Gaming, agency, and imagination: Locating gaming within a larger constellation of literacies

Abstract

Compositionists have increasingly devoted attention to how new technologies have informed our understanding of writing and literacy as well as the impli-cations of new media, such as the Internet, for writing. Essentially, these new technologies have forced us to complicate “what it means to write” (Alfano & O’Brien, 2005); how we understand the concept of literacy (Faigley, George, Palchik, & Selfe, 2004); and how new technologies can be incorporated into the classroom environment to enhance the practice and outcomes of writing (Castellani & Jeffs, 2001). Considering that many students have new technologies available to them at home, and that writing is a central feature of these technologies (e.g., text messaging on cell phones, chat rooms, discussion boards, homepages on the Internet, video games) it is important to consider how they are engaging these technologies and how such engagement informs their understanding and practice of writing. Therefore, as Hawisher and Selfe (2004) argue, compositionists should examine what resources and literacies students in the information age are bringing to class.