ERIC Number: EJ745739
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2005-Dec
Pages: 12
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0258-2236
EISSN: N/A
The New Literacies as Placed Resources: Research: Information and Communication Technologies
Prinsloo, Mastin
Perspectives in Education, v23 n4 p87-98 Dec 2005
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.
Descriptors: Technological Advancement, Municipalities, Technology Transfer, Internet, Literacy, Context Effect, Case Studies, Foreign Countries, Technological Literacy, Computer Mediated Communication, Academic Discourse, Young Children
Perspectives in Education. Faculty of Education, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa. Tel: +27-12-420-4732; Fax: +27-12-420-3003; e-mail: perspect@postino.up.ac.za; Web site: http://journals.sabinet.co.za/pie/index.html
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Opinion Papers; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: South Africa (Cape Town)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A