Pensky suggests that digital wisdom emerges from the additional knowledge we gain from the appropriate use of the increasingly sophisticated technologies that enhance our capabilities. He defines wisdom as the ability to find practical, creative, contextually appropriate, and emotionally satisfying solutions to complicated human problems. Let me suggest a personal example.

Several hours ago a friend emailed a request for information on the uncommon mental illness diagnosed in a member of her extended family. I'm not a clinician, and didn't know much about the illness that would be helpful. What I did know, however, was how to quickly get that information. So I logged on to websites that I knew would provide useful non-technical information, and then responded with a couple good links, and with additional explanations of several things I thought she might not know. It took me less than 30 minutes to help my distraught friend. Let's go back 10 years and think about what I would have had to do then. It would probably involve spending several hours in a trip to the university library, copying or duplicating relevant information, and typing it into an email reply or faxing it to my correspondent. My immediate knowledge base has thus exponentially advanced because of information processing advances.

Pensky places these kinds of experiences into the context of his expanded theory. Read his thought-provoking article to get the full flavor.