I have begun reading the giant tome (a whopping 1,367 pages), Handbook of Research on New Literacies, edited by Coiro, Knobel, Lankshear, and Leu (2009). It's length demonstrates the difficulty of portraying the wide ranging field in a paper edition, but so far, it is proving to be the best almost $100.00 that I have spent in a long time (not including my last massage).
I got a little overwhelmed at first, reading the introduction, so I skipped to an article by one of my favorite researchers--Kevin Leander. His research focus has been on how school discourse contributes to high school student identity. Now, he as turned his research interests to the internet, and in this article is arguing for a "connected ethnography." He argues that connected ethnography will enable us to better understand how the internet has been incorporated as a routine part of everyday life. Connected ethnography breaks down the dichotomies of "computer-mediated versus face-to-face, online versus offline, virtual versus real" and "school versus out of school" in researching new literacies. In other words, cyberspace activities are not studied as separate entities, but as integral parts of our social and literacy practices. The focus of research shifts from studying the properties of technology to "the social practices through which the possibilities of such tools are realized" (p. 35).
He offers rich summaries of key studies and frames for data collection and analysis that I am still processing, but the examples point out the value of connecting research into texts produced on line with the lives of those who produce and consume them. For example, his own research, entitled Studying Youth Networks Across Time-Space, or Synchrony, focuses internet uses of adolescents. Through screen, key stroke, and navigation captures; videotaping; home visits; and think-aloud interviewing, his research team is seeking to discover how adolescents use "digital literacy practices for identity and social network practices" (p. 56).
Because I am engaging in my first study of the social and literacy practices of an on-line class that I taught this past summer, I found his article thought provoking and well worth rereading as I progress to data collection and analysis. I believe that literacy is in good hands with people like Kevin Leander.
Well, I need to go pick up my babysitting charge for this afternoon. Until next time....
I think it's very telling, and very interesting that hypothetically an ethnography of a student done by an ancient researcher (someone even older than me!) might posit real vs virtual as dichotomy, whereas
ReplyDeletea younger researcher like Leander incorporates a wide range of experiences into a more melded identity. I'm not going to get a facelift, nor am I planning to start playing Halo with my son, but I am trying to see what the melded nonjudgmental, nonhierarchical argument looks like.
I think "reality" and "virtuality" have largely been considered polar entities. However, the gap between the two seems to be narrowing as we become more knowledgeable and involved in virtual experiences. I think we are moving towards a pedagogy in which the two complement instead of contrast one another.
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