Practices of reading and writing are a timeless and yet a most timely concern for education. This is especially the case in view of the rapid technological changes we presently witness. These developments go together with new forms of community and citizenship, new modes of thought, new articulations of being human, and new ideas of what education is finally about. However, an appropriate language to articulate what is happening today is missing. In order to come to grips with contemporary reality and with the challenges it poses to existing practices of reading and writing, we have assembled an international panel that represents a manifold of philosophical and theoretical approaches. The different contributions to this Summer Institute not only address all levels of education (formal and informal, school and university), but also draw out the social, cultural and political implications of the current technological context.

As such, our panel responds to the so called 'technological turn' in the humanities and the social sciences, meaning that we regard technologies not as mere means at our disposal. Rather, we start from the idea that they give shape to all human activities: they underpin processes of learning and teaching, and all relations between actors involved in education. They also have an impact on the limitations and (new) possibilities of doing academic research. Aiming at giving detailed analyses of literacy practices in many diverse contexts, as well as developing critical perspectives toward these practices, our contributions might inspire practitioners and policymakers responsible for both promoting and regulating the use of new educational technologies. At the same time we want to come to a balanced view, and therefore the views we develop run counter to the widespread and pernicious preconceptions that these technologies must be either irreversibly detrimental to human society or the answer to all of its problems.