3446 5 archive 2272 00/00/00/34/46 2012-03-27 10:13:30 2012-03-27 10:13:30 2012-03-27 10:13:30 thesis show 0 BELSHAW DOUGLAS,AJ d.a.j.belshaw@durham.ac.uk Higgins Steve Professor s.e.higgins@dur.ac.uk public digital literacy;digital literacies;new literacies;information literacy;visual literacy;Pragmatism;learning;internet;new media;memes;framework This thesis is also available at http://neverendingthesis.com under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license. Digital literacy has been an increasingly-debated and discussed topic since the publication of Paul Gilster’s seminal Digital Literacy in 1997. It is, however, a complex term predicated on previous work in new literacies such as information literacy and computer literacy. To make sense of this complexity and uncertainty I come up with a ‘continuum of ambiguity’ and employ a Pragmatic methodology. This thesis makes three main contributions to the research area. First, I argue that considering a plurality of digital literacies helps avoid some of the problems of endlessly-redefining ‘digital literacy’. Second, I abstract eight essential elements of digital literacies from the research literature which can lead to positive action. Finally, I argue that co-constructing a definition of digital literacies (using the eight essential elements as a guide) is at least as important as the outcome. 2012 Durham University Doctoral EdD DDD29 2392 4 3446 1 application/pdf en public publicdomain/zero/1.0/

Ed.D._thesis_(FINAL_TO_UPLOAD).pdf

accepted Ed.D._thesis_(FINAL_TO_UPLOAD).pdf 7169799 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/3446/1/Ed.D._thesis_(FINAL_TO_UPLOAD).pdf