Sampling "the new" in New Literacies

Abstract

This book "samples" work in the broad area of new literacies research on two levels. First, it samples some typical examples of new literacies. These are video gaming, fan fiction writing, weblogging, using websites to participate in affinity practices, and social practices involving mobile computing. The question of what it is about these practices that makes us think of them as "new" and as "literacies" will occupy much of this introductory chapter. Second, it samples from among the wide range of approaches potentially available for researching and studying new literacies. The studies assembled in this collection are all examples of what is referred to as research undertaken from a sociocultural perspective on literacy. New literacies can be studied from a range of research and theoretical orientations (cf Leu et al. forthcoming). For reasons that will become apparent from our account of "new literacies," however, a sociocultural perspective is especially appropriate and valuable for researching new literacies.