Critical Literacy, Digital Platforms, and Datafication
Critical Literacy, Digital Platforms, and Datafication T. Philip Nichols, Baylor University Anna Smith, Illinois State University Scott Bulfin, Monash University Amy Stornaiuolo, University of Pennsylvania [Final manuscript, as accepted for Pandya, J.Z., Mora, R.A., Alford, J., Golden, N.A., & de Roock, R.S. (Eds.), The Handbook of Critical Literacies. Routledge, November 2020] Abstract This chapter considers the place of critical literacy research, teaching, and practice in relation to an emerging media environment characterized by digital platforms and datafication. We outline key ideas associated with platform studies and Big Data, and highlight where current frames for critical literacy align with these concepts. We also contend that platforms and datafication present a challenge for critical literacy scholars and practitioners: while critical literacy is valuable for identifying and analyzing many facets of digital activity, it can strain to explain or intervene in the emergent interplay of social, technical, and economic dimensions that animate digital platforms. Rather than undermining the project of critical literacy, we suggest that these limitations offer an opportunity to clarify the place of critical literacy within a wider repertoire of tactics for mapping, critiquing, and transforming digital ecosystems. We offer some implications such a stance might hold for research, teaching, social action, and practice. Introduction In this chapter, we examine key ideas associated with platform studies and datafication, and their relation to critical literacy. We contend that platform technologies present a challenge for critical literacy scholars: while critical literacy is a powerful resource for identifying and analyzing certain digital practices, it can strain to explain or intervene in the broader social, technical, and economic forces whose entanglements animate digital platforms.
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