Lin, T.-B., Li, J.-Y., Deng, F., & Lee, L. (2013). Understanding New Media Literacy: An Explorative Theoretical Framework. Educational Technology & Society, 16 (4), 160–170. Understanding New Media Literacy: An Explorative Theoretical Framework Tzu-Bin Lin 1* , Jen-Yi Li 2 , Feng Deng 2 and Ling Lee 3 1 Department of Education, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei City, Taiwan // 2 Office of Education Research, National Institute of Education, Singapore // 3 Office of Academic Quality Management, National Institute of Education, Singapore // tzubin_lin@ntnu.edu.tw // Jenyi.li@nie.edu.sg // feng.deng@nie.edu.sg // ling.lee@nie.edu.sg *Corresponding author (Submitted September 29, 2012; Revised December 18, 2012; Accepted January 27, 2013) 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. Keywords New media literacy, Web 2.0, Consuming, Prosuming Introduction With the advent of new media technologies, the landscape of media has been changed drastically and dramatically. Although there are various terms such as ICT and digital technologies to name these technologies, we choose the term, ‘new media’ technologies, as ICT and digital technologies could be embedded in it. As Eshet-Alkalai & Soffer (2012, p. 1) argued in an editorial, ‘digital technologies (social media, multimedia and communication technologies) have penetrated almost every aspect of our lives’. These changes cause new forms of cultural practice in working, learning and personal domain. The appearance of Web 2.0 is an example (Berger & McDougall, 2010). These new technologies make the media even more significant and influential than ever in human history. Therefore, individuals need to be new media literate to be able to fully function in the society. This paper aims at providing an explorative theoretical framework to define and understand the ‘new media’ literacy. Based on existing literature and the new media ecology, this framework is developed to help understand the new media literacy among the public. In the rest part of introduction, we discuss the characteristics of new media and the development of media literacy which is precedent and a part of our new media literacy framework. Then, we examine an existing framework proposed by Chen, Wu, & Wang (2011) and point out the limitations of their framework. In the third part of this paper, we suggest a refined framework that works better on explaining the elements of new media literacy. While developing this theoretical framework, there are some difficulties and challenges which we document them in the conclusion with our suggestions for further developing the theory of new media literacy. The term ‘new media’ broadly refers to computer and communication technologies (Chen, Wu, & Wang, 2011; Rice, 1984), or ‘a wide range of changes in media production, distribution and use’ (Lister, Dovey, Giddings, Grant, & Kelly, 2003, p. 13). A majority of researchers tend to define new media by highlighting its technical characteristics including digitality (i.e., numerical representation), hypertextuality, dispersal, virtuality, modularity, multimodality, hybridity, interactivity, automation, and variability (see Anderson & Balsamo, 2008; Lister et al., 2003; Manovich, 2001; Nichols, 2008; Pratt, 2000). Meanwhile, some researchers have begun to address the socio-cultural characteristics of new media. Specifically, they advocated four key points: (a) each medium has unique language; (b) media messages are constructed; (c) media have embedded value and ideology; and (d) media serve various purposes (e.g. Aufderheide & Firestone, 1993; Blau, 2004; Ito et al., 2008; Newby, Stepich, Lehman, & Russell, 2000; O’Reilly, 2005; Pink, 2005; Pungente, Duncan, & Andersen, 2005). More details on these points will be discussed later in this paper. As suggested by Gee (2001), Jenkins (2006) and Lievrouw & Livingstone (2006), the socio- 160 ISSN 1436-4522 (online) and 1176-3647 (print). © International Forum of Educational Technology & Society (IFETS). The authors and the forum jointly retain the copyright of the articles. Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear the full citation on the first page. 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