Researching New Literacies: Design, Theory, and Data in Sociocultural Investigation (New Literacies and Digital Epistemologies)

This book provides an expansive guide for designing and conducting robust qualitative research across a diverse range of purposes concerned with understanding new literacies in theory and in practice. It is based on the idea that one of the best ways of learning how to do good research is by closely following the approaches taken by excellent researchers. This volume brings together a group of internationally reputed qualitative researchers who have investigated new literacies from a sociocultural perspective. These contributors offer "under the hood" accounts of how they have adapted existing research approaches and, where appropriate, developed new ones to frame their research theoretically and conceptually, collected and analyzed their data, and discussed their analytic results in order to achieve their research purposes. Each chapter, based on a substantial and successful study undertaken by the researchers, addresses the research process from one or more of the following emphases: theory and design, data collection, and data analysis and interpretation. Core elements discussed in each chapter include research purposes and questions; theoretical and conceptual framing; data collection and analysis; research findings and implications; and limitations, glitches, and difficulties experienced in the research process. -- provided by publisher Cover Table of Contents Acknowledgments Chapter One: Researching New Literacies: Addressing the Challenges of Initial Research Training (Colin Lankshear / Michele Knobel) The Aim The Underlying Research Ideal A New Literacies Research Focus Finding the Authors This Book’s Approach Organization and Content References Chapter Two: Critical Junctures in the Design and Conduct of Affinity Space Research (Jayne C. Lammers) Studying the Sims Writers' Hangout Critical Junctures (a) Starting an Affinity Space Study (b) Crafting Research Questions (c) Navigating Review Board Approval (d) Generating Initial Understandings (e) Gaining Insiders’ Perspectives Lessons Learned About Affinity Space Research Lesson 1: Read the Research Lesson 2: Talk to Others Lesson 3: Document Everything Lesson 4: Refer to Theory References Chapter Three: Conversation Analysis, Transcription, and Local Productions of Order (Aaron Chia Yuan Hung) Introduction Rationale Basics of CA Transcription notations Turn-taking Adjacency pairs Repair Data Collection Findings Opening sequences in party chats Fairness Discussion Conclusion References Chapter Four: Theorizing Context: A design-based analysis of an online affinity space (Alecia Marie Magnifico) Introduction Theoretical Framework: The Study of Affinity Spaces Background: figment.com and The Origins of This Study Research Questions Methods Results Looking In: Close Reading and Design Analysis Looking Out: Content Analysis of Official Site Content Discussion References Chapter Five: Understanding Twitter as a Networked Field Site: Implications for Research on Teacher Professional Learning (Jen Scott Curwood / Carly Biddolph) Introduction Conceptualizing Professional Learning: New Literacies, New Practices Pushing the Boundaries: Twitter as A Networked Field Site Methodology Twitter as a Research Context Designing Our Study Participants Data Collection Data Analysis Tracing the Analytical Process: Decisions, Examples, and Conclusions Developing Codes for Online Thematic Analysis Interpreting Emergent Findings, Drawing on Theoretical Perspectives Moving Forward References Chapter Six: The messiness of actor-network theory in an online gaming ethnography: The inside story of Leet Noobs (Mark Chen) Introduction Purpose of Study and How it Affected Data Collection Analyses and Alignment to Theory Pass 1 Pass 2 Pass 3 General World of Warcraft Life The Last Chapter Reporting Final Thoughts Note References Chapter Seven: Classroom digital literacies as interactional accomplishments (Ibrar Bhatt) Introduction Research Context Theoretical Background (a) The New Literacy Studies (b) Digital and new literacies (c) A sociomaterial understanding (d) Videographic methodologies Data Collection and Analysis (a) General approach (b) Overall procedure (c) Videography Conclusions Notes References Chapter Eight: Discourse analytic approaches to understanding literacies in online fan fiction writing communities (Rebecca W. Black) Issues and Questions Addressed Theoretical Grounding: New Literacy Studies and Studies of New Literacies Collecting Data in Online Environments Discourse Analytic Approaches to Analysis Worked Example The Role of Theory in Interpreting Findings Explaining Why Anyone Should Care About This Work Acknowledgments References Chapter Nine: Games, films, and media literacy: Frameworks for multimodal analysis (Andrew Burn) Film: The Kineikonic Mode Analytical Approach 1: Spatial and Temporal Syntagms Step 1: The “eikonic syntagm” Step 2: The “kinetic syntagm.” Analytical Approach 2: The Metamodal Kineikonic Step 1: Modal decomposition Step 2: Intermodal functions Multimodality in Videogames Analytical Approach 1: Play, Avatars, and Person Analytical Approach 2: Modality in Games Analytical Approach 3: Coherence and Cohesion in Videogames Analytical Approach 4: Code As Mode Step 1: Identifying the code Step 2: Identifying the orchestrating functions of the code Step 3: Relating the orchestrating and contributory modes Machinima Step 1: Identifying the laminates Step 2: Drilling through the layers Conclusion: From Text to Context References Chapter Ten: Connecting content coding and Discourse analysis to investigate online affinity spaces (Sean C. Duncan) Investigating Informal Scientific Reasoning Investigating Design Content Coding Discourse Analysis Connecting Methods Conclusions and Future Directions References Chapter Eleven: “There’s a Relationship”: Negotiating Cell Phone Use in the High School Classroom (Anita S. Charles) Critical Sociocultural Theory Methodology Participants Rationale for Sample Population Rationale for an Ethnographic Approach Gee’s “Building Tasks” Data Management Data Analysis Intersection of New and Old Literacies What Belongs in a Classroom? Discourse and discourse: Understanding the Difference Findings A New Mindset: “It’s Just Part of What We Do” Teacher Use of Social Digital Media Social and Academic Discourses Rule-Setting, Rule-Breaking, and Relationships Keep Discourses Straight: You Just Don’t Cross Them” Conclusion References Contributors Names Index Subject Index