at a local community organization. Think about the way graphic designers work with a web team to create visuals that support the website under development. This individual needs to understand the overall goals of the project and engage in a team-based approach that benefits from everyone's contribution and shared vision. Meta-literacy supports learners as producers of original and repurposed information in multiple formats and styles. Meta-literate producers expand upon abilities to effectively consume information by creating it responsibly and ethically in collaboration with others. Producers are media makers, content developers, remixers, artists, and curators. Consider how empowering it is to create a digital image or digital media project and then share it with an online audience. What are the responsibilities that accompany the production and distribution of objects for a Pinterest board or tweets for a Twitter feed? Meta-literate publishers recognize that the production and distribution of information takes many forms and requires responsible editorial filters that promote truth, verifiable content, democratic ideals, and inclusive voices. All of these roles are supported by objective and unbiased research as a process of lifelong discovery. Publishers are bloggers, YouTube content creators, and Pinterest developers. Publishing digital content reaches a potentially global audience that traditional media may not be able to access and requires a commitment to accuracy, reliability, and authenticity of the materials shared. It also benefits from cultural sensitivity and communication across different perspectives and worldviews. Meta-literate researchers ask good questions and critically evaluate sources of information to verify authenticity and credibility while also checking one's own biases and making unique contributions as part of an ongoing academic dialogue. Researchers are historians, archivists, and storytellers. Consider their proactive patient seeking medical information to prepare for a conversation with their medical provider. The information sought out must be accurate and reliable and the search must be kept private, secure, and confidential. Now that we have introduced the Meta-literate learner roles think about the ways that you play these parts in your own lifelong learning.