Understanding Digital Literacy Practices: What Can Be Learnt with Visual Methods?

Abstract

Digital technologies are increasingly used by children and adults in their everyday lives and these practices have attracted researchers’ and practitioners’ attention. However, everyday digital literacy practices are difficult to examine. They require appropriate research methods and visual methods have potential here. Although some visual methods are actively used in the field of Literacy Studies, participant-generated digital photography and photo-elicitation remain under-employed in the research of digital literacy practices. Drawing on a qualitative study, this article argues that these methods allow in-depth insights into digital literacy practices to be gained. They offer comprehensive understanding of practices by illuminating what is involved in practices, how practices happen and why people engage in them in particular ways. However, the use of these methods is also associated with a number of challenges. The article concludes with the discussion of the implications for researchers and teacher-researchers who wish to use visual methods to examine digital literacy practices in different contexts.

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