Is creative media literacy overrated?

by MIKI AMBROZY

In the past decade the mantra of educational policy has been to stick a single word to the evolving terms of computing science. Ever heard of digital literacy, web literacy, media literacy, visual literacy, information literacy?

Welcome to the era of new literacy.

With the unemployment figures of Europe’s youth looking a little bleak, there’s much debate going on about how to match up the content delivered by education to emerging new jobs. The turning point in the technological development has been the dramatic rise of social networking, turning users into creators of content.

Out story is centered around the birth of new media and new forms of social activity on Youtube, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Delicious and their dozens of thousands of smaller or more localized brothers and sisters. These networking sites and tools have been rapidly growing in unique visits, registered users, traffic and, consequently, value.

Yet, I can’t help seeing the digital revolution as hype.

Here are five reasons why.

#1    The ‘user-who-generates-content’ is still in minority

My hunch is that creative media literacy is still the benefit of the few, even if the circle is gradually widening. To join the hype, you need to be equipped with the necessary basics of general literacy, speak English or another major world language, have a solid Internet connection, a reasonably reliable desktop PC, and afford to maintain your computer system over time.

What’s more, in order to join the game on the video and mobile applications side, knowledge of downloading cracked software, hacker friends and a digital video camera manufactured after the era of Hi8 video tapes (late 90s) are a must.

Let me rephrase this one: the above two are the technological and social pre-requisites of creative media literacy and user-generated content.

#2    The majority is still digitally half-literate

As a youth worker, I have been cooperating for over a year with young people from the deaf community of Thessaloniki, Greece. My organisation’s young deaf volunteers define themselves as a cultural minority group. They are proud of their sign language and won’t really hear of cochlear implants (“bionic ear”) for deaf children. They come from one of Europe’s most criticized and patchy educational systems, where middle class children attend private afternoon schools to make it to university. As a minority group, widely regarded by the majority as physically disabled, deaf young people’s educational paths have been at best the typical ones.

So how about their media literacy and the new hype?

On the one hand, they use some functions of Facebook. The more advanced use includes the use of google translator to chat with friends abroad, and to post information about events in the community.

On the other hand, video-sharing sites were largely unknown to them until recently, when their first upload appeared on Facebook. This is quite surprising, given the fact that sign language and the experience of deaf communication is highly visual. Similar gaps in actual media literacy have been observed in the UK among working class children.*

Apparently, the above listed pre-requisites of creative media literacy have been missing from their computer (or any other) classes. The result: no hype.

#3    Non-formal learning of digital stuff is effective, yet marginal

I’m a firm supporter of the empowerment of marginalized social groups through media and digital literacy. I believe that participants’ control over content is crucial for a successful learning outcome, or for a truthful account of reality in journalism, for that matter. One of the domains where gaps of new literacies can be most effectively patched up is informal, extra-curricular learning.

I find that using video in team-building, as a tool for self-expression or during an outdoor adventure game can be more effective than a lesson in aspect-ratio, picture composition and video file formats. It’s an excellent starting point for career orientation as well.

This recognition doesn’t need a genius. The European Union’s social and educational policies are allocating millions of euros for developing the digital and media literacy of young people in Europe in the framework of non-formal learning programmes.

The number of school hours spent on new media literacy in Europe is, to my knowledge, marginal. Non-formal learning programmes can’t make up for that. We are left with hacker friends, appalling phenomena such as chatroulette and hype, without the necessary skills to make sense of it all.

#4    So, you’re a digital native. What can you create?

I completely agree with Sonia Livingstone:* it’s doubtful how digitally literate youth actually is. If I take a look at the videos that young people bring back from exercises in youth exchanges, seminars and workshops, there’s no need to celebrate.

The development of new media technology is quick, commercially driven. The activity and practices of new media users are heavily determined by access to money and time.

A person’s creative media literacy will largely depend on his or her educational pathway, cultural practices, and the family’s socio-economic resources. I can’t help remembering the director of a private school in Greece, who still today has the secretary manage her e-mail and Facebook accounts, printing out emails. I wonder if she gets a summary of the status updates of her friends at the end of the day – in print.

Before raving about the democratic opportunities of the Internet, e-learning, e-citizenship and video blogging, let’s not forget the generations of parents who have little clue how to navigate the digital landscape, or the fact that the digital cosmos needs continuous learning and practice.

#5    Much of user-generated content is fun only for anthropologists

To us, educators, the ultimate question remains: how to exploit the presence of digital media in the life-world of youth in a meaningful way? How to bring a little depth into the skateboarding dog and the subtitled cat video on youtube?

I think being curious is a fantastic human value. Taking risks in life is a basic survival instinct. If we just let young people explore and take control of their own digital learning environment, the results are more connected to their life, more sincere.

There exists an element of personal growth in the creation of all media. The transformation of digital illiterates to new literates is a glorious journey, definitely worth documenting for the digital annals of human history.

* I refer to and highly recommend Sonia Livingstone’s body of research and publications on media literacy, especially Engaging with media – a matter of literacy? Communication, culture & critique, 1 (1), 2008 and Youthful participation: what have we learned, what shall we ask next? In: First Annual Digital Media and Learning Conference: Diversifying Participation, 2010