Understanding New Media Literacy: An Explorative Theoretical Framework

TLDR

New media technologies have transformed media’s role, prompting scholars to redefine literacy, yet a clear understanding of new media literacy remains elusive and only one preliminary framework exists. The study proposes a two‑continua framework that identifies four distinct types of new media literacy. The authors introduce ten fine‑grained indicators for these literacy types and add a Web1.0/Web2.0 distinction to refine the framework.

Abstract

With the advent of new media technologies, the role of media in a society has been changed that leads researchers to re-construct the meaning of literacy from classic literacy to new media literacy. There have been continuing efforts to understand new media and promote the importance of becoming new media literate among researchers, educators, and policy makers. Fundamental understanding to what is new media literacy still remains unclear. There is only one paper providing the preliminary work in unpacking the framework of new media literacy. Although the developed framework has its merit, more details and information need to further elaborate and refine. In this paper, we acknowledge the two continua framework and endorse four types of literacy comprising of this two-continua. Moreover, we provide ten fine-grained indicators to reflect these four types of literacy. We also propose another new divide that distinguishes Web1.0 from Web2.0.