JMLE invites submissions for a special theme issue exploring the relationship between media literacy and digital media and learning.

 

New norms of online participation are emerging as part of child and adolescent socialization. However, some scholars with interests in digital media and learning position their work at a distance from the practice of media literacy education, privileging the study of user behavior, social connectivity and participation and dismissing practices associated with message interpretation, critical analysis and inquiry, and communication skill development. In this issue, we are interested in exploring both the areas of disjuncture and areas of overlap, aiming to conceptualize new ideas that may fuel the development of both fields. Your work may be framed around scholarship and practice in education, media studies, cultural studies, or other fields. Some issues we hope the manuscripts may consider:

• How do media literacy’s structured, formal and critical practices of reading texts/contexts/cultures map onto new forms of participation and engagement in social media environments?
• How does learning about young peoples’ out-of-school literacy practices with digital media support the development of in-school programs?
• Why are aspects of mass media and popular culture generally absent from discussion about digital media and learning?
• How are new online tools (including those for remix, screen capture, commenting, and collaborative writing) shifting the role of media production practices both in and out of the classroom?
• Is the focus on digital “tool competence” contributing to another kind of “technicist trap?”
• How does scholarship in digital media and learning address issues of representation and cultural difference?
• Is digital citizenship a new set of life skills or a form of moral education that frames media and technology use in terms of middle-class values and cultural norms?
• How do messages about media literacy and about the value of digital media and learning resonate with journalists, policymakers, school leaders, teacher, parents and children and young people themselves?

Call for Papers: Special Issue

For the special issue, the Journal will consider articles, essays, and book reviews related to the theme. We encourage submissions from scholars, professionals, and educators at any level and in any discipline. Contributors are encouraged to query the editors in a short email describing their papers to determine suitability for publication. Contributors are invited to make submissions at any time on the JMLE website at www.jmle.org. Final date for all volume 2 issue 2 submissions is June 1, 2010. Guidelines for
submission are available at: http://jmle.org. The JMLE is sponsored by the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE).

About the Journal

The Journal of Media Literacy Education is a peer-reviewed online interdisciplinary journal that supports the development of research, scholarship and the pedagogy of media literacy education. The journal provides a forum for established and emerging scholars, media professionals and educational practitioners in and out of schools. As an extended conceptualization of literacy, media literacy education helps individuals of all ages develop habits of inquiry and skills of expression needed to become critical thinkers, effective communicators and active citizens in a world where mass media, popular culture and digital technologies play an important role for individuals and society. Renee Hobbs of Temple University and Amy P. Jensen of Brigham Young University serve as co-editors of the Journal.