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
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
MTV and The Media Equation
From: "Brian Turnbaugh"
As Merchants of Cool is getting a bit dated, I found this on the Times today. It covers MYV's attempts to compete with the myspace exodus of viewership. It is a good companion to Merchants.
February 19, 2007
THE MEDIA EQUATION
Do They Still Want Their MTV?
By DAVID CARR
MTV prospered for decades because it looked like what a network might look like if a 16-year-old were doing the programming. But now the music channel is trying to make its way in a multidevice, multiplatform, multichannel world, most of which is being programmed by a 16-year-old.
The velocity of change has left MTV occasionally looking as if were being programmed by an 83-year-old — namely Sumner M. Redstone, the chairman of Viacom, which owns MTV. The network, itself a stately 25 years old, has suffered a decline in ratings and cultural cachet.
Last week, MTV Networks, an umbrella which includes MTV, VH1, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon, laid off 250 employees, including some executives. The idea was to trim bodies in the television ranks and ramp up hiring on the Internet side of the business, investing the savings to make sure that its various channels don’t end up like the dad in the basement at the teen party.
As a brand, MTV has been beyond durable, managing to reinvent itself continuously and in doing so presenting a fast-moving target that left many would-be rivals in its wake. Shows like MTV’s “Real World” deserve much of the credit, or blame, for demonstrating that reality can make for compelling viewing.
But finding the edge was simpler before competition for its core demographic started coming from all fronts, from video games and social-networking Web sites to amateur clips on YouTube. And consumers can use the Web to come up with their own reality narratives — the current transformation of Britney Spears from pop superstar to bald alien is pretty tough for anyone to compete with.
Being the coolest thing on television is a feat, but not one with a lot of future when most of the coolest things no longer live there.
MTV has been madly programming screens of all sizes and looking to engage consumers on whatever device they choose, but it has been slow going. Rising above the clutter was a lot easier when we were all staring into the same campfire.
“It’s true that our viewers are telling us that they want an experience beyond linear television,” said Christina Norman, MTV’s president. “MTV has a history of surrounding the consumer with both long-form and interstitial content, and I think we can deliver on a two-way relationship with our audience.”
She suggested that there were few media brands better-suited to coming up with content for cellphones and added that the virtual communities around shows like “Laguna Beach” have created opportunities for both viewers and advertisers.
The so-called music channel left music behind as a sole platform some time ago, instead relying on reality and lifestyle shows to draw in young audiences. But it nonetheless remains in the business of zeitgeist.
In a sense, the change in the musical ecosystem reflects broader challenges. Not that long ago, a band fought its way to a major label contract, benefited from commercial radio play and then, finally, a video on MTV. But this system has been disrupted by entertainment’s new iterations, and now most bands no longer ride a vertical axis to the top. There are various workarounds to the popular music monolith — online file-sharing, viral marketing, niche sites and social networks help bands market their music from one person to another.
It is all well and good that OK Go, the band-as-music-video-sensation, chose to premiere its video “Do What You Want” on “Total Request Live,” MTV’s once-dominant afternoon show, but it is worth remembering that OK Go emerged to begin with from YouTube, where its goofy treadmill video became a cult classic.
In a sense, MTV, which once decided what was worthy, is responding to a more powerful consumer algorithm. (Ms. Norman points out that OK Go did not start selling a significant amount of music until the band began appearing on MTV.)
The disintegration of mass has made for difficult times at MTV Networks, although there are bright spots. VH1 continues to hum with a heady mix of “celeb reality” like “Flavor of Love” and shows like “Best Week Ever” that annotate the present with the ease of a well-written blog. VH1 does not bear MTV’s burden of serving as a generational touchstone, so it can program whatever happens to be working.
The organizational changes at the network signal that even MTV can learn some best practices from other members of the corporate family. Marketers I spoke to said that it was the once-dowdy VH1 that seemed to have the fresher ideas. And Comedy Central, which lacks both the legacy and the baggage that MTV carries, is very much of the moment, lead by a skeptic-in-chief, Jon Stewart.
“MTV has come in and out of vogue, like most cutting-edge brands,” said Tim Spengler, chief activation officer of Initiative, a media buying firm. “But they have done a great job of being in vogue more often than not. The changes that they announced seem a lot more like the redeploying of assets to digital platforms that are growing faster.”
MTV is hardly the only media company in a wrestling match with a fast-advancing future. NBC and Disney both underwent painful changes, although it seemed like there was a bit more strategy to go along with the displacement.
MTV Networks brought in Michael J. Wolf, the former McKinsey consultant, to lead it to that happy new place, but he lasted little more than a year as president, in part because the formerly cutting-edge outfit was hidebound enough to reject the attempted transplant of outside ideas.
In general, Viacom has been attempting to dance to the fickle tune of Wall Street, first bifurcating into two businesses as a way of juicing the stock, and then, when that did not work, dumping much-beloved executive Tom Freston. This worked a little, although Viacom’s stock closed Friday at $40.53, off more than $3 from its presplit price.
Like all publicly traded media companies, Viacom faces the perplexing math of repositioning for a disrupted future while trying to meet current shareholder demands for growth.Solving the multiplatform math will take a long-term slog and will not help meet Mr. Redstone’s demand for high margins in the short run. Instead, the investment in Internet is being financed in part by the cutbacks that were announced last week.
One example of how MTV has obviously lost a step is the Video Music Awards, an alternative to the Grammys that was once a big pop culture moment and is now an artistic and a ratings flop. The show was down 30 percent in the 18-to-49 demographic last year, and the company announced last month that Mark Burnett, the creator of “Survivor,” will bring some reality magic to its movie awards show.
Mr. Burnett has had his share of successes, but the idea that MTV would have to turn to an outsider to bring some sizzle to one of its signature events suggests that its stranglehold on youth consciousness is not what it once was.
Even the most robust media brands can come and go. Dennis Publishing, which produced Maxim and Stuff, the so-called lad magazines that were once hugely popular, announced last week that it was looking for a buyer.
MTV is hardly a fad, but some cycles are more serious than others. It is a change in habits — consumers pulling in what they want as opposed to consuming what is pushed toward them — that makes the way forward more difficult to discern.
“MTV has a lot of programming development that sounds interesting,” said Chris Boothe, president of Starcom USA, an advertising agency. “They have a brand that is still very viable in the market” and have been trying to make the most of it with acquisitions like iFilm, a Web video site, and Xfire, a gaming site, Mr. Boothe said.
Of course, clanging the death knell on MTV has been a hobby for media observers as long as the music channel has existed, but when the smoke cleared, those three letters were still there.
“I think that something that has managed to win for 25 years will continue to do so, ” said Mr. Spengler. “If they just had five years behind them, that would be different, because the challenges they face are ferocious. But they have been finding a way to win for a lot longer than that.”
As Merchants of Cool is getting a bit dated, I found this on the Times today. It covers MYV's attempts to compete with the myspace exodus of viewership. It is a good companion to Merchants.
February 19, 2007
THE MEDIA EQUATION
Do They Still Want Their MTV?
By DAVID CARR
MTV prospered for decades because it looked like what a network might look like if a 16-year-old were doing the programming. But now the music channel is trying to make its way in a multidevice, multiplatform, multichannel world, most of which is being programmed by a 16-year-old.
The velocity of change has left MTV occasionally looking as if were being programmed by an 83-year-old — namely Sumner M. Redstone, the chairman of Viacom, which owns MTV. The network, itself a stately 25 years old, has suffered a decline in ratings and cultural cachet.
Last week, MTV Networks, an umbrella which includes MTV, VH1, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon, laid off 250 employees, including some executives. The idea was to trim bodies in the television ranks and ramp up hiring on the Internet side of the business, investing the savings to make sure that its various channels don’t end up like the dad in the basement at the teen party.
As a brand, MTV has been beyond durable, managing to reinvent itself continuously and in doing so presenting a fast-moving target that left many would-be rivals in its wake. Shows like MTV’s “Real World” deserve much of the credit, or blame, for demonstrating that reality can make for compelling viewing.
But finding the edge was simpler before competition for its core demographic started coming from all fronts, from video games and social-networking Web sites to amateur clips on YouTube. And consumers can use the Web to come up with their own reality narratives — the current transformation of Britney Spears from pop superstar to bald alien is pretty tough for anyone to compete with.
Being the coolest thing on television is a feat, but not one with a lot of future when most of the coolest things no longer live there.
MTV has been madly programming screens of all sizes and looking to engage consumers on whatever device they choose, but it has been slow going. Rising above the clutter was a lot easier when we were all staring into the same campfire.
“It’s true that our viewers are telling us that they want an experience beyond linear television,” said Christina Norman, MTV’s president. “MTV has a history of surrounding the consumer with both long-form and interstitial content, and I think we can deliver on a two-way relationship with our audience.”
She suggested that there were few media brands better-suited to coming up with content for cellphones and added that the virtual communities around shows like “Laguna Beach” have created opportunities for both viewers and advertisers.
The so-called music channel left music behind as a sole platform some time ago, instead relying on reality and lifestyle shows to draw in young audiences. But it nonetheless remains in the business of zeitgeist.
In a sense, the change in the musical ecosystem reflects broader challenges. Not that long ago, a band fought its way to a major label contract, benefited from commercial radio play and then, finally, a video on MTV. But this system has been disrupted by entertainment’s new iterations, and now most bands no longer ride a vertical axis to the top. There are various workarounds to the popular music monolith — online file-sharing, viral marketing, niche sites and social networks help bands market their music from one person to another.
It is all well and good that OK Go, the band-as-music-video-sensation, chose to premiere its video “Do What You Want” on “Total Request Live,” MTV’s once-dominant afternoon show, but it is worth remembering that OK Go emerged to begin with from YouTube, where its goofy treadmill video became a cult classic.
In a sense, MTV, which once decided what was worthy, is responding to a more powerful consumer algorithm. (Ms. Norman points out that OK Go did not start selling a significant amount of music until the band began appearing on MTV.)
The disintegration of mass has made for difficult times at MTV Networks, although there are bright spots. VH1 continues to hum with a heady mix of “celeb reality” like “Flavor of Love” and shows like “Best Week Ever” that annotate the present with the ease of a well-written blog. VH1 does not bear MTV’s burden of serving as a generational touchstone, so it can program whatever happens to be working.
The organizational changes at the network signal that even MTV can learn some best practices from other members of the corporate family. Marketers I spoke to said that it was the once-dowdy VH1 that seemed to have the fresher ideas. And Comedy Central, which lacks both the legacy and the baggage that MTV carries, is very much of the moment, lead by a skeptic-in-chief, Jon Stewart.
“MTV has come in and out of vogue, like most cutting-edge brands,” said Tim Spengler, chief activation officer of Initiative, a media buying firm. “But they have done a great job of being in vogue more often than not. The changes that they announced seem a lot more like the redeploying of assets to digital platforms that are growing faster.”
MTV is hardly the only media company in a wrestling match with a fast-advancing future. NBC and Disney both underwent painful changes, although it seemed like there was a bit more strategy to go along with the displacement.
MTV Networks brought in Michael J. Wolf, the former McKinsey consultant, to lead it to that happy new place, but he lasted little more than a year as president, in part because the formerly cutting-edge outfit was hidebound enough to reject the attempted transplant of outside ideas.
In general, Viacom has been attempting to dance to the fickle tune of Wall Street, first bifurcating into two businesses as a way of juicing the stock, and then, when that did not work, dumping much-beloved executive Tom Freston. This worked a little, although Viacom’s stock closed Friday at $40.53, off more than $3 from its presplit price.
Like all publicly traded media companies, Viacom faces the perplexing math of repositioning for a disrupted future while trying to meet current shareholder demands for growth.Solving the multiplatform math will take a long-term slog and will not help meet Mr. Redstone’s demand for high margins in the short run. Instead, the investment in Internet is being financed in part by the cutbacks that were announced last week.
One example of how MTV has obviously lost a step is the Video Music Awards, an alternative to the Grammys that was once a big pop culture moment and is now an artistic and a ratings flop. The show was down 30 percent in the 18-to-49 demographic last year, and the company announced last month that Mark Burnett, the creator of “Survivor,” will bring some reality magic to its movie awards show.
Mr. Burnett has had his share of successes, but the idea that MTV would have to turn to an outsider to bring some sizzle to one of its signature events suggests that its stranglehold on youth consciousness is not what it once was.
Even the most robust media brands can come and go. Dennis Publishing, which produced Maxim and Stuff, the so-called lad magazines that were once hugely popular, announced last week that it was looking for a buyer.
MTV is hardly a fad, but some cycles are more serious than others. It is a change in habits — consumers pulling in what they want as opposed to consuming what is pushed toward them — that makes the way forward more difficult to discern.
“MTV has a lot of programming development that sounds interesting,” said Chris Boothe, president of Starcom USA, an advertising agency. “They have a brand that is still very viable in the market” and have been trying to make the most of it with acquisitions like iFilm, a Web video site, and Xfire, a gaming site, Mr. Boothe said.
Of course, clanging the death knell on MTV has been a hobby for media observers as long as the music channel has existed, but when the smoke cleared, those three letters were still there.
“I think that something that has managed to win for 25 years will continue to do so, ” said Mr. Spengler. “If they just had five years behind them, that would be different, because the challenges they face are ferocious. But they have been finding a way to win for a lot longer than that.”
Media Literacy Institute- Project Look Sharp
Dear Media Literacy Educators!
It is time to think about the summer, and Project Look Sharp is offering its 9th annual media literacy institute. The 5-day intensive workshop includes both the theory of media literacy and hands-on practice with digital/computer technology (Mac-based). Project Look Sharp staff coach participants in developing and implementing individual media literacy integration plans intended to be used in their academic environments. This course may be taken for 3.1 continuing education units, or 2-3 graduate credit units (in which case the course extends 2 weeks beyond the institute and includes an online component).
The institute takes place on the campus of Ithaca College, Ithaca, New York, and inexpensive on-campus housing is available. Limit of 18 participants. July 9-13, 2007. If you would like to see a five-minute video from last year's institute, please visit http://www.ithaca.edu/looksharp/services_summer.php (thank you Audrey Gray for the footage, and Fermin Romero III for editing).
For more information regarding cost and housing, please visit our website, download the PDF flyer below, or contact Victoria Jordan, 607-274-3471, looksharp@ithaca.edu.
It is time to think about the summer, and Project Look Sharp is offering its 9th annual media literacy institute. The 5-day intensive workshop includes both the theory of media literacy and hands-on practice with digital/computer technology (Mac-based). Project Look Sharp staff coach participants in developing and implementing individual media literacy integration plans intended to be used in their academic environments. This course may be taken for 3.1 continuing education units, or 2-3 graduate credit units (in which case the course extends 2 weeks beyond the institute and includes an online component).
The institute takes place on the campus of Ithaca College, Ithaca, New York, and inexpensive on-campus housing is available. Limit of 18 participants. July 9-13, 2007. If you would like to see a five-minute video from last year's institute, please visit http://www.ithaca.edu/looksharp/services_summer.php (thank you Audrey Gray for the footage, and Fermin Romero III for editing).
For more information regarding cost and housing, please visit our website, download the PDF flyer below, or contact Victoria Jordan, 607-274-3471, looksharp@ithaca.edu.
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Media Literacy News
Schools, parents divided on expelling cellphones
This could soon be the rule at all 560 public schools in Toronto, where officials are mulling a cellphone ban in classrooms and hallways that could be approved as early as April.
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/177052
Fight web hate with critical thinking, panel says
Developing “critical thinking” skills in children and young people – and putting the computer where parents can see it – are probably the best ways to protect kids against “cyber-bullying,” sexual predators, and hate on the Internet, experts agreed at a recent panel discussion co-sponsored by B’nai Brith Canada.
http://www.cjnews.com/viewarticle.asp?id=11097
Newest slang keeps teachers and parents on their toes
In fact, there is a mammoth lexicon of words and phrases, growing furiously all the time, to express all things teen. Much of it, say those in the know, comes straight from hip hop and rap music, music videos and the Internet, where places like MySpace.com serve as verbal crockpots teens spoon into, every time they open their mouths.
http://www.pressconnects.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007701280304
It only looks like the girls have gone wild
"We don't have good evidence that it is increasing. We think it's not getting worse," said Margaret Zahn, lead investigator for the Girls Study Group, a panel of experts assembled by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. "The media [approach] is always, 'If it bleeds, it leads.' I do wish the media would be more careful about how these things are reported."
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/pp/07028/757491.stm
This could soon be the rule at all 560 public schools in Toronto, where officials are mulling a cellphone ban in classrooms and hallways that could be approved as early as April.
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/177052
Fight web hate with critical thinking, panel says
Developing “critical thinking” skills in children and young people – and putting the computer where parents can see it – are probably the best ways to protect kids against “cyber-bullying,” sexual predators, and hate on the Internet, experts agreed at a recent panel discussion co-sponsored by B’nai Brith Canada.
http://www.cjnews.com/viewarticle.asp?id=11097
Newest slang keeps teachers and parents on their toes
In fact, there is a mammoth lexicon of words and phrases, growing furiously all the time, to express all things teen. Much of it, say those in the know, comes straight from hip hop and rap music, music videos and the Internet, where places like MySpace.com serve as verbal crockpots teens spoon into, every time they open their mouths.
http://www.pressconnects.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007701280304
It only looks like the girls have gone wild
"We don't have good evidence that it is increasing. We think it's not getting worse," said Margaret Zahn, lead investigator for the Girls Study Group, a panel of experts assembled by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. "The media [approach] is always, 'If it bleeds, it leads.' I do wish the media would be more careful about how these things are reported."
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/pp/07028/757491.stm
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