Abstract of

Complicating Contexts: Issues of Methodology in Researching the Language and Literacies of Instant Messaging

Gloria E. Jacobs, University of Rochester, New York, USA

This commentary discusses the methodological challenges of researching the intersection of online and offline activities of an adolescent girl engaged in instant messaging. If the New Literacy Studies stance that literacy practices are locally situated is accepted, a methodology for interrogating the multiple online and offline contexts that overlap in an activity, such as instant messaging, needs to be developed. Specifically, this commentary discusses the challenges of collecting data from overlapping physical and virtual worlds and transcribing those data in ways that show how multiple contexts inform each other. Although the methodological issues remain open, the author suggests that addressing these issues can provide insight into how young people negotiate multiple, simultaneous contexts and activities.

Abstract from Jacobs, G.E. (2004, October/November/December). Complicating Contexts: Issues of Methodology in Researching the Language and Literacies of Instant Messaging. Reading Research Quarterly, 39(4), 394–406. doi: 10.1598/RRQ.39.4.3