  Networks have become increasingly relevant to everyday life as human society
has become increasingly connected. Attaining a basic understanding of networks
has thus become a necessary form of literacy for people (and for youths in
particular). At the NetSci 2014 conference, we initiated a year-long process to
develop an educational resource that concisely summarizes essential concepts
about networks that can be used by anyone of school age or older. The process
involved several brainstorming sessions on one key question: "What should every
person living in the 21st century know about networks by the time he/she
finishes secondary education?" Different sessions reached diverse participants,
which included professional researchers in network science, educators, and
high-school students. The generated ideas were connected by the students to
construct a concept network. We examined community structure in the concept
network to group ideas into a set of important themes, which we refined through
discussion into seven essential concepts. The students played a major role in
this development process by providing insights and perspectives that were often
unrecognized by researchers and educators. The final result, "Network Literacy:
Essential Concepts and Core Ideas", is now available as a booklet in several
different languages from http://tinyurl.com/networkliteracy .
