The New Literacies as Placed Resources: Research: Information and Communication Technologies.
Year: 2005
Type: article
Abstract: I develop the argument in this article that the new literacies of screen-based and internet communication work in particular ways in low technology and socially distinctive African
contexts. I claim that study of the new literacies in such contexts illuminates the ways that
they work more generally, which is often obscured by much that is taken for granted in
discussions on the new literacies in 'technology-rich' contexts. I examine data from a
restructured, high technology workplace in Cape Town, and from examples of young children's
school encounters with computers in Khayelitsha Cape Town, to develop and illustrate my
argument. I examine how one can take account of the impact of the new technologies associated
with the new literacies in ways that do not revert to a decontextualised and deterministic
analysis. I argue, that despite their global impact, the new literacies are best studied as
resources situated in social practices that have local effect. I conclude that the new literacies
don't have an intrinsic resourcefulness. Whether they offer opportunities for particular users
is something that has to be established by situated research, not assumed, in contrast with
research models that start from concerns around digital divides and offer solutions along the
lines of technology transfer.
Source: Perspectives in Education
Author: Mastin Prinsloo
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $190
OpenAlex ID: W1528093675