Seminar: What do we mean by digital literacies?

What do we mean by digital literacies? 

Professor Rodney H. Jones
Department of English Language and Applied Linguistics
University of Reading 

June 10, 2025 (Tuesday)
14:30 – 16:00
Room 646, Meng Wah Complex, HKU
Chair: Professor George Jiang
 

Abstract: 
This talk examines digital literacies through the conceptual framework of ‘literacies of repair’ (Jones, forthcoming), moving beyond our usual preoccupation with technical and semiotic competencies to address the larger psycho-social problems that characterise our relationships with digital technologies: our sense that our students are increasingly ‘controlled’ by their devices, that they can no longer pay attention to the things that matter, that they are falling victim to internet induced mental health issues, and that they are no longer able to tell what’s true from what false, what’s right from what’s wrong. How can we, as literacy teachers, help to address these pervasive consequences of digital media use? Drawing on posthumanist and ecological approaches to literacy, I introduce methods to sensitise students to the ways technologies are changing the way they think, the way they feel, the way they interact with one another, and the way they experience reality. 
    
About the speaker: 
Rodney H. Jones is Professor of Sociolinguistics in the Department of English Language and Applied Linguistics at the University of Reading. His research interests include language and digital media, health communication, and language and creativity. His recent books include Understanding Digital Literacies: A practical introduction, 2nd edition (Routledge, 2021) Viral Discourse (Cambridge University Press, 2022), and Introducing Language and Society (Cambridge University Press, 2022). His new book, Innovations and Challenges in Digital Literacies, will soon be published by Routledge. 

~ All are welcome ~
For enquiries, please contact the Office of Research, Faculty of Education at hkchow@hku.hk