This paper analyses the concept of digital literacies, focusing on recent changes in the concept of literacy itself and how the latter affect the so-called "new literacies". An outline of the core components of digital literacies is proposed, and one of these, the 'multimediality' of many literate practices, is analysed in detail. Finally, the paper proposes a shift whereby the question of digital literacies might be considered as a research question and not just as an applied field.