ABSTRACT
Resources used by families to support children’s literacy are located in geographic space. Many of these spaces may seem quite obvious including schools and libraries; others are less so, such as doctors’ waiting rooms and supermarkets. A semiotic view has informed our analysis, meaning that people understand early learning in terms of practices inclusive of a range of modalities rather than as being limited to the reading and writing of print texts. The concept of capital acknowledges that the field of early learning, as with education more generally, is also a marketplace and that the goods it provides can only be acquired through exchange. Digital technology and networking plays many roles in creating various affordances and opportunities for major, and also minor, players in the field of early learning. Emerging as the new central character in current story lines of early literacy is the infant/toddler as the ideal subject for the literacy work of carers.
