Tech and me: an autoethnographic account of digital literacy as an identity performance
Abstract
This paper is an autoethnographic account of developing digital literacy, as seen through references to identity, both in direct and indirect relationship to digital technology. Conceiving of digital literacy as a process that includes identity change, and identity as constituted by actions performed, posts from my blog focusing on educational technology written between 2011 and 2019, are analysed and coded. An initial analysis uses a framework, which sees digital literacy as an interaction between skills, practices and identity. The findings highlight not only the importance of identity but also the need for a more detailed understanding of identity than the one provided by this model. Findings related to identity are then analysed further. In the process, four specific and contradictory themes are revealed – technology advocate, technology sceptic, technology adept and technology novice. In addition, the importance of other identity markers in relation to technology is explored. In the context of individuals and organisations prioritising the enhancement of digital literacy, this paper suggests that the role of identity in such enhancement is critical and is not sufficiently captured in current research and discussion.
Downloads
References
Adams, T. E., Jones, S. H. & Ellis, C. (2015) Autoethnography, Oxford University Press, NewYork, NY. Bali, M., et al., (2015) ‘What makes a cMOOC Community Endure? Multiple participant perspectives from diverse cMOOCS’, Educational Media International, vol. 52, no. 2, pp. 100–115. doi: 10.1080/09523987.2015.1053290
Black, K. & Warhurst, R. (2019) ‘Career transition as identity learning: an autoethnographic understanding of human resource development’, Human Resource Development International, vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 25–43. doi: 10.1080/13678868.2018.1444005
Burnett, C. (2011) ‘Pre-Service Teachers’ Digital Literacy Practices: Exploring Contingency in Identity and Digital Literacy in and out of Educational Contexts’, Language and Education, vol. 25, no. 5, pp. 433–449. doi: 10.1080/09500782.2011.584347
Butler, J. (2006) Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, Routledge, New York, London.
Chang, H. (2016) Autoethnography as Method, Routledge, Abingdon.
Chetty, K., et al., (2018) ‘Bridging the digital divide: measuring digital literacy’, Economics, vol. 12, no. 23, pp. 1–21. doi: 10.5018/economics-ejournal.ja.2018-23
Creswell, J. W. (2013) Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, 4th edn, Pearson Education Limited, Harlow.
Darragh, L. (2015) ‘Recognising ‘good at mathematics’: using a performative lens for identity’, Mathematics Education Research Journal, vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 83–102. doi: 10.1007/s13394-014-0120-0
European Round Table of Industrialists. (2017) Building and Transforming Skills for a Digital World, [online] Available at: https://ert.eu/documents/building-and-transforming-skills-for-a-digital-world/
Feenberg, A. (1999) Questioning Technology, Routledge, London, New York, NY.
Foer, F. (2017) World Without Mind: The Existential Threat of Big Tech, Jonathan Cape, London.
Friedman, T. L. (2016) Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist’s Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations, Penguin Books, London.
Fry, H. (2018) Hello World: How to be Human in the Age of the Machine, Transworld Digital, London.
Giddens, A. (1991) Modernity and Self-Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age, Polity Press, Cambridge.
Goffman, E. (1990) The Presentation of the Self in Everyday Life, Penguin Books, London.
Hammond, M., Clapp-Smith, R. & Palanski, M. (2017) ‘Beyond (just) the workplace: a theory of leader development across multiple domains’, Academy of Management. The Academy of Management Review, vol. 42, no. 3, p. 481. doi: 10.5465/amr.2014.0431
Ibarra, H. & Petriglieri, J. L. (2010) ‘Identity work and play’, Journal of Organizational Change Management, vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 10–25. doi: 10.1108/09534811011017180
Jaschik, S. (2017) Judith Butler on Being Attacked in Brazil, [online] Available at: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/11/13/judith-butler-discusses-being-burned-effigy-and-protested-brazil
JISC. (n.d.) Building Digital Capabilities: The Six Elements Defined, [online] Available at: http://repository.jisc.ac.uk/6611/1/JFL0066F_DIGIGAP_MOD_IND_FRAME.PDF
Lanier, J. (2010) You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto, Allen Lane, London.
Law, N., et al., (2018) A Global Framework of Reference on Digital Literacy Skills for Indic ator 4.4.2, UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Montreal, [online] Available at: http://uis.unesco.org/sites/default/files/documents/ip51-global-framework-reference-digital-literacy-skills-2018-en.pdf
Learmonth, M. & Humphreys, M. (2012) ‘Autoethnography and academic identity: glimpsing business school doppelgängers’, Organization, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 99–117. doi: 10.1177/1350508411398056
Lewis, K. A. (2018) ‘A digital immigrant venture into teaching online: an autoethnographic account of a classroom teacher transformed’, Qualitative Report, vol. 23, no. 7, pp. 1752–1772, [online] Available at: https://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/vol23/iss7/19
Littlejohn, A., Beetham, H. & McGill, L. (2012) ‘Learning at the digital frontier: a review of digital literacies in theory and practice. (Report)’, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, vol. 28, no. 6, pp. 547–556. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2729.2011.00474.x
Mitcham, C. (2014) ‘Three ways of being-with technology’, in Philosophy of Technology: The Technology Condition: An Anthology, 2nd edn, eds. R. C. Sharff & V. Dusek, John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, pp. 523–538.
Pangrazio, L. (2016) ‘Reconceptualising critical digital literacy’, Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, vol. 37, no. 2, pp. 163–174. doi: 10.1080/01596306.2014.942836
Pangrazio, L. (2018) Young People’s Literacies in the Digital Age: Continuities, Conflicts and Contradictions, [online] Available at: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/lancaster/detail.action?docID=5596870
Prensky, M. (2001) ‘Digital natives, digital immigrants’, On the Horizon, vol. 9, no. 5, pp. 1–6. doi: 10.1108/10748120110424816
Schwab, K. (2017) The Fourth Industrial Revolution, Penguin, London
Scoble, R. (2008) ‘Scoble has a productivity problem’, Scobleizer, 27 May, [online] Available at: https://scobleizer.blog/2008/05/27/scoble-has-a-productivity-problem/
Sharpe, R. & Beetham, H. (2010) ‘Understanding students’ use of technology for learning: towards creative appropriation’, in Rethinking Learning for a Digital Age, eds. R. Sharpe & H. Beetham, Taylor and Frances, New York & Abingdon, pp. 85–99.
Smith, B. & Browne, C. A. (2019) Tools and Weapons: The Promise and the Peril of the Digital Age, Hodder & Stoughton, London.
Spante, M., et al., (2018) ‘Digital competence and digital literacy in higher education research: systematic review of concept use’, Cogent Education, vol. 5, no. 1, article no. 1519143. doi: 10.1080/2331186X.2018.1519143
Tiles, M. & Oberdiek, H. (1995) Living in a Technological Culture: Human Tools and Human Values, Routledge, London and New York.
van Laar, E., et al., (2017) ‘The relation between 21st-century skills and digital skills: a systematic literature review’, Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 72, pp. 577–588. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2017.03.010
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors contributing to Research in Learning Technology retain the copyright of their article and at the same time agree to publish their articles under the terms of the Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) allowing third parties to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, and to remix, transform, and build upon the material, for any purpose, even commercially, under the condition that appropriate credit is given, that a link to the license is provided, and that you indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
_0%20(002).jpg)
.png){kind=spacer}
