State-of-the-Art report on studies of literacy and learning in and through social media: on studies of literacy and learning in and through social media

The developments in new media inspire debates about the future: some people praise the potential of new media, while others fear the current or pending crisis. This state-of-the-art report analyses how the influence of the new media developments on culture and education can be explored from the perspective of multiliteracies, digital rhetoric and virtual ethnography. Section 1 focuses on the concepts of literacy and culture approached from the multiliteracies perspective. In section 2 methodological concerns and suggestions are discussed. Here, an exploration is presented of the potential relations between the perspective of multiliteracies and the perspective of digital rhetoric and virtual ethnography. In section 3 a number of studies are discussed to illustrate the suggested theoretical and methodological approach. In section 4 a summary is presented of the issues addressed in the previous sections. The issues are also related to the current state of affairs of the EMSOC research project on cultural and educational perspectives on literacies related to social media practices.

Publication year:2011