Digital Technology is not a Tool: The Limits of the Tool Conceptual Metaphor

The use of the Technology as Tool conceptual metaphor has long crippled serious consideration of how communication networks and devices constitute socio-cultural, legal, economic, and political identities and environments. From exploring notions of how social capital is constructed in affinity spaces, to thinking about how games and applications embody unrecognized core values and assumptions, this presentation argues that to effectively think about the many challenges that emerge with new literacies, the tool metaphor should be retired