Abstract

This thesis explores the potential theoretical contribution from the history of communications to literacy research in the field of educational studies. The relation between literacy and new media is examined from a history of communications perspective that treats literacy as communication technology. This thesis shows that current debates about literacy practices in the context of new media (eLiteracies) are grounded in, and continue to reflect, older debates concerning technology, literacy, culture, and society. Current research focuses predominately on the cultural, social, and ideological aspects of literacy (print or digital). This thesis asserts that prevailing theoretical models of literacy, notably the ideological model – one of the most influential theoretical frameworks in contemporary literacy research – are insufficient to effectively investigate relationships between literacy and new media technologies because they neglect technological dimensions that shape communication and literacy practices. The guiding research question this thesis addresses is: In what ways might the understanding of earlier shifts in communication technologies inform that of the transition from print literacy to eLiteracies?