Abstract

Public space, especially online, is now offered more than ever before. Still, the role of public media production in youth cultures has not been very much noticed in civic pedagogic settings. This contribution provides insights to the relations between youth, civic participation and media pu blicity in the context of youth work. It is based on three years follow up study of the «Youth Voice Editorial Board» in Finland, among youngsters aged 13-17 years. The results of the study show that youth citizenship can be strengthened with media literacy education which consists on three elements related with each other: youth civic participation including media production, media publicity and pedagogy understood as learning community.

Abstract

Changes in technology have opened up a new kind of participatory citizenry; one in which engaged citizens’ blog, post, tweet, upload, create, and otherwise interact with others online. This paper explores the intersection of media and information literacy with civic participation by examining three specific programs operating in the United States. These projects include «Powerful Voices for Kids», «The Salzburg Academy on Media and Social Change»; and «Cultivating the NetGeneration of Youth as Global Citizens and Media Literate Leaders in a Digital Age», in which educators and students at schools in the USA and Africa meet virtually and physically to explore collaborative methods that use media to build bridges of understanding. Through analysis of each program’s practices and personal interviews with the program director, consistent methods for developing a strong media and information literacy program with a focus on democratic participation are revealed. These include a need for programs to reflect a respect for student interest in popular culture, willingness for program educators to put aside assumptions that students lack an interest in current events, recognition that technology use is a means to an end, not the ultimate goal, and the utilization of a support team for the instructors or educators.

Abstract

Service-Learning, a popular approach to citizenship education in the US, provides youth with opportunities to define and address public needs while reflecting on the knowledge, skills, and relationships needed to do such work. This approach assumes education for democratic citizenship must help youth understand themselves as part of a larger community, increase their sense of agency and efficacy as civic actors, and increase their ability to analyze social and political issues. It also assumes that these outcomes are best learned through experience. Creating these conditions can be quite challenging in the context of schools, where students are typically separated from the community, highly controlled in their activities, and have limited time to grasp the complexities of a given topic. This piece responds to the growing role of new media in civic and political activity. Specifically, it examines how the integration of new media into service learning may facilitate or challenge the core pedagogical goals of this approach to civic education and the implications for the practice of supporting youth civic engagement in school settings. Based on a review of existing programs and research, the authors illustrate how new media can be used to support four primary goals of service learning – designing authentic learning environments, connecting to community, supporting youth voice, and encouraging engagement with issues of social justice.

Abstract

This research introduces the marriage between interactive documentaries (i-docs) and politics as an opportunity to motivate new civic participation and expression in the political sphere. The main objective of this study is to identify the different degrees of civic participation that i-docs permit and to setup a classification according to these levels of engagement. In order to achieve the main objective, this research has analyzed a group of documentaries using a mixture of Gaudenzi, Gifreu-Castells, and Nash methodology. The results show that it is possible to find a parallel between the closed mode and the Orwellian model; the semi-closed mode and the Tokenism model; the semi-opened mode and the playful model; and between the opened mode and the Athenian model. However, only the opened mode, used in the Global lives documentary, offers a real experience that symbolizes the purest representation of an open government system.

Abstract

The best assets of any community college are their students. Students learn, grow, thrive, and, often, remain in their community to help others do the same. They are vital to the development of their communities. Their voices, unfortunately too often silent to policy makers, can contribute to sustainable futures for the cities and towns in which they dwell. Their experiences and stories can enlighten others about how people live in a place and how those places can be made better for those who live there. How can these voices be heard? Can students at a community college help to generate public participation in government planning? Can they use their roots in the community to help their community find a voice? In this chapter, I discuss the theoretical and conceptual grounding for the “Partnership for Inclusive, Cost-Effective Public Participation” (PICEP2), a model of curriculum for Communication courses at Manchester Community College (MCC) in Manchester, Connecticut, that was designed to amplify citizen voices in government public engagement efforts. This project, which I created through funds from the Federal Transit Administration, is an example of using service-learning with community college students (and their networks) to bring previously silenced voices into efforts to solve/satisfy community/public (transportation) needs. It also indicates: (1) the direct connection between service-learning and participatory action research; (2) the direct role theory can play in project design; and (3) the real and unique contributions community college students, as community members, can make to mandated community-participation processes (as network bridges to additional participants). Document type: Part of book or chapter of book

Abstract

Schools and school libraries play a vital role in the formation of the attitudes and behaviours of young people. Adolescence is an important period of acquisition of knowledge, socialisation, development of artistic sensitivity and enculturation, which an individual will use for the rest of his or her life. The competencies and attitudes of school and school library personnel may significantly affect the development of children and youth. It seems relevant, then, to examine their social attitudes and the level of their social capital. The paper presents the results of a survey conducted among school librarians in 20 countries around the world. The survey examined the level of their individual social capital, social attitudes and civic attitudes. According to its results, school librarians have an average level of individual social capital; however, their social capital, social activity and civic engagement are among the lowest compared with the personnel of the other types of libraries.