Changing Citizen Identity and the Rise of a Participatory Media Culture

Abstract

Participatory digital media -broadly defined as media such as the Internet, social network sites and cell phones that allow users to interact -are ubiquitous among today's youth. Among teens ages 12-17, 95% have access to the Internet; 70% go online daily; 80% use social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter; and 77% have cell phones. 1 ECS ResourcesThe National Center for Learning and Citizenship Assists education leaders to promote, support and reward citizenship education and service-learning as essential components of America's education system. www.ecs.org/nclcThe Progress of Education Reform issues on Service-Learning and Citizenship Education Provide concise review of other research relevant for civics and civic engagement in general.

Learning about distant places through the Internet: Young students as global citizens?

“…This finding is interesting because Bennett et al (2010) argue that civic learning does not result simply from letting young people loose in uncontrolled online environments. The interviewed students informed that they were left to themselves and that their teachers rarely seemed to be present when they were searching for information on the Internet.…”

“…Rather, they switched from one 'authority' to another without much critical consideration (Bennett et al 2010). The result was that distant places, such as rainforest areas, were approached through indirect connections and without support from the teachers.…”

“…Thus far, I have shown how the students' connections to distant realities are established through 'gatekeepers', which to a large extent replace traditional authorities such as teachers and textbooks, as also argued by Bennett et al (2010). Similarly, Castells (2009) discusses the role of 'switchers' as powerful actors on the Internet who control the flow of information in global networks.…”

Critical Assessment of Video Production in Teacher Education: Can video production foster community-engaged scholarship?

“…Despite the massive quantity of video that saturates contemporary society, as seen on YouTube for example, my interactions with pre-service teachers, at least in North America, suggest that their experiences are generally limited to viewing or consuming videos and that the experience of producing videos is not common. This resonates in the scholarly observations that a relatively small number of people possess the necessary skills to create and distribute videos online and that their videos receive a disproportionally high volume of attention; this unbalance reduces the possible impact that today's new media environment could have on youth civic engagement (Bennett, Freelon, & Wells, 2010). The importance of teaching media production skills has been emphasized to counteract this unmet potential so that all youth can be equipped with the necessary skills to create and share media (Jenkins et al, 2009).…”

“…The importance of engaging learners in video creation is emphasized, especially in the context of K-12 education (Buckingham, 2009a;Norton & Hathaway, 2010). This is supported by the argument that teaching youth to create and share digital video can promote civic engagement among youth (Bennett, Freelon, & Wells, 2010). Despite a growing interest in the use of video production, however, studies show little evidence of its pedagogical usefulness (Benson et al, 2002;Norton & Hathaway, 2010).…”