ABSTRACT
I approach my task in this chapter humbly but with some frustration. It is impossible to do justice, in a relatively short chapter, to a topic that encompasses what has been argued to be one of the defining developments in the history of literacy (cf. Leu, 2006; Purves, 1998). Further, the relevant literature is massive. There are no fewer than six major handbooks (Coiro et al., 2008; Flood et al., 1997; Flood et al., 2007; McKenna et al., 2006; Mayer, 2005; Reinking et al., 1998) devoted to examining the intersection of literacy and the digital technologies for reading and writing, multi-media learning, visual media, which are often referred to collectively as interactive communication technologies (ICTs). The most recently published of these handbooks (Coiro et al., 2008) has nearly 1,400 pages and weighs more than a kilo, which is a far stretch for the original meaning of the term handbook, and decidedly ironic given all of these handbooks’ enthusiasm for digitalization. The list of reference citations alone across all of these handbooks would fill a large book.
