Other Communication Commons^™

Mediacy: A Way To Enrich Media Literacy, Eva Berger, Robert K. Logan, Anat Ringel, Andrey Miroshnichenko

Journal of Media Literacy Education

We propose that the discipline or practice of media literacy defined as the ability to access, analyze, evaluate and create media in a variety of forms can be enriched and made more effective by incorporating two of Marshall McLuhan’s insights into the nature of media. The first insight is that the effects of media that are independent of their content and intended function are subliminal and they are important because they “shape and control the scale and form of human association and action.” The second insight is that the notion of media includes not just communication media but also all …

Abolish Censorship And Adopt Critical Media Literacy: A Proactive Approach To Media And Youth In The Middle East, Abeer Alnajjar

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This paper challenges the dominant patronizing approach to youth and media in the Middle East and argues that the calls for censorship of youth media exposure are obsolete and counterproductive. It argues that although censorship advocates have a legitimate concern over media risks, their approaches are ineffective, short-lived and alienating, disregarding the potential that media hold for young people. The author believes that elites in MENA should shift their focus to empower youth to use media to learn; to voice their worldviews and experiences; and to work for the betterment of themselves and their societies. The paper recommends two strategies:1) …

Professors’ Perspectives On Truth-Seeking And New Literacy, Zachary W. Arth, Darrin J. Griffin, William J. Earnest

Journal of Media Literacy Education

New media and new literacy are essential in our contemporary paradigms of education and communication research. Though truth-seeking is one of the primary objectives inherent in higher education, the process for students may be less clear than it may be for trained academics or professors. The current study sought to explore how professors recommend that students seek truth in the information age. Relying on an assignment from a communication course, this study examined responses from student-led interviews with professors from across the U.S. and categorized trends in their recommendations for students. Overall twelve themes taken from advice on student truth-seeking …

Piloting Journalistic Learning In A Rural Trump-Supportive Community: A Reverse Mentorship Approach, Ed Madison

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Partisan politics challenge educators to determine how best to navigate discussions of controversial subjects within their classrooms. This can be particularly true for new educators in the early stages of developing their confidence and classroom management skills. This qualitative case study uses situated learning and the communities of practice theoretical constructs to investigate a new approach to educator training and co-facilitation. The new approach places recent journalism school college graduates in classrooms alongside teachers to foster real-time professional development through a process best described as reverse mentoring. The model could potentially provide educators with new pedagogical strategies during divisive political …

History Of Youth Media Production In Maine 1960-2010, Gemma A.P. Scott

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Research in media literacy seeks to understand multiple branches of inquiry, including the practice of media production. Youth in Maine have produced media independently and in organized venues for more than 50 years. This paper describes results from surveying primary source materials produced by youth in Maine between 1960 and the 2000s. Research started with media artifacts, looking to primary source materials to understand what, if anything, can be revealed from their content. A deep dive into the provenance of archival collections uncovered stories of a local history of youth media production, and expanded the inquiry to identify who was …

Measuring Media Literacy Inquiry In Higher Education: Innovation In Assessment, Evelien Schilder, Theresa Redmond

Journal of Media Literacy Education

The ability to critically access, analyze, evaluate, and create media messages is crucial in the process of becoming an informed and engaged citizen throughout life. Asking critical questions is not only a valuable dimension of media literacy, but also an indispensable aspect of participating in a democracy. Yet, measuring the effectiveness of media literacy is still a major challenge for the field. It is unclear to what extent people of all ages may engage in critical questioning habits with regards to media. To address this gap, we studied the changes in critical questioning habits for college-aged students enrolled in media …

Adolescents' Digital Literacies In Flux: Intersections Of Voice, Empowerment, And Practices, Sandra Schamroth Abrams, Mary Beth Schaefer, Daniel Ness

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This article features a collaborative autoethnographic examination of three adolescent-researchers’ digital literacies. The participatory design punctuates the role of the adolescent-researchers as they explored their meaning-making practices. Such collaborative research, which included three adolescents and their parents, not only resurfaces parent-inquiry, but also brings the adolescent-researcher voice to the forefront of literacy research. Two research questions guided the investigation: (a) What do adolescent-researchers tell us about their digital and nondigital literacy practices? and (b) In what ways do adolescent-researchers’ retrospective examinations of their own practices reveal their perspectives of these practices and the power (and power struggles) that underlie them? …

Story Sharing In A Digital Space To Counter Othering And Foster Belonging And Curiosity Among College Students, Gina Baleria

Journal of Media Literacy Education

The purpose of this exploratory qualitative study was to discover how a single, relational intervention in a digital space focused on civil, respectful conversation across difference might influence digital media literacy (DML) among college students, with the goal of increasing college students’ sense of belonging and level of curiosity. The researcher used a phenomenological approach, exploring and describing the lived experiences of students who participated in a micro-engagement with an other through interviews (Creswell, 2014). This study investigated the main question: (a) How does a semi-structured, relational micro-intervention focused on civil, respectful conversation across difference influence college students’ sense of …

Media Literacy Education For All Ages, Päivi Rasi, Hanna Vuojärvi, Heli Ruokamo

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This special issue of the Journal of Media Literacy Education explores the role of media literacy across the lifespan. Media literacy education interventions must be designed to meet the needs of individuals of different ages by understanding the life roles and goals that they have across the lifespan. Different pedagogical strategies are required to effectively address the media literacy competencies of young children, teens, adults, parents, and older adults. In old age, media literacy education may support cognitive functioning and social relationships and help people critically assess health-related information and services. Adopting a life course perspective enables the examination of …

Media Discourses That Normalize Colonial Relations: A Critical Discourse Analysis Of (Im)Migrants And Refugees, Meng Zhao, Jorge Rodriguez, Lilia D. Monzó

Education Faculty Articles and Research

The im(migration) and refugee crisis that are being exacerbated under the Trump administration, is a manifestation of empire-building and the long history of colonization of the Global South. A Marxist-humanist perspective recognizes these as consistent aspects of a clearly racist global capitalism that functions in the interest of multibillion dollar U.S.–based corporations and increasingly transnational corporations. Trade agreements, international economic policy, political intervention, invasion or the threat of these, often secure corporate interests in specific countries and regions. The authors use critical discourse analysis to examine the discourses around Mexican, Central American, and Syrian im(migrants) and refugees as examples of …

Review: Crash Course In Media Literacy, Faith Rogow

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Forced by its format to distill a subject area’s central tenets into just a few sessions, a “crash course” should be an excellent place to uncover the essential elements of a topic or field. Viewed through that lens, Complexly’s YouTube offering, “Crash Course in Media Literacy,” provides an illuminating, if sometimes confounding opportunity for reflection.

Critical Awareness Of Media And Teacher Education: An Experience With Colombian Elt Pre-Service Teachers, Camilo Dominguez

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Media texts are exponentially displayed in physical and virtual public spaces and their impact on humanity is unimaginable. Teachers of all fields face the challenge and the responsibility to educate sensitive humans able to critically consume or produce media messages. English language teachers are no exception. In this paper, the author describes a qualitative research study exploring how a group of Colombian pre-service English teachers developed critical awareness of media as they deconstructed advertisements displayed in the public spaces of their rather rural communities. Findings, conclusions, implications for teacher education, and new questions for further research are presented.

Exploring Echo-Systems: How Algorithms Shape Immersive Media Environments, James N. Cohen

Journal of Media Literacy Education

In the lead up to the 2016 election, fake news often “outperformed” actual news in users’ social media feeds (Silverman, 2016). This paper attempts to analyze the process in which fake news proliferates social networking sites and presents a method of understanding and articulating ways in which personalized feeds are shaped by algorithm-based user feedback. The algorithm systems are embedded programs that analyze past user data and search history in combination with other users’ searches and history to calculate digital outcomes, anticipate possible recommendations, and present consumers with feeds that represent their own unique immersive media environments.

As of August …

Both Facts And Feelings: Emotion And News Literacy, Susan Currie Sivek

Journal of Media Literacy Education

News literacy education has long focused on the significance of facts, sourcing, and verifiability. While these are critical aspects of news, rapidly developing emotion analytics technologies intended to respond to and even alter digital news audiences’ emotions also demand that we pay greater attention to the role of emotion in news consumption. This essay explores the role of emotion in the “fake news” phenomenon and the implementation of emotion analytics tools in news distribution. I examine the function of emotion in news consumption and the current status of emotion within existing news literacy training programs. Finally, I offer suggestions for …

Civic Media Literacy In A Transmedia World: Balancing Personal Experience, Factual Accuracy And Emotional Appeal As Media Consumers And Circulators, Ellen Middaugh

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Amid growing concerns over the role of “fake news” in civic and political life, efforts to understand how to best prepare youth to evaluate and reason about online sources have gained a sense of urgency. However, less attention has been paid to how such skills are used in the context of the broader array of information behavior that is typical of civic and political participation today—particularly in the circulation of information. Through thematic analysis of interviews and think aloud tasks with n=24 urban high school students reasoning through the processes of search, credibility analysis and circulating information for the purposes …

Media Literacy And Climate Change In A Post-Truth Society, James S. Damico, Mark Baildon, Alexandra Panos

Journal of Media Literacy Education

In this article we draw from ecolingusitics (Stibbe, 2015) and a civic media literacy framework (Author, in press; Masyada & Washington, 2016) to consider what happened when three pairs of preservice teachers with different academic backgrounds and climate change beliefs jointly evaluated the reliability of two media sources that make opposing arguments about climate change. An ecolinguistics perspective attends to the environmental impact of the “stories-we-live-by” (Stibbe, 2015) and a civic media literacy lens highlights the centrality of dialogue and deliberation along with critical reading when evaluating the reliability of information sources about complex socioscientific topics like climate change. Our …

Media Literacy, Democracy, And The Challenge Of Fake News, Lance E. Mason, Dan Krutka, Jeremy Stoddard

Journal of Media Literacy Education

In this essay, the authors offer a context for discussions about fake news, democracy, and considerations for media literacy education. Drawing on media ecology and critical media studies, they highlight the longer history of fake news and how this concept cannot be separated from the media technologies in which cultures grow. They discuss current iterations of this phenomenon alongside the effects of social media and offer a preview of the special issue.

Book Review: Exploring Critical Digital Literacy Practices: Everyday Video In A Dual Language Context, Lucie Roemer

Journal of Media Literacy Education

No abstract provided.

Mediating Religious Literacy Among Primary School Children In Gujarat: Classroom As A Liminal Space, Kiran Vinod Bhatia

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Articulation of religious guidelines in the political milieu never takes place in a disembodied form; rather politically inscribed religious discourses are embedded within and conveyed through specific institutional channels, including media organizations and education institutions. My experiences of working as a media educator in villages in Gujarat have helped me understand how the learning of such discriminatory practices begin early as students use various linguistic and socio-cultural cues in order to make sense of the society. A classroom, however, provides the required space to entertain differences such that we can delimit the social hierarchies that are naturalized in the minds …

How Brazil’S Unified University Entrance Exam (Enem) Impacts Media Literacy Education, Danilo Venticinque, Andrew Whitworth

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This article discusses the outcomes of research into the media literacy aspects of ENEM (Exame Nacional do Ensino Médio), Brazil's unified university entrance exam, which contains a significant number of exam questions based on excerpts from newspaper articles, online news and other media sources. Through content analysis, these questions are classified according to the platform (digital or print) and source (traditional media, niche media and government agencies). The results show a strong prevalence of traditional media, either in print or digital platforms, and a tendency to present the government in a positive light, avoiding issues such as the …

Foregrounding Morality: Encouraging Parental Media Literacy Intervention Using The Tares Test For Ethical Persuasion, Kevin J. Pearce, Stanley Baran

Journal of Media Literacy Education

In the United States, children are exposed to literally hundreds of thousands of television commercials a year and virtually every aspect of kids’ lives are replete with commercial messages. The negative effects of this exposure are well documented. Yet, there remains very little regulation or limit on advertising to children beyond that which exists for adults. Additionally, only about 1/3 of U.S. parents wish for stronger controls. This presents a challenge for media literacy scholars and practitioners. Research has shown that, when presented with information about the negative effects of commercial messages, parents are more likely to adopt some form …

Teaching Girls Online Skills: Results Of The Wikid Grrls Intervention, Stine Eckert, Jade Metzger-Riftkin, Joanna Nurmis

Journal of Media Literacy Education

In 2013-2016 we designed and implemented Wikid Grrls, a 10-week after-school workshop series to teach online skills to middle school girls in U.S. schools. We interviewed and surveyed 80 participants before and after the workshops. Girls’ online skills and confidence in them increased measurably for the duration of the workshop series. Participants expressed great interest in learning more, but media literacy programs at their schools regarding online skills were lacking. Using feminist theories and the reader-to-leader framework, we argue that such media literacy interventions bring immediate learning rewards for participants. Yet, we conclude that to narrow gender gaps in digital …

Media Literacy Policy In Flanders – Belgium: From Parliamentary Discussions To Public Policy, Leo Van Audenhove, Hadewijch Vanwynsberghe, Ilse Mariën

Journal of Media Literacy Education

The discussion on media literacy in Flanders starts in the Flemish Parliament in 2006. It will take until 2013 before the Flemish Government will set up the Knowledge Center for Media Literacy—Mediawijs. Flanders is therefore rather late in establishing a dedicated institute for media literacy. The same can be said for developing a formal policy framework in relation to media literacy. This article starts with a theoretical discussion of three major trends in the current media literacy debate. The article moves on to describe and analyze Flanders media literacy policy debates and policy formulation. It highlights the development and remit …

Teaching Social Justice: Intergenerational Service-Learning In Digital Media Course, Margaret O. Finucane, Linda M. Seiter, Nathan C. Gehlert

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Digital media play an increasingly dominant role in reinforcing and challenging power inequality in social and institutional relationships. This paper describes how a service-learning component engaged students in community-based interactions that not only deepened their understanding of course content but also increased their commitment to diversity, community issues, and personal development. A close look at three case studies shows that integrating service learning into a first year seminar on digital media and social justice had positive outcomes for students when intentionally paired with community partners offering course-related projects.

Youth And The City: Reflective Photography As A Tool Of Urban Voice, Roman Gerodimos

Journal of Media Literacy Education

YYoung people’s engagement with urban public space has been facing a number of obstacles that reflect a lack of understanding of their needs, values and priorities. The emergence of digital devices and social media as integral elements of youth culture adds further urgency to the need to understand how young people themselves visually articulate their perceptions of life in the city. Bringing together elements from urban studies, youth studies and digital media literacy, this paper puts forward a pedagogic and research approach that aims to facilitate youth engagement with urban landscapes and the community. Participatory photography was used a tool …

The Promises, Challenges, And Futures Of Media Literacy, Monica Bulger, Patrick Davison

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Media literacy has become a center of gravity for countering fake news, and a diverse array of stakeholders – from educators to legislators, philanthropists to technologists – have pushed significant resources toward media literacy programs. Media literacy, however, cannot be treated as a panacea. This paper provides a foundation for evaluating media literacy efforts and contextualizing them relative to the current media landscape. Media literacy is traditionally conceived as a process or set of skills based on critical thinking. It has a long history of development aligned along the dialectic between protection and participation. Contemporary media literacy tends to organize …

0842: Dr. And Mrs. Daniel Sharkey Greeting Card Collection, 1930-1990, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

The collection consists of over 2,000 pieces of original artwork used by greeting card and calendar companies, and spans the approximate years 1930-1990. Many of the pieces within the collection are labeled with a Norcross stamp or specifications sticker. The Norcross Greeting Card Company was founded in 1914 by Arthur Norcross and his sister, Jane, in New York City. They published greeting cards, and also sold wrapping papers and parchments. After Arthur Norcross' death in 1969, the business floundered and was sold for the first time in 1974. Subsequent sales saw Norcross combined with Rust Craft Company, but this venture …

Resources Review: Adaptive (Podcast), Montreal*In/Accessible (Mobile App), Accessible Arcade Tables (Diy Project), Giuliana Cucinelli

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Thisresourcesreview spotlights a variety of DIY (do-it yourself) innovative media projects. Examples of these projects include: a podcast series on adaptive technologies, building mobile applications that allow participants to publish images, text and sound recordings, an interactive map that documents disability discrimination in the certain cities and the DIY creation of accessible arcade tables.

The social production of disability is seen in barriers created by society to restrict access to certain places or even certain cultural forms. The internet offers a space to share media productions and social media initiatives that use digital media to intervene, creatively, in theableistassumptions embedded …

Access Denied: Ending The Exclusion Of Disabled Students From Media Production Courses In Higher Education, Jayne Cubbage

Journal of Media Literacy Education

As the acceptance of media literacy increases among educators, media producers and consumers, one group is often missing from the dialogue—persons with disabilities. This absence is witnessed in the marginalized media depictions of the disabled. To gain entry into the media professions, some form of higher education is required. Using muted group theory as a backdrop, this work, a narrative analysis of the author’s experience with students with disabilities in media production courses, explores the de facto exclusion of persons with disabilities in such classes, due to the poorly outfitted and non-compliant nature of audio and video production facilities.

The Book Trailer Project: Media Production Within An Integrated Classroom, Karen Festa

Journal of Media Literacy Education

A special education co-teacher in an integrated elementary classroom describes key aspects of media literacy pedagogy for all students, including opportunities for critical analysis and creative media production. After elementary school students learned about author’s craft, purpose, theme/message, three types of writing, and target audience, they began looking at these elements using Super Bowl ads and participated in rich discussions which demonstrated their analysis and reflection on advertising. Students created a book trailer project, working in small groups to create videos to promote a book written by a local author and illustrator. Such work bridges gaps in social-emotional development, communication …