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By helping children self-author and produce e-books, early childhood professionals can make the use of computers more interactive and personal.

information and communication technology (ICT) is being viewed as another tool for early childhood professionals and children to use in this domain of learning in a way that can complement the more traditional provision of literacy experiences (Hills, 2010; Parett, Quesenberry & Blum, 2010; Marks, 2007; Siraj-Blatchford & Siraj-Blatchford, 2003).

Brown and Murray (2006) put it, children need to be able to use ICT so that they are adequately prepared for the future

Western society has invested print-based media with significant authority, but notions about literacy are changing. As society and technology evolve, there is a shift to an acceptance of digital forms of literacy (Jewitt & Kress, 2003). Increasingly, young children are exposed to communication tools and circumstances that are multimodal instead of solely linguistic (Hill, 2007

The reading of texts has traditionally focused on decoding–encoding print’s alphabetic codes. Texts children read today, however, might be a mixture of images and print, and the delivery might be interactive with mobile forms rather than just print fixed on a page (Walsh, 2008).

Belonging, Being and Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework. In particular, Outcome 5: Children are effective communicators, has a section on how they can use ICTs to access information, explore ideas and represent their thinking (Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations [DEEWR] for the Council of Australian Governments, 2009).

Young children may have access to certain technologies as they were already present in their homes but this did not always mean that they were allowed and/or able to use these. O’Hara’s findings support the arguments made by Marsh (2004), Smith (2005) and others that young children already have an understanding of ICT knowledge and competences when they enter formal schooling as a consequence of differing levels of parental intervention and modelling along with being able to acquire their own new information, abilities and attitudes.

that to read and create multimodal texts, children do need to be able to combine traditional literacy practices with the comprehension, design and manipulation of various ‘modes of image, graphics, sound and movement with text’ (p. 108).