Greening the Media Literacy���Ecosystem: Towards A 21st

Century Pedagogy������

Red Educación Mediática y Competencia Digital

Barcelona Nov. 2013

Antonio López, PhD

Activity reinforces: ! Media and physical environment are two

different things

! Environment is a negative space to talk about the problems of media

! Just as there are plant ecologies, there are

symbolic ecologies

! Media are only corporate media

! Media are an “other”

What is left out: ! Media and material environment are

interconnected

! Media are like a city: embedded (pervasive) in our physical environment with different practices and activities (not only corporate) that we inhabit

! Media intersect different ecologies

(cognitive, socio-cultural, environmental, medium-specific, aesthetic, symbolic, etc.)

Key factors: ! 19th century Mechanism separates the

media from environment, reinforcing separation, disconnection and isolation

! Disciplinary silos creates barriers for change

! Media education should be holistic to

incorporate connections, relationships and systems

Outline:

!  Define problem

!  Ecological mindprint and footprint

!  Media literacy and Sustainability

!  Media literacy ecosystem

!  Barriers and opportunities

!  Ecomedia literacy

Defining Problem

“This is more than an environmental crisis: it's an existential threat, and it should be treated like one, without fear of sounding alarmist, rather than covered as just another special interest, something only environmentalists care about.” A Convenient Excuse, Wen Stephenson http://thephoenix.com/boston/news/146647-convenient-excuse/#ixzz2C7hgtXbx

Remember: We have one planet but we are consuming 1.4 earths

1960

1970

2000

Media’s Ecological!

Footprint!

Media gadgets in the US (2013):""

!  78% of teens have a cell phone"

!  "37% of all teens have smartphones """(up from just 23% in 2011)"

!  "23% of teens have a tablet computer"

!  "95% of teens use the internet"

!  "93% of teens have a computer or "access. "

"Pew Research Center (2013)"

Mining for rare earth minerals contributes to civil war and loss of biodiversity

Coltan, Cassiterite, Wolframite, Gold

Internet C02 emissions equal to aviation industry, will double in ten years""Cloud computing mainly powered by coal""Cubitt, Hassan, & Volkmer (2011) "

E-waste

Planned obsolescence

Media’s Ecological “Mindprint”

Media are Environmental Education

Space, time and place

In 2001 63% of people got their information about the environment from television. Coyle (2005)

In 2005 $971 in ad dollars were spent per capita in the United States Brulle, Robert J. and Young, Lindsay E. (2007)

Ads promote pseudo-satisfier, dissatisfaction-manufacturing and convenience-constructing discourses. Stibbe (2009)

Regenerative mindprint: Empathy Connection Coordination Storytelling Education

Media Literacy and Sustainability

Media Literacy: Defined variously as learning to access, evaluate and produce media in a variety of formats.

Media literacy does not address sustainability

“Our Climate Crisis Is an Education Crisis”

http://www.rethinkingschools.org/ProdDetails.asp?ID=RTSVOL25N3

My Theoretical Framework

���������

Oikos: Household���Root of economics/ecology

“Household management”

Mechanism

Humans are culture/organism/environment combined

Green cultural citizenship:

Embodying sustainable behaviors and cultural practices that shape and promote ecological values within the interconnected realms of society, economy and environment.

!19th!century!

!21st!century!

Mechanism* Ecology/systems*Progress/growth* Ecological*limits/climate*disruption*Mass*media* Media*ecosystem*Democracy* Earth*Democracy*Knowledge*construction* Ecological*intelligence*Left*brain*hemisphere*dominant*(visual)* Right*brain*emergent*(acoustic)*Autonomy* Interdependence*Transmission/receive* Participate/share*Disembedded*from*living*systems* Embedded*within*living*systems*

Metaphors"

“The essence of metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another.” Lakoff and Johnson (1980, p. 8)

Three primary metaphors that guide media literacy research: Environment (medium literacy) Conveyor belt/conduit (text/content literacy) Grammar (language literacy, i.e. film edits, camera angles, sound cues, etc.)

Meyrowitz (1998)

Media ecosystems

“Blogging and the media ecosystem” Naughton (2006)

http://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/fileadmin/documents/discussion/blogging.pdf

“Facebook ecosystem” “iPhone ecosystem”

vs.

“The Media Ecosystem is the ecologically embedded sum of all our technologically mediated interactions on planet Earth.”

The Media Ecosystem, Antonio Lopez

Information Ecology

“A system of people, practices, values, and technologies in a particular local

environment.”

Nardi and O’Day (2000, p. 49)

The Media Literacy"Ecosystem"

Positions"

Educationalist vs.

Interventionist

Figured world (worldview): “A simplified world that captures what is taken to be normal.” Gee (2011, p. 170)

Realms of Practice:"

“realm,” “field,” “place,” “sector,” “domain,” “area,” “space,” “sphere,” “world,” “threshold,” “entryway,” “gateway,” “curtain,”

“door”"

Media Literacy’s "Figured World:"

! Media"

!  Implicated Actors"

!  Lifeworld"

!  Public Sphere"

!  Literacy Practice"

! Media & Environment"

"

Media:"Content: Message (77), Content-Text (19), Topic (11), Effects (9), Influence (8), Product  (7), Story (7), Culture (6), Representations (6) Symbolic-sign-system (6), Meaning (9) Grammar: Aesthetics, artistic visuals, camera angles, color, editing

Media types (environments): Information (29), Source (15), Medium (14), Technology (14), Images (13), Ads (12), Digital (11), Video games (10), News (9), Print (9), Communication technology-ICT (8) Systems/organizations: Independent (8), Systems (8), Structure (5), Mass Media (4), Power (4), Global media world (2), History (2), Ideology (2), Industries (2), Monopoly (2), Ownership (2), Agents of socialization (1), Big business (1), Cultural force (1), Institutions (1), Knowledge economy (1)

Conclusion: Primarily visual and traditional media.

Students (25)

Youth (20) Community (19)

Citizens (18) People (15)

Children (13) Adults (12)

Consumers (12) Educator (12) Audience (9) Individual (9)

Media makers (8) Teacher (7)

Families-Parents (5)

Conclusion: Youth and schools are primary actors

Implicated Actors:"

Lifeworld:"

School-Classroom (18) Belief (13) Values (12) Attitude (6) Behavior (6) Culture (6) Work (5) World (5)

Experience (4) Home (4)

Knowledge (4) Reality (3)

Conclusion: Lifeworld is primarily centered in school

Public Sphere:"Citizenship (31)

Politics (11) Democracy (10)

Rights (4) Social (4)

Society (4) Activism (3)

Economics (2) Justice (2) Power (2) Reform (2)

Regulations (2) Social justice (2)

Conclusion: Core groups care about critical engagement, Periphery groups care about social

justice and advocacy

Literacy Practice:"Critical thinking (53)

Skills (40) Analyze (29)

Communicate (19) Evaluate (19)

Empowerment (14) Access (13)

Produce (11) Expression (10) About media (9)

Create (8) Creativity (8)

Engagement (8) Understand (8) With Media (8)

Active (7)

Conclusion: Primarily reflective practices

Discussion:

Media Literacy & Environment

!

NIMBY: ���Not in my back yard

! Disciplinary silos isolate

!  Lack of knowledge and complexity of environmental issues

!  Fear of teaching unknown topics or “wisely” not choosing to cover unfamiliar material

!  Too many external pressures (time, formal, standards, testing, funding)

!  Formal media literacy is mostly practiced in English education, which is not the normal place where environmental issues are handled (such as in science)

!  Sustainability is primarily part of the science domain

!  Sustainability education is “persuasion,” which does not pass the media literacy “smell test”

! Media literacy is “sealed off from the rest of life”

! Normative ethics can be a barrier to standards integration

!  “Wigitization” of education policy

!  “Anti-progress” is anti-business

!"

"

Ecomedia Literacy"" "

Ecomedia Literacy: Understanding how everyday media practice impacts our ability to live sustainably within earth’s ecological parameters for the present and future.

1. To develop an awareness of how media are physiologically interconnected with living systems.

Ecomedia Literacy goals:

2. To recognize media’s phenomenological influence on the perception of time, space, place and cognition.

Ecomedia Literacy goals:

3. To understand media’s interdependence with the global economy, and how the current model of globalization impacts livings systems and social justice.

Ecomedia Literacy goals:

4. To analyze how media form symbolic associations and discourses that promote environmental ideologies.

Ecomedia Literacy goals:

5. To be conscious of how media impacts our ability to engage in sustainable cultural practices and to encourage new uses of media that promote sustainability

Ecomedia Literacy goals:

Ecomedia literacy’s four lenses:

Environment (earth system) The material conditions of media, including extraction, production, e-waste, energy and emissions

Culture (hermeneutics, cultural studies) Text and discourse analysis of media texts; mapping cultural behaviors and attitudes

Political Economy (world system, critical theory) Ideological structure of the global economics system, paying attention to the reasons why designers design what they do

Worldview (phenomenology) Media’s impact on our perception of time, space and place

!"

Ecomedia Literacy Skills:"!  Research gadget production (information

literacy)"

!  Deconstruct gadget marketing (media content analysis)"

! Mindfully engage a media by demonstrating attentiveness to what experiences media environments afford (media mindfulness)"

!  Holistically inventory media (systems literacy)"""" "

Enduring question:

What constitutes a healthy media ecosystem?

Problem: Separation, division, isolation���

���Solution: connections, relationships, systems

!"

"

References"" "

Brulle, Robert J. and Young, Lindsay E. (2007). Advertising and individual consumption levels 1900 - 2000. Sociological Inquiry, 77(4), 522–542. Clarke, A., & Friese, C. (2010). Grounded theorizing using situational analysis. In A. Bryant, & K. Charmaz (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of grounded theory (Pbk. ed., pp. 363-97). Los Angeles i.e. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Publications. Corbett, J. B. (2006). Communicating nature: How we create and understand environmental messages. Washington, DC: Island Press. Coyle, K. (2005). Environmental literacy in america. (). Washington, DC: National Environmental Education & Training Foundation. Cubitt, S., Hassan, R., & Volkmer, I. (2011). Does cloud computing have a silver lining? Media, Culture & Society, 33(1), 149-158. doi:10.1177/0163443710382974 Dryzek, J. S.,. (2005). The politics of the earth: Environmental discourses. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press.

Gee, J. P. (2011). An introduction to discourse analysis: Theory and method. Milton Park, Abingdon; New York: Routledge. Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we live by Chicago : University of Chicago Press. Madden, M., Lenhart, A., Duggan, M., Cortesi, S. & Gasser, U. (2013). Teens and technology 2013. Retrieved March 14, 2013, from http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Teens-and-Tech.aspx Meyrowitz, J. (1998). Multiple media literacies. Journal of Communication, (Winter), 96-108. Nardi, B. A., & O'Day, V. (2000). Information ecologies: Using technology with heart. Cambridge, Mass. ; London: MIT. Naughton, J. J. (2006). Blogging and the emerging media ecosystem. Retrieved April 24, 2013, from http://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/fileadmin/ documents/discussion/blogging.pdf Stibbe, A. (2009). The handbook of sustainability literacy: Skills for a changing world. Totnes, UK: Green Books.

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