| The purpose of this research is to develop an understanding of the language and literacy practices of adolescents as they engage in instant messaging. This research works to provide additional insight into the nature of digital literacies and to develop an understanding of what adolescent use of instant messaging means in respect to their development as writers and as members of today's fast capitalist society. Data was collected over a two year period and focused on an adolescent girl and six of her friends who live in a city in Western New York State. The research protocol included ethnographic methods including videotaping of the construction of instant messages as well as the interaction of online and offline activities. Interviews, focus groups, and the collection of artifacts were also done. Analysis is framed by Critical Discourse Analysis. The activity system, as defined by Cultural Historical Activity Theory, was used as the unit of analysis.; The data indicate that instant messaging is a dynamic and fluid activity consisting of a mix of conventions drawn from the Discourses of computer mediated communication, school, youth culture, popular culture, and the dominant Middle Class White culture of which they are members. Contrary to the implicit stance of the existing research literature and the explicit claims of the popular discourse surrounding instant messaging, the rules of language use in instant messaging are not static and universal. How the conventions are selected, used, and juxtaposed is negotiated within the instant messaging activity and related to the object of the activity. Analysis indicates that the object of the activity changed over the course of the study from being something to do, to using instant messaging to accomplish something. The changing objects of the instant messaging activities revealed the problematic nature of theorizing participation roles which lead to a consideration of the roles of consumer, producer, and distributor. Macro-analysis indicates that the outcome of the interaction between the different elements of the activity is the construction of Lisa as a portfolio person as described by Gee (2000b). |
