Greening The Media Literacy Ecosystem

Media literacy is touted as a necessary life skill for cultural citizenship, yet as it is generally practiced there is little engagement with sustainability issues. In order to gain insights into why this is the case, this research investigated how media literacy practitioners use metaphors to frame both the role of media education in the world and how it affects green cultural citizenship. This involved analyzing web site documents and teacher resources of seven North American media literacy organizations as well as interviewing nine key practitioners within a bounded system called the media literacy ecosystem . Drawing on an ecocritical framework, I analyzed the discourses of the media literacy ecosystem by using multi-site situational analysis, qualitative media analysis and critical discourse analysis. This research explored how media literacy practitioners participate in meaning-making systems that reproduce pre-existing environmental ideologies. The findings show that media literacy education is grounded in a mechanistic worldview, thereby perpetuating unsustainable cultural practices in education. By problematizing the mechanistic discourses of media literacy education, the aim of this research was to raise awareness and to offer potential solutions for changing the nature of those same discourses. As such, I theorized a model of media literacy that incorporates green cultural citizenship, called ecomedia literacy, and outlined a path forward so that sustainability becomes a priority for media literacy educators.

This book offers a focused and practical guide to integrating the relationship between media and the environment—ecomedia—into media education. It enables media teachers to "green" their pedagogy by providing essential tools and approaches that can be applied in the classroom. Media are essential features of our planetary ecosystem emergency, contributing to both the problem of and solution to climate chaos, biodiversity loss, ocean acidification, deforestation, water contamination, and so on. Offering a clear theoretical framework and suggested curriculum guide, the book provides key resources that will enable media educators to apply ecomedia concepts to their curricula. By reconceptualizing media education, this book connects ecology, environmental communication, ecomedia studies, environmental humanities, and ecoliteracy to bridge media literacy and education for sustainability. Ecomedia Literacy is an essential read for educators and scholars in the areas of media literacy, media and communication, media and cultural studies, environmental humanities, and environmental studies.

Drawing on original research, Antonio López demonstrates how common media literacy practices reinforce belief systems at the root of unsustainable behaviors. By combining emerging literacies, the author offers a solutions-oriented critique and paradigm-shifting reappraisal of media education by advocating «ecomedia literacy.»

In The Media Ecosystem, Antonio Lopez draws together the seemingly disparate realms of ecology and media studies to present a fresh and provocative interpretation of the current state of the mass media—and its potential future. Lopez explores the connections between media and the environment, arguing that just as the world's powers have seized and exploited the physical territories and natural resources of the earth, so, too, have they colonized the "cultural commons"—the space of ideas that everyone shares. He identifies the root of the problem in the privileging of "mechanistic" thinking over ecological intelligence, which recognizes that people live in a relationship with every other living thing on the planet. In order to create a more sustainable media ecosystem—just like the preservation of organic ecosystems—we must reconnect our daily media activities to their impact on others and the environment. To become "organic media practitioners," we must become aware of the impact of media use on the environment; recognize media's influence on our perception of time, space, and place; understand media's interdependence with the global economy; be conscious of media's interaction with cultural beliefs; and develop an ethical framework in order to act upon these understandings. Above all, Lopez calls for media producers and consumers alike to bring a sense of ritual and collaboration back to the process of communication, utilizing collective intelligence and supporting a new culture of participation. Containing both wide-reaching analysis and practical tips for more conscious media use, The Media Ecosystem is designed for all those who seek a more sustainable future. The Media Ecosystem is part of the EVOLVER EDITIONS Manifesto Series.

Ecomedia: Key Issues is a comprehensive textbook introducing the burgeoning field of ecomedia studies to provide an overview of the interface between environmental issues and the media globally. Linking the world of media production, distribution, and consumption to environmental understandings, the book addresses ecological meanings encoded in media texts, the environmental impacts of media production, and the relationships between media and cultural perceptions of the environment. Each chapter introduces a distinct type of media, addressing it in a theoretical overview before engaging with specific case studies. In this way, the book provides an accessible introduction to each form of media as well as a sophisticated analysis of relevant cases. The book includes contributions from a combination of new voices and well-established media scholars from across the globe who examine the basic concepts and key issues of ecomedia studies. The concepts of "frames," "flow", and "convergence" structure a dynamic collection divided into three parts. The first part addresses traditional visual texts, such as comics, photography, and film. The second part of the book addresses traditional broadcast media, such as radio, and television, and the third part looks at new media, such as advertising, video games, the internet, and digital renderings of scientific data. In its breadth and scope, Ecomedia: Key Issues presents a unique survey of rich scholarship at the confluence of Media Studies and Environmental Studies. The book is written in an engaging and accessible style, with each chapter including case studies, discussion questions and suggestions for further reading.

Over the past forty years, media education research has emerged as a historical, epistemological and practical field of study. Shifts in the field—along with radical transformations in media technologies, aesthetic forms, ownership models, and audience participation practices—have driven the application of new concepts and theories across a range of both school and non-school settings. The Handbook on Media Education Research is a unique exploration of the complex set of practices, theories, and tools of media research. Featuring contributions from a diverse range of internationally recognized experts and practitioners, this timely volume discusses recent developments in the field in the context of related scholarship, public policy, formal and non-formal teaching and learning, and DIY and community practice. Offering a truly global perspective, the Handbook focuses on empirical work from Media and Information Literacy (MIL) practitioners from around the world. The book’s five parts explore global youth cultures and the media, trans-media learning, media literacy and scientific controversies, varying national approaches to media research, media education policies, and much more. A ground breaking resource on the concepts and theories of media research, this important book: Provides a diversity of views and experiences relevant to media literacy education research Features contributions from experts from a wide-range of countries including South Africa, Finland, India, Italy, Brazil, and many more Examines the history and future of media education in various international contexts Discusses the development and current state of media literacy education institutions and policies Addresses important contemporary issues such as social media use; datafication; digital privacy, rights, and divides; and global cultural practices. The Handbook of Media Education Research is an invaluable guide for researchers in the field, undergraduate and graduate students in media studies, policy makers, and MIL practitioners.

You will never look at your cell phone, TV, or computer the same way after reading this book. Greening the Media not only reveals the dirty secrets that hide inside our favorite electronic devices; it also takes apart the myths that have pushed these gadgets to the center of our lives. Marshaling an astounding array of economic, environmental, and historical facts, Maxwell and Miller debunk the idea that information and communication technologies (ICT) are clean and ecologically benign. The authors show how the physical reality of making, consuming, and discarding them is rife with toxic ingredients, poisonous working conditions, and hazardous waste. But all is not lost. As the title suggests, Maxwell and Miller dwell critically on these environmental problems in order to think creatively about ways to solve them. They enlist a range of potential allies in this effort to foster greener media--from green consumers to green citizens, with stops along the way to hear from exploited workers, celebrities, and assorted bureaucrats. Ultimately, Greening the Media rethinks the status of print and screen technologies, opening new lines of historical and social analysis of ICT, consumer electronics, and media production.

This book, part of the BEA Electronic Media Research Series, brings together top scholars researching media literacy and lays out the current state of the field in areas such as propaganda, news, participatory culture, representation, education, social/environmental justice, and civic engagement. The field of media literacy continues to undergo changes and challenges as audiences are reconceptualized and reconfigured, media industries are transformed and replaced, and the production of media texts is available to anyone with a smartphone. The book provides an overview of these. It offers readers specific examples and recommendations to help others as they develop their own teaching and research agendas. Media Literacy in a Disruptive Media Environment will be of great interest to scholars and graduate students studying media literacy through the lens of broadcasting, communication studies, media and cultural studies, film, and digital media studies.

Traditional media literacy models are mostly left-brained, inherited from the legacy of alphabetic literacy, the Gutenberg press revolution, and industrial mass media production. New digital media radically alter the environment: their nonlinear, multisensory, field-like properties are more right-brain oriented. Consequently, rather than focus exclusively on deconstructing the products of design objects (such as an advertisement «text»), digital learning should respond to the design of the system itself, including cultural and cognitive bias. Mediacology proposes a design-for-pattern approach called «media permaculture», which restructures media literacy to be in sync with new media practices connected with sustainability and the perceptual functions of the right brain hemisphere. In the same way that permaculture approaches gardening by establishing the natural parameters of its ecological niche, media permaculture explores the individual's «mediacological niche» in the context of knowledge communities. By applying bioregional thinking to the symbolic order, media permaculture redresses the standard one-size-fits-all literacy model by taking into account diverse cognitive strategies and emerging convergence media practices. Antonio López applies a practical knowledge of alternative media, cross-cultural communication, and ecology to build a meaningful theory of media education.

CO-PUBLISHED BY ROUTLEDGE AND THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF TEACHERS OF ENGLISH Teaching Climate Change to Adolescents is THE essential resource for middle and high school English language arts teachers to help their students understand and address the urgent issues and challenges facing life on Earth today. Classroom activities written and used by teachers show students posing questions, engaging in argumentative reading and writing and critical analysis, interpreting portrayals of climate change in literature and media, and adopting advocacy stances to promote change. The book illustrates climate change fitting into existing courses using already available materials and gives teachers tools and teaching ideas to support building this into their own classrooms. A variety of teacher and student voices makes for an appealing, fast-paced, and inspiring read. Visit the website for this book for additional information and links. All royalties from the sale of this book are donated to Alliance for Climate Education.