Book Review: Handbook of Research on New Literacies

This book is edited by Julie Coiro, Michele Knobel, Colin Lankshear, and Donald J. Leu. It was published in 2009 by Routledge of the Taylor and Francis Group, London/New York. The book has 1351+xvii pages; the ISBN is 9780805856521. This edited handbook has six main parts with a total of 38 chapters. The first main part is about Methodologies, the second Knowledge and Inquiry, the third Communication, the fourth Popular Culture, Community, and Citizenship in the Context of Everyday Literacies, the fifth Instructional Practices and Assessment, and the final chapter Multiple Perspectives on New Literacies Research. The book also provides descriptive information about the authors writing the chapters. There are two carefully-prepared indexes at the end, one for the authors and the second for the subjects. It appears that the authors, most of whom are internationally recognized scholars in the field of new literacies, have been selected on the basis of their leadership and innovative research in their particular areas of investigation. Considering their academic backgrounds and professional accomplishments, it is clear that each author has an established reputation in his/her respective research area. The authors taking part in the book usually come from the areas of social semiotics and multimodality, online research methodology, ethnographies of new literacies, multimedia learning, cognition and instruction, social blogging, gaming research, information science, instant messaging, computer-mediated communications, e-learning and learning management systems, cultural influences on educational technologies, online navigation, reading comprehension, child and adolescent literacy, qualitative research methods, experimental research, and many other relevant areas of inquiry that are taking place in and around new literacies today. The editors indicate that during a period when the Internet has deeply altered our literacy lives, the Handbook of Research on New Literacies provides a central resource to support the emergence of new literacies research. It brings together leading scholars from around the world to review research in their area, from the perspectives they find to provide the greatest insight. The editors also expect that the Handbook provides central leadership for this newly emerging field, directing scholars to the fundamental issues, theoretical perspectives, and/or interdisciplinary research on new literacies.As literacy and technology converge on the Internet, many scholars from different fields are moving their research into this area. They find that the constructs emerging in new literacies research inform their own work in productive ways. At the same time, it is increasingly clear that new literacies research also affects societies, education systems, and public policies in a variety of powerful ways. As a consequence, educators, policy makers, employers, and the public at large all recognize that these new literacies of the Internet and related technologies such as social media will be central to the most important literacy and learning issues of the CONTEMPORARY EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY, 2012, 3(2), 162-165 163 new generations in today’s digital world. After reading the entire book, one easily reaches to the conclusion that it is time to apprehend the emergence of this relatively new area of interdisciplinary research, to inform others about crucial elements of new literacies, and to begin the construction of an important new era of scientific inquiry. The book reflects, on behalf of both the editors and the authors, a serious effort to accomplish all of these essential goals or functions. Who is the audience? The editors give a clear answer to this question: From the scope of the book, it is understood that this Handbook is prepared mainly for established scholars and promising researchers working in related areas of new literacies. More specifically, the book is prepared for members of international literacy research community including scholars from traditional reading and writing areas as well as scholars from information science, media studies, educational technology, cognitive science, educational psychology, communications, library science, linguistics, computer-mediated communication, computer science, social studies education, and other related areas that find new online literacies to be an important area of investigation. Graduate students in these disciplines will also find the collection of research reviews to be useful, particularly the final section providing reprints of milestone studies in the area along with commentaries by leading scholars. Finally, given recent interest in data-driven public policies around the world, a secondary audience of the book may be policy makers and school administrators who seek executive summaries of the latest research to inform their own decisions regarding digital citizenship and new literacies.