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Until recently, motivation has been considered to be an individual phenomenon. Motivational theorists have accordingly conceptualised key constructs in individualistic terms and emphasised the individual origins and nature of motivation, although they have also long recognised that contextual or social factors have a significant influence on these individual processes. Recently this conceptualisation has been questioned as theorists have suggested, after Vygotsky, that motivation, like learning and thinking, might be social in nature. This idea was first suggested by Sivan (1986) more than twenty years ago but it received a major impetus with the publication of an article by Hickey (1997) eleven years later. Since that time interest in the social nature of motivation has grown as a small number of book chapters and journal articles have been published and conference papers have been presented on the topic. Although some motivational theorists remain sceptical (e.g. Winne, 2004) of this theoretical development, the inclusion of a section on sociocultural approaches to motivation in Perry, Turner, and Meyer's (2006) chapter on classrooms as contexts for motivating learning in the 2nd edition of the Handbook of Educational Psychology suggests that this perspective is being seriously considered by motivational researchers. Similarly, the inclusion of a chapter (Walker, in press-b) on the sociocultural approach to motivation in the 3rd edition of the International Encyclopedia of Education indicates that this approach has achieved some recognition.

This paper aims to discuss the concept of “literacy” within the new literacy, new literacies and library and information science (LIS) discourses. It proposes widening the prevailing LIS conceptualization of adolescent literacy, which focuses largely on information literacy in academic settings, to a broader, information practice-based, sociocultural framing that encompasses the full range of adolescents’ everyday life contexts.

The author presents a literature review and personal reflection on a series of adolescent information activities to show the value of framing the LIS discourse on adolescent literacy within a broader sociocultural perspective.

Based on the discussion, the author proposes a framework for future investigations of adolescents’ literacy practices that views adolescent literacy as fundamentally social and communicative; multiformat; multicontextual; multigenerational; and culturally situated.

A broader sociocultural approach to the LIS information literacy discourse can lead to deeper understanding of the co-constructed and collaborative nature of adolescents’ new literacies practices. It can also enable stronger recognition of the impact of power and privilege on adolescent literacy practices. Finally, this essay shows the value of reflecting on adolescent information activities for challenging narrow views of literacy and highlights the social embeddedness of new literacies activities in adolescents’ everyday lives.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the sociocultural underpinnings of wiki-based knowledge production in the videogame domain, and to elucidate how these underpinnings relate to the formation of wikis as resources of videogame documentation.

The paper is based on a three-month ethnographic investigation of knowledge practices on the Dark Souls Wiki (DSW). In focus of the analysis were the boundaries and knowledge aims of the DSW, together with how its contributors organized inquiries and used various sources, methods of investigation, and ways of warranting knowledge claims.

The principal result of the paper is an empirical account of how the DSW functions as a culture of knowledge production, and how the content and structure of the wiki connects to the knowledge practices of its contributors. Four major factors that influenced knowledge practices on the wiki were identified: the structures and practices established by the community’s earlier wiki efforts; principles and priorities that informed wiki knowledge practices; the characteristics of the videogame in focus of the site’s knowledge-building work; the extent and types of relevant documentation provided by videogame industry, the videogaming press included.

Previous research has shown interest in investigating the mechanisms by which community-created knowledge and online resources of documentation emerge, and how these are utilized in play. There is, however, little research seeking to elucidate the sociocultural structures and practices that determine and sustain collaborative online videogame knowledge production.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the literacy practices of the families and communities of first-generation college students in Latin America, and how community and family literacies can inform the understanding of first-generation college students’ identity and cultural values.

This transnational ethnography was conducted in local communities around three public universities in Mexico, Colombia and Costa Rica. Participants included nine fist-generation college students and more than 50 people in their families and communities (i.e. relatives, parents and friends). Data gathering occurred at the university outside the formal space of the classroom, at home, and in the community. Data were interpreted through the lens of the community cultural wealth framework.

The author found that first-generation college students and their families and communities engaged in rich literacy practices that have been overlooked in policy, research, and media. It is argued that the concept literacy capital is necessary to acknowledge the critical literacy practices communities engage in. Literacy capital was manifested in these communities to preserve cultural traditions, to sponsor literacy practices and to question and resist unjust sociopolitical circumstances.

The findings of this study should inform a culturally sustaining pedagogy of academic literacies in higher education. Beyond asset-based approaches to academic literacies in Latin America, critical perspectives to academic literacies teaching and learning are needed that acknowledge the Latin American complexities.

These findings are significant because they unveiled how people in local communities were informed about the sociopolitical dynamics at the national and international scale that affected or even threatened their local culture, and how they used their literacy capital to react critically to those situations.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how virtual world communities employ new media as a repository to record information about their past.

Using the notions of documentary practice and memory-making as a framework, a case study of MMORPG City of Heroes’ (CoH) virtual community on Reddit discussion board “/r/cityofheroes” was conducted. The study consists of an interpretative analysis of posts, comments, images, and other materials submitted to /r/cityofheroes during a period of approximately seven months.

The principal finding of the study is that the CoH community, with varying levels of intentionality, documented a range of pasts on /r/cityofheroes, relating to CoH as a game world, a site of personal experience, a product, a nexus of narratives, and a game. The analysis also lays bare the community’s memory-making processes, in which the documented conceptions of CoH’s past were put to work in the present, informing community action and viewpoints.

Games and gaming practices are increasingly prevalent in leisure and professional settings. This trend, which makes virtual environments and online media proxies for or augmentations of “real life”, makes it necessary for information scholars to understand how the full range of human information behaviours, including documenting, and memory-making, emerge or are replicated online. Additionally, few studies have examined the interplay between new media affordances, documentary practices, and memory-making in the context of virtual world communities.

This paper aims to examine the ways becoming information literate relates to the material objects in the Kente-weaving landscape.

An ethnographic research design was adopted wherein data was collected using participant observation and a semi-structured interview with 24 participants through their roles as either master weaver, junior weaver or novice weaver. Thematic analysis through a practice-based approach to information literacy frames the analysis of this study.

Information literacy relates to the material objects in terms of developing the know-how knowledge regarding the Kente-weaving tools used as well as what constitutes the quality of Kente fabrics.

Information literacy goes beyond having theoretical knowledge of the material objects of an information landscape. It is practical, not merely knowing the names of the material objects and what they are literary used for.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that contributes to the understanding of how information literacy relates to material objects in the craft workplace.

Using the concept of knowing-in-practice (KinP), and drawing from current understandings of aesthetic and sensible knowledge within organization studies, this study explores how the entrepreneurial learning (EL) process unfolds over time, throughout the lives of startup founders, well before entrepreneurial action takes place.

Using a life histories approach, 25 interviews were conducted with the founders of 18 startups. Additional 14 semi-structured interviews were conducted with other startups' founders, focusing on thematic stories. Data were analyzed using abduction and narrative analysis.

Although each entrepreneur's history is unique, the authors show that entrepreneurs' lives are generally a texture of practices, resulting in aesthetic–sensible knowledge that is developed as entrepreneurs participate in various social practices. This includes KinP episodes where perceptive-sensorial faculties are fundamental for entrepreneurs to perceive the world, recognize/create opportunities and launch a business.

The historical approach did not allow the authors to witness firsthand the practices and KinP episodes that participants verbalized. Regardless, the results show that aesthetic and sensible knowledge provide a fruitful lens for investigating EL while highlighting the indissoluble relationship between practice and learning.

Although the senses have been recognized as fundamental for learning in organizations, entrepreneurship scholars have yet to explore the aesthetic and sensory processes involved in EL. The primary contribution of this paper is to develop a new understanding of the situated nature of EL as a process that starts well before entrepreneurial action occurs, stemming from entrepreneurs' experiencing of certain practices and the aesthetic and sensible knowledge they build over their life trajectory.

The aim of this study is to further understanding of the situated activity of seeking pictures. It relates to an ongoing discussion on how multimodal information literacies are enacted in different social practices.

In order to understand the characteristics of the communication and interactions in the activity of seeking pictures, video recordings from an ethnographic study of primary school children working with problem‐centred assignments have been analysed.

The analysis reveals how the activity of seeking pictures is shaped by the assumption that pictures are different from facts and information; pictures are seen primarily as having decorative functions. The activity is also characterised by playful, yet efficient cooperation between the children; they make the activity meaningful by transforming it into a play and game activity where pictures become important as physical objects, but not as a semiotic means of learning.

The study is limited to the activity of seeking pictures in a specific primary school; however, it shows how modes other than textual modes can be included in the study of information activities.

The study reveals the need for developing methods for enhancing children's possibilities to critically examine and learn from visual material, such as pictures.

Research on information seeking and information literacies rarely focus on multimodal aspects of information activities or the seeking of pictures outside special collections, despite the increased significance of visual material in the contemporary media landscape. This paper shows how studies of multimodal information activities can be designed.