Definition of the term 'new literacies'

The term 'new literacies' can be defined in two ways:

Firstly, we can understand 'new literacies' as forms of communication, which change according to cultural and historical contexts. Our relationship with multimodal forms of communication is constantly evolving, and therefore creating new literacies in the process.

In the context of 21st Century Western culture, we can view 'new literacies' as multimodal forms of technology-based communication. Two examples of these forms of new literacy include; media literacy and visual literacy. (McDougall 2007). The transition from showing information using Web 1.0 to sharing information using Web 2.0 exemplifies how our experience of digital literacy has evolved over a short period time. In this light, we can understand 'new literacies' as being socially constructed, transient modes of communication (Callow 2008).