ABSTRACT
Though undoubtedly a contentious concept, the notion of ‘digital literacy’ has gained currency in recent years. Intrinsically linked to research within the fields of library and information studies (e.g. Borgman 2007); educational technology (e.g. Pearce et al. 2010; Weller 2011); academic literacies (McKenna 2006; Lea 2007; Goodfellow 2011; Lea and Jones 2011); and the emerging field of ‘digital humanities’ (Schreibman et al. 2004; Unsworth 2000). This recent proliferation of academic studies into the design and use of digital technologies and texts has focused both on general practices spanning the use of multiple digital resources and on practices specific to particular digital resources, such as the microblogging platform Twitter. In the context of higher education, research into Twitter practices has focused on user identities and the micro-dynamics of use (e.g. Reed 2005; boyd et al. 2010; Marwick and boyd 2011); use of the resource for teaching and learning (e.g. Fernandez-Villavicencio 2010; Rinaldo et al. 2011; Junco et al. 2011; Kassens-Noor 2012); and use of the resource in domains such as libraries and lecture halls (e.g. Cuddy 2009; Elavsky 2011; Tyma 2011).
