Pleasure, Play, Participation and Promise:
Socio-emotional Dimensions of Digital Culture Which are Transforming the Shape of New Media Literacies

Drawing on several inter-related ethnographic studies of multimodal virtual worlds, this session will examine the significance of affect on transformative moments in people’s online lives. These moments, whether filled with great joy and hilarity or laden with angst and sorrow, are all moments which crystallize experience, provide a privileged locus for the creation of knowledge, and have a significant impact upon identity. From younger adolescents who embrace online communities as part of their normal socialization, to the silver surfers, the older generation of converts to digital culture, I will explore the motivations and emotions of a range of individual cases in order to illuminate the key factors which are driving the changing dimensions of new media literacies.

About Angela Thomas:

Dr. Angela Thomas is a Lecturer in English Education at the University of Sydney. She specialises in teaching New Media Literacies and is the author of numerous articles and book chapters on fan fiction, online role-playing, blogging, digital fiction, cyberculture, identity and learning in virtual worlds. She is the co author of "Children’s Literature and Computer Based Teaching", and author of the forthcoming "Youth Online: Identity and Literacy in the Digital Age."

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