Should we place hope in technology for solving some of the problems technology helped create? Maybe. One approach worth looking at is BlockChain (distributed ledger technology) which might help to solve the riddle of where information originates, and how it morphs and proliferates. CML interviewed Ian O’Byrne, internationally recognized educator and researcher, on the topic of BlockChain technology and its connections to media literacy.
Part 2 of our look at the similarities and overlap of Media AND Information Literacy. This issue includes three interviews with librarians representing public libraries, maker spaces, and higher education who offer first-hand accounts of how libraries and librarians are reinventing themselves to meet the varied needs of today’s learners. Read the interviews with Susan Broman, LA Public Library; Mya Stark, LA Maker Space, and Spencer Brayton, Blackburn College, IL.
Part 1 was published in the May 2017 issue of Connections.
This issue highlights the close relationship of the fields of media literacy and information literacy. Although media literacy and information literacy are two separate fields of practice and research, the intersections and the overlaps between the fields continue to strengthen and grow as both fields evolve. UNESCO has long encouraged both fields to align and work together through support of its Media and Information Literacy (MIL) program, and has sponsored meetings and declarations, conferences and events that focus on the combined fields.
The boundaries of classrooms are beginning to soften; students’ prior knowledge is more likely to be acknowledged and honored; the need to prepare students for lifelong learning – and to meet them where they are – all are indicative of a movement towards the type of pedagogy that media literacy fosters and delivers. This issue includes interviews with education entrepreneurs from: School on Wheels, Los Angeles; Ace Preparatory Academy, Indiannapolis; Da Vinci Charter Schools, Southern California.
This issue pays tribute to the leadership and vision of Elizabeth Thoman, CML Founder and media literacy pioneer. Media literacy collegues expressed their gratitude for Thoman’s courage and commitment to the field of media literacy, and expressed optimism in building upon her vision and legacy. Included is an introduction by Ann McMullen on leadership, and reflections by Dr. Henry Jenkins, University of Southern California (USC), and Dr. Bobbie Eisenstock, California State University, Northridge (CSUN). MediaLit Moments activity is based upon Elizabeth Thoman's "feminist currency."
This issue continues our discussion of the power shift in the media ecosystem, and what it means to be a citizen in a digital age. CML interviewed two digital literacy advocates – Kimberly Brodie, Founder/CEO of The Digital Peace Project, and Alan Simpson from iKeepSafe.
CML is sad to inform our readers of the death of Elizabeth Thoman. Thoman was a pioneer and visionary who founded the Center for Media Literacy in 1989.
This issue focuses on the 2016 presidential election, where technology is going and the challenges that we face in teaching about it. CML interviewed two media literacy advocates – Stephen Balkam from Family Online Safety Institute and Tara O’Gorman, a teacher from a media literacy magnet school in New York. Also includes resources and MediaLit Moments Activity on Fake News. This is Part 1 of a series on Citizenship in the Digital Age.
How is education tied to the creative economy? One of the answers is obvious--the 4 C’s of creativity, collaboration, communication and critical thinking. These are skills encouraged through media literacy and deployed by workers in the creative economy, from publishing and printing to furniture and decorative arts. This issue discusses Richard Florida’s pathbreaking book The Rise of the Creative Classes, and show how workers in the creative industries have shaped the nature of work for many in the U.S.
Navigating the media and information landscape of crowdfunded projects requires skills possessed by media literate consumers and producers. This issue examines the roles and motivations for crowdfunding as well as the social and political uses.
This issue continues our theme of Children and Media Literacy. This month we publish an article Media Literacy Education: A Preschool Imperative for Building Resiliency by a panel of four experts who engaged in an online and offline commentary, which they edited collaboratively.