Have you ever wondered what people in Duncan, British Columbia are thinking about power in the adult literacy classroom? Or how unions develop programs for workers in Moncton, New Brunswick? Or what it is like to move from working in the field to doing academic research at the University of Saskatchewan?

Literacies: Researching practice, practising research is a new Canadian journal where you can find answers to these questions – and more. Literacies will connect you to other people working in the field and studying the issues across the country.

In 2000, Tracy Westell, a community-based program worker, and Jenny Horsman, a researcher who focuses on literacy and violence, began to explore the idea of a national journal. Both are now Literacies steering committee members. “We want the journal to act as a catalyst for research and thinking in the field and in academia,” says Westell.

“Lots of people want to explore the links between research and practice,” says Mary Norton, facilitator of the RiPAL network in Alberta and another steering committee member. “Our vision is that the journal will be a place where people can talk about how research and practice connect and how they can inform one another.”

Literacies comes out twice a year, in spring and fall, and is free in 2003. The Spring issue is available now and includes: an article on Aboriginal literacy; updates on literacy research in practice; an interview with literacy worker Tom Ciancone, who recently travelled to Brazil; and an article on how the New Literacy Studies research relates to the practice of working with adult learners. You can get a copy by e-mailing journal@literacy.ca with your mailing address.

The on-line version of the journal is available at http://www.literacyjournal.ca and consists of a web article that expands on a topic from the journal, questions for reflection and a place to enter your observations and responses. “We expect the journal will increase communication across Canada,” says Horsman, “It can be a place where people working in various regions and different types of programs talk about the similarities and differences they face. Researchers and literacy workers can talk to each other and learn from each other.”

Editor Tannis Atkinson says that the journal will feature writing done in a variety of styles – everything from in-depth articles about research to reflection pieces and from letters to creative work. “We want to be very open to whatever people send,” she says. She hopes that the journal will be a place where people can participate as readers, researchers, writers and creators.

Interested in being part of this exciting new initiative? Contact Literacies (literacy@journal.ca) if you want to:

• Interview people doing research or trying new things
• Report on an encouraging new discovery
• Describe a success – or how you learned from a challenge
• Write reviews or in-depth pieces about research
• Help others write about their research and reflections
• Give feedback to writers