New media literacies
From writing fan fiction to following Tumblr blogs to creating their own vlogs, the impact of digital media technologies on literacy development is an important area of research. Scholars have continually promoted the critical new media literacies needed for successful participation in 21st century. This section outlines two key frameworks in understanding emerging literacies that are forming as youth increasingly read, write, produce, and collaborate online.
Henry Jenkins’ new media literacies
Henry Jenkins, a prominent media scholar, spearheaded a 2006 white paper, Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century, to build the foundation for a new media literacy movement. Within this seminal work, Jenkins and his coauthors outline a set of cultural competencies and social skills that young people need acquire if they are going to participate meaningfully in a future digital society. Jenkins calls this future a “participatory culture” that emphasizes collaboration and networking. Among the key social skills and cultural competencies needed to fully participate are:
Play — the capacity to experiment with one’s surroundings as a form of problem-solving
Performance — the ability to adopt alternative identities for the purpose of improvisation
and discovery
Simulation — the ability to interpret and construct dynamic models of real-world
processes
Appropriation — the ability to meaningfully sample and remix media content
Multitasking — the ability to scan one’s environment and shift focus as needed to salient
details.
Distributed Cognition — the ability to interact meaningfully with tools that expand
mental capacities
Collective Intelligence — the ability to pool knowledge and compare notes with
others toward a common goal
Judgment — the ability to evaluate the reliability and credibility of different information
sources
Transmedia Navigation — the ability to follow the flow of stories and information
across multiple modalities
Networking — the ability to search for, synthesize, and disseminate information
Negotiation — the ability to travel across diverse communities, discerning and respecting
multiple perspectives, and grasping and following alternative norms.
(Jenkins et al., 2006)
Fan fiction: literacy and online communities
Building on Jenkins’ research, Rebecca Black, a researcher who studies literacy and popular culture, examined the literacy practices that English language learning and immigrant youth engaged in through their fan fiction related activities. Her research of a popular online fanfiction community demonstrates how community members can help youth improve their English literacy. During the process of writing and critiquing other fan’s stories, youth engage with a diverse group of writers who share feedback as well as a deep interest and knowledge of a topic. The immediate response and interaction from the community provides young writers with motivation to practice revising their texts and take on the identity of a fledgling writer. Black’s research in her book, Adolescents and online fan fiction, reveals the supportive, social, and interactive writing experiences that can be afforded through certain online communities. She calls for educators to understand how aspects of online fan communities may contribute to young adults’ eagerness to read, write, and learn.
Mozilla’s web literacies
The affordances of a digital society may provide young people with unprecedented personal, civic, and economic opportunities. However, as researchers like Jenkins caution, young people will need to develop the necessary skills to meaningfully participate. To that end, the Mozilla Foundation, which focuses on resources to make the Internet “a global, public resource”, has initiated a Web Literacy Map, to aid educators in teaching young people to “read, write, and participate” on the web (Mozilla, 2017).
Explore Mozilla's web literacy map. What are the relevant 21st century skills that align with these competencies? How might the related activities be incorporated in a youth librarian context? https://learning.mozilla.org/en-US/web-literacy
The Web Literacy Map provides an interactive framework that outlines and defines the key web literacy competencies and 21st-century skills needed to realize the web’s potential. In addition, the map offers hands-on activities for teaching and learning these skills. For example, a web literacy skill like “Design” is linked to the 21st century skill “Creativity”. Youth librarians can discover related curriculum and design-based activities such as using CSS and web fonts to design and revise webpages. As you explore the Map, think about how you may use elements curriculum to develop your own web literacy skills and apply these activities and projects to your own youth programming.
YALSA’s report: the future of library services for and with teens: A call to action
What is role of libraries in supporting both new and traditional literacies? In Linda Braun et al.’s (2014) report, The future of library services for and with teens: A call to action, the authors outline the need to re-envision teen services to meet community needs. The authors recommend several approaches to create a welcome and engaging library environment for teens including the need to reach their diverse interests. Programming and services should support multiple literacies, be based on input from teens, and have a Connected Learning focus. Opportunities to explore careers interests, connections between teens with adult mentors, and the use of new tools and technologies to design and build are just a few ways that libraries are putting the report’s ideas and recommendations into action (YALSA, 2017).
YOUmedia learning model
The YALSA report also touches on the YOUmedia learning model, a dynamic library learning and teaching environment that supports teens’ interests and incorporates the learning spheres and properties of Connected Learning. Launched in 2009 at the Chicago Public Library, the YOUmedia model gives young people access to workshops ranging from video production, gaming, design, music, poetry, writing, anime, or spoken word (Larson et al., 2013 ). Teens have direct contact with mentors who support their interests and are informed by professional experiences with digital media and the arts.
[embed video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRG2Bf-me6k]
The model now serves as an example of applying Connected Learning principles, exploratory learning, and programming driven by teens’ own interests. As such, many librarians are incorporating learning spaces, like “learning labs” and “makerspaces”, that invite young people to engage in digital and traditional literacy skills development, interact with mentors and peers, and pursue creative projects.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Being a Responsible Citizen of the Digital World. A collaboration of the GoodPlay Project and Project New Media Literacies
Henry Jenkins; Project New Media Literacies
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