Help Celebrate ACME’s 5th Birthday!

From the Action Coalition for Media Education:

“Greetings media literacy education friends and colleagues, and happy FIFTH BIRTHDAY from all of us here at ACME!

In honor of ACME’s fifth birthday party, we invite you to consider joining or renewing your membership to the Action Coalition for Media Education. If you are already a member, you already know about ACME’s TEN BENEFITS of membership.

But, if you are new to us, you may not know that five years ago this fall, more than three hundred scholars, media educators, journalists, public health advocates, and interested citizens gathered in Albuquerque, New Mexico to create something unique. The world’s first independently-funded and volunteer-run media literacy education coalition: ACME.

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Media Literacy Series at CCTV

From the Cambridge Community Television November 29, 2006 E-Newsletter:

CCTV and SCAT Team Up to Produce Media Literacy Series

“CCTV and our colleagues at SCAT (Somerville Access) have teamed up to produce a new media literacy TV series called ‘Critical Focus.’ Details about the series can be found at the show’s weblog here.

The program will be shot live each month, before a studio audience at either CCTV or SCAT, and cablecast to both cities simultaneously through a newly activated interconnect. And we have limited seating in the studio for those who wish to participate, through their comments and questions, in the conversations among the featured panelists. The first episode is about Media and War, and will be shot live in the SCAT Studio at 90 Union Square in Somerville on Thursday, December 14th, from 8-9 p.m. CCTV has a total of 10 tickets to give out to CCTV members or friends who wish to be part of the studio audience. So if this is a topic in which you have specific interest or questions, please contact John Donovan directly at (617) 661-6900 x123 or john@cctvcambridge.org.

Tickets for the other episodes will be announced about a month in advance of each episode. The first episode shot in CCTV’s studio will be on Thursday, January 11th, from 8-9 p.m.; and the topic will be ‘Growing Up with Media: How youth and media influence each other.’ Subsequent episode themes include: ‘Race and Religion in the Media’, ‘Gender and Sexuality’, ‘How Media Ownership Affects Content’, and ‘Changing the Media.’ If you know of people who should be invited to participate in any of these episodes, please add your comments to the show weblog or contact John Donovan directly.”

Ideas for How to Use Blogging

Here’s some ideas from our workshop on how the participants can use blogging in their work:

• Use it in the classroom to make argument instead of a regular essay; and other students can comment on each other
• new medium for posting timely articles for the student newspaper
• getting feedback on essay for feedback before handing it in
• questioning local new media article validity
• more youth voice in the media
• Live Journal community to post announcements and community events (it’s informal now)
• call out to females at my school to find out why they’re always fighting

Folks seemed to have a lot of questions about how blogs get traffic. We talked about blogrolls/liniking, tagging, and searching. Check out Technorati.com to find out more about tagging and try Google’s Blog Search at http://blogsearch.google.com/.

Call for Articles on Media Literacy

Academic Exchange Quarterly (peer-reviewed print journal)
Call for Articles—Fall 2007
Feature issue: Media Literacy
http://rapidintellect.com/AEQweb/5media.htm

Focus:
The increasing technological and commercially-mediated environments of young people invite teachers and scholars worldwide to study what it means to be literate in a millennial age. Given the convergence of scholarship in the domains of media literacy/education, cultural studies, media studies, educational media/technology and critical pedagogy, this issue of AEQ seeks to make theoretical and practical connections among commercial media, educational technology and new forms of literacy among young people.

Media literacy is the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, produce and communicate a variety of media texts and forms. On a global scale, there exists many different perspectives on how to media educate youth, but not all agree on what extent youth audiences are active participants in the process. This issue of AEQ seeks both theoretical and practical insight into the learning process as it shapes (and in turn is shaped by) the communication technologies that permeate the lives of young people both inside and outside the classroom. We are interested in how media literacy is enacted pedagogically as well as technologically within various educational settings. How can teachers use media literacy to empower students? How can enacting media literacy shape the future of education and schooling? How can educators and leaders prepare students to engage in more democratic and ethical uses and designs of media and their associated technologies?

Who Should Submit:
We encourage submissions from teacher-scholars at all levels and across disciplines who have enacted media literacy principles into their classrooms or have studied the media literate uses of specific educational media and/or technologies. Please identify your submission with keyword: MEDIA

Submission deadline:
any time until the end of May 2007; see details for other deadline options like early, regular, and short.

Submission Procedure:
http://rapidintellect.com/AEQweb/rufen1.htm    or    http://www.higher-ed.org/AEQ/rufen1.htm

Consuming Kids: Marketing in Schools and Beyond

From CCFC:

CCFC’s 5^th Annual Summit

Consuming Kids:

Marketing in Schools and Beyond

Wheelock College, Boston

October 26-28, 2006

 

Registration

$175 General Admission

$75 students (w/ valid ID)

Registration includes Thursday night reception and Friday/Saturday continental breakfast and lunch

Complete Schedule and List of Presentations and Workshops

3 ways to register

1. Click here to register online

2. To register by phone: Please call Lauren Wholley at (617)278-4280

3. Click here to register by mail/fax.

Click here for information on summit accommodations.

CCFC’s 2006 Consuming Kids summit promises to be our best ever. Since 2001 we have been bringing together distinguished scholars, activists, parents, and educators to talk about how marketing undermines children’s health and well-being and what we can do about it. This year’s summit features a special focus on marketing in schools.

 

The summit kicks off at the Judge Baker Children’s Center on Thursday, October 26 at 7:00 PM with an opening reception and a special presentation of the 2^nd annual Fred Rogers Integrity Award to Raffi Cavoukian, the beloved children’s troubadour. The award, named in honor of the host of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, is given by CCFC to the public figure whose efforts to protect children from harmful marketing best embody Mr. Rogers’ long-standing commitment to nurturing the health and well-being of America’s children.

 

In over three decades of entertaining children, Raffi has steadfastly refused all commercial endorsement offers, and his company has never directly advertised or marketed to children. He is a passionate advocate for a child’s right to live free of commercial exploitation.

 

Friday and Saturday will feature presentations and workshops on topics ranging from Commercialism’s Impact on Learning to Marketing Sex, Violence, and Values and we also examine effective advocacy strategies for reclaiming childhood from corporate marketers.

 

Summit Schedule

• Thursday, October 26, 7:00: Opening Reception with Raffi
• Friday, October 27, 8:30 -5:00 PM: Panels and Workshops
• Saturday, October 28, 8:30 -5:00 PM: Panels and Workshops

Click here for the complete schedule a list of panels and workshops

Click here for Presentations from the 2005 CCFC Summit

Videoblogging Workshop with Boston Neighborhood Producer’s Group Part 2

At yesterday’s videoblogging workshop at UMass Boston
Photo by Hiram Scott, BNPG

Yesterday afternoon, Danielle Martin, Hiram Scott of the Boston Neighborhood Producer’s Group, and I held a second videoblogging workshop for members of BNPG at UMass Boston. Hiram blogged the workshop today:

“Because many of our members are active television producers this new tool will prove to be invaluable as they share news and information, as well as their creative works with a much broader and diverse audience.”

We spent the second workshop helping members set-up their own Blogger blogs. By the end, everyone had set-up their own blogs and entered the world of blogging. All of the new BNPG member blogs can be found find listed in the left column of the BNPG blog.

We focused mainly on blogging yesterday as a first step towards assisting BNPG members with learning how to post video on their blogs. This allowed us to start slow. We wanted to make sure that all members had enough time to ask questions and understand many of the concepts introduced during the workshop.

We arranged the workshop so that Danielle, Hiram and I would discuss and show a few things for 10 or 15 minutes using the overhead and then BNPG members had lots of time to apply these concepts at their computer workstations.

Although we don’t have a date set for the next workshop yet, our goal with these workshops is to assist BNPG members with learning how to video blog and share clips from their public access TV shows using the web. For the next workshop we will most likely move to blip.tv to show as an easy tool for uploading and hosting video.

Yesterday was very lively and a lot of fun. We thank BNPG for allowing ACMEBoston to have the opportunity to work with them. It’s been exciting to be apart of a process that has allowed a new group of public access TV producers to gain the tools, skills and knowledge to begin sharing their stories using the world wide web.

Colin Rhinesmith
President, ACMEBoston

Videoblogging Workshop at BNN Part 1

Watch the video

This evening, members from ACMEBoston, Community Change Inc., and the Boston Neighborhood Producers’ Group Inc., held a videoblogging workshop for public access producers at the Boston Neighborhood Network’s Multimedia Center in Roxbury, MA.

It was the first part in a two part workshop series to teach access producers how to distribute their video on the web, through videoblogging. At this evening’s first workshop, we talked about blogging and basic concepts around how to start a blog and a video blog.

Here’s a short clip of Danielle Martin, CTC Vista Project Coordinator at UMass Boston, from the workshop.

This video was shot on a Canon PowerShot A95 digital camera. Visit our video blog over at blip.tv.

ACMEBoston
create * educate * mobilize
http://www.acmeboston.wordpress.com

This video was originally shared on blip.tv by acmeboston with a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.

Still Time to Register for the ACME Summit 2006!

Facing the Media Crisis:
Media Education for Reform, Justice and Democracy
October 6-8, 2006
Burlington, Vermont

Detailed Summit Schedule/Download Promotional Materials/ Exhibitor’s Table Information/Register/Summit Registration Package/Invited Speakers/Co-Sponsors

ACMEBoston is co-sponsoring this year’s Action Coalition for Media Education Fall Summit. There is still time to register!

Here’s a list of some of the great plenary sessions that will be taking place at the summit:

PLENARY SESSION #1

Crashing The Gate: The Re-Localization Of Media: How are blogs going to impact local voices again being heard in local communities? How do online and handheld media sources radically re-connect individuals? “Crashing The Gate” author and national blogging presence Jerome Armstrong explores the communication transformations that are ongoing, how they are going to impact our media consumption, and what it means for our society.

See Jane: How Children’s Movies And TV Hide Gender Distortion In Plain Sight: In the most popular G-rated films and children’s television, male characters outnumber female characters by a lopsided margin, and narrow and bizarre gender stereotypes are widespread. The findings come from the most comprehensive content analysis ever conducted on G-rated films and children’s television, commissioned by the See Jane program of Dads & Daughters and conducted by UCS’s Annenberg School for Communication. Dads & Daughters President Joe Kelly describes the study results, how very young children watch these images repeatedly, and how advocates in and outside the industry can turn the tide.

Media Effects: What We Know, What We Need To Know, And What We Can Do About It: Douglas Gentile, developmental psychologist and director of the Media Research Lab at Iowa State University, teams with Michael Rich, pediatrician and Director of the Center on Media and Child Health at Harvard, to present the current state of knowledge on the effects of media, positive and negative, on the physical and mental health of children. Dr. Gentile will explain the science of media effects research, explore his and other scientists’ findings particularly in the area of media violence and aggression, then Dr. Rich will examine the body of research to date, investigating outcomes including anxiety and depression, substance use, attention problems, body image, and obesity, among others, and will share examples of health-positive uses of media. Together, they will explore the strength of the research, what more is needed, responses of the health community, and what can be done given our current state of knowledge.

U.S. Media: The Burgeoning Movement And Prospects For Reform: Reforming the US media requires the collaborative efforts of independent media makers, media critique and literacy activists, and policy advocates. Former NMMLP executive director and current ACME Vice President Bob McCannon and Free Press Executive Director Josh Silver will discuss the confluence of these strategies, the state of national media reform efforts, opportunities and threats presented by current policy debates and prospects for reform.

PLENARY SESSION #2Does Hollywood Need A Mother?: Join nationally syndicated film critic Sara Voorhees and Susannah Stern, Assistant Professor in the Communication Studies Department at the University of San Diego, for a frank exploration of Hollywood’s culture of assault – sex, drugs, violence, vulgarity and other anti-social behaviors. Does Hollywood produce “art,” or are movies and television more often appealing to our basest instincts solely because the first amendment says they can? How might we introduce personal responsibility in their quest for the box office gold?

Confronting A Pornographic Culture: Fighting Mass-Mediated Racism And Sexism: Of the mass-media genres in the United States today, nowhere is the racism and sexism of the culture on display as bluntly as in contemporary mass-marketed pornography. Is it possible to shape a progressive critique of pornography without being lumped together with reactionary forces? Yes. In his presentation, University of Texas professor of journalism Robert Jensen will offer an analysis that gets us past the conservative/liberal gridlock on the issue.

What’s Reality? Fake News, Real News and Weapons Of Mass Perception: Americans are awash in a hidden sea of media propaganda, the sophisticated product of a multi-billion dollar PR industry that manages public information, perception, opinion and policy on behalf of business and political elites. Corporate and government propaganda is the nemesis of democracy. Come join the Center for Media and Democracy’s John Stauber to explore how we can engage in a process of dissecting, revealing and confronting this propaganda: one of the keys to practicing 21st century media education and to revitalizing democratic values.

Digital Destiny: Democratic Media At The Crossroads: The U.S. media system is in the midst of a profound transformation. We are at an important crossroads. If w make the right decisions and collectively act, we might have a communications environment that nurtures civic participation, social justice, economic opportunity and creative expression. But if we fail to fight for the soul of our electronic media, we will witness the most powerful communications system ever developed under the control of a very few super-monopolies. Their vision for our media future is a 24/7 digital “brandwashing” machine that personally targets us with programming and advertising wherever we are – via TV, on-line, and through mobile services. Come join the Center for Digital Democracy’s Jeff Chester and MAIN Internet citizen activist Wally Bowen for a conversation about these issues.

PLENARY SESSION #3

Hacktivism 101: Carrie McLaren of Stay Free! magazine presents unusual strategies for countering corporate media: satirical pranks, stunts, and viral messaging.

“Optimism of the Will:” Media Literacy, Education & Politics: Come join Media Education Foundation (MEF) Executive Director Sut Jhally, executive producer of “Hijacking Catastrophe” and dozens of other topical media education films on a wide variety of topics, for an exploration of the connections among media education, politics, and education, broadly conceived.

Victories In The Struggle Against Commercialism!: Here’s a story you won’t see in the mainstream media: we’re winning plenty of victories against the commercialization of every nook and cranny of our lives and culture. Join Commercial Alert Executive Director Gary Ruskin and the Center for a Commercial Free Childhood’s Josh Golin to find out what the victories are, what they mean, and why we’re winning.

Aether Madness: Join Prometheus Radio Project’s Hannah Sassaman and Pete Tridesh for an exploration of the awesome potential of the radio airwaves for social good, their sordid misuse in the hands of mendacious corporations, and what we all can do about it!

PLENARY SESSION #4

Sexualizing Childhood: How Big Media Represents Our Kids: Join renowned speaker and author Jean Kilbourne for a presentation and discussion about the ways in which Big Media sexualize our children, and what we might do about it.

TV For Everyone: How Community Cable Television Is Changing The 21st Century Media Landscape: Join Anthony Riddle of the Alliance for Community Media and local CCTV Executive Director Lauren-Glenn Davitian for an inspiring presentation about the importance of community cable television, and what you can do to get involved in the CCTV effort in your community.

Taking Critical News to Critical Mass: Strategies for Mainstreaming Muckraking: Independent journalist and veteran investigative reporter Kristina Borjesson discusses her ideas for creating a new paradigm for bringing real, relevant and hard-hitting news and information to a critical mass audience. For the last five years, Borjesson has been documenting the limitations of the current news paradigm in her books of conversations with and essays by dozens of this nation’s most distinguished journalists. Prior to publishing, Borjesson produced award-winning documentaries and news magazine pieces for network and cable television.

US Public Relations Propaganda and the New American Censorship: Come join Project Censored Executive Director Peter Phillips to discuss the increased use of public relations firms by the US government and private corporations to build news stories that corporate media outlets are uncritically accepting as real news. For action solutions, Phillips addresses the continuing importance of building the media democracy movement – especially the creation and expansion of independent news sources.

To learn more and register today, visit the ACME Summit 2006 on the web.

ACMEBoston Podcast: “Morphing from Music: iPods Enter the Classroom”

“Morphing from Music: iPods Enter the Classroom” panel and discussion at the Media Giraffe Project Conference 2006 at UMass Amherst, June 28 – July 1, 2006.

Click here to listen to the ACMEBoston Podcast July 15, 2006

Download the PowerPoint presentation from Mark Frydenberg.

From the conference wiki:

Summary

“The how’s and why’s of sending downloadable audio files over the Internet — how is this being adopted by educators? How can an Internet news operation serve the need for classroom-ready podcasting material?”

Description

“Students and teachers as independent media producers now have the opportunity to level the playing field with mainstream media in distributing and exhibiting their work via podcasting to a larger audience. At Bentley College, students in information technology courses create audio and video podcasts to engage with a new technology and use it as a learning tool. In video production and mass communications courses, students focus on producing media to analyze the media. At Harvard Law School, teachers use podcasting to transform the classroom into a global conversation.

The presenters will share podcasting examples from students and teachers at both schools and discuss how new media tools and distribution models are creating powerful new spaces for debate, change, and learning.”

Presenters

Elizabeth LeDoux is a Lecturer in the Media & Culture program in the English Department at Bentley College.

Mark Frydenberg is a Senior Lecturer/Software Specialist in the Computer Information Systems Department at Bentley College.

Colin Rhinesmith is a Staff Assistant at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School, where he produces podcasts for AudioBerkman. Colin is also President of the Action Coalition for Media Education, Boston Chapter (ACMEBoston).

MNN’s Youth Channel at ACMBoston

Media literacy trainers, Derrick Dawkins, Verena Faden and Andrew Lynn from Manhattan Neighborhood Network’s Youth Channel presented this afternoon at ACMBoston. We hope they can make it to the ACME Fall Summit!

There are a number of free teaching resources for media literacy educators available for download at the website. Here’s some of the info:

“We hope that these Peer-Training Curricula are helpful to both new and old Peer Trainers as they try to share their skills, knowledge and passions to other young people. This curriculum is not to be viewed as a rigid schedule, timeline or set of activities that must be followed exactly. Please use, adapt, modify, change, discard things as you see fit. As no two kids are the same, no two groups of kids are the same, and so no one curriculum can fit all of their needs and interests. We have created this curriculum with beginners in mind but you will need to modify to fit your students age and experience, class size, equipment accessibility, space and time constraints. We recommend a ratio of no more than 1 Peer Trainer to 8 students.

Media Literacy Workshop Curriculum
This two-hour interactive Media Literacy Workshop offers participants a chance to think critically about the media we consume everyday. Through a series of large and small group discussions, interactive activities, video clips and photographs, participants will explore the following issues: media advertising; ownership and content; media consolidation; identity and representation; and the central role media plays in democratic societies. Participants will also learn about public-access television and the growing youth media field.
DOWNLOAD ALL PRINTED MATERIALS .SIT 4.3 MB
The included guide is intended to guide practitioners through facilitating a Media Literacy Workshop in 6 parts. It is not a rigid curriculum, rather a source of exercises, discussion points, and connections that can be expanded or adjusted to suit the needs of a given group. We hope that you will find some of the pieces compiled here an interesting approach to building on the basics of media literacy.
VIEW THE ONLINE MULTIMEDIA COMPANION (best if viewed in Internet Explorer)

PSA Curriculum
This 7-session sequence of lesson plans and curriculum culminates in the production and public screening of two Public Service Announcements. In planning, shooting and editing two PSAís, students will develop skills and habits for successful collaboration (Communication, negotiation, listening, compromise), media literacy (media as a tool for inquiry & expression) and video production (Camera, Sound & Editing). They will learn to develop a clear message or viewpoint to verbally and visually persuade an audience. Lastly, we hope that by making these Public Service Announcements students will become more socially aware and active in their communities.
DOWNLOAD .PDF 3.3MB

Documentary Curriculum
This 10-session sequence of lesson plans and curriculum, students plan, shoot and edit a 5-10 minute Documentary. Students will develop skills and habits for successful collaboration (Communication, negotiation, listening, compromise), media literacy (media as a tool for inquiry & expression) and video production (Camera, Sound, Interviewing & Editing).”
DOWNLOAD .PDF 2.8MB

Visit MNN’s Youth Channel on the web.