ransmedia literacy in the new media ecology: Teens’ transmedia skills and informal learning strategies

The emergence of new media and platforms has compelled media literacy scholars to review their theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches. Based on a new conception –‘transmedia literacy’– that moves from traditional media literacy (teaching critical media skills at school) to informal learning and participatory cultures, the research behind the present article aims to understand how new generations are doing things with media and how they learn to do the things they do. The outputs of this international research that involved 8 countries were organised into three sections: 1) transmedia skills, 2) informal learning strategies and 3) emergent issues regarding teens, new media and collaborative cultures. Finally, the article deals with the future perspectives of transmedia literacy as a research and action programme

Smartphones

Many of the research approaches to smartphones actually regard them as more or less transparent points of access to other kinds of communication experiences. That is, rather than considering the smartphone as something in itself, the researchers look at how individuals use the smartphone for their communicative purposes, whether these be talking, surfing the web, using on-line data access for off-site data sources, downloading or uploading materials, or any kind of interaction with social media. They focus not so much on the smartphone itself but on the activities that people engage in with their smartphones

Media Ecologies

In this chapter, we frame the media ecologies that contextualize the youth practices we describe in later chapters. By drawing from case studies that are delimited by locality, institutions, networked sites, and interest groups (see appendices), we have been able to map the contours of the varied social, technical, and cultural contexts that structure youth media engagement. This chapter introduces three genres of participation with new media that have emerged as overarching descriptive frameworks for understanding how youth new media practices are defi ned in relation and in opposition to one another. The genres of participation—hanging out, messing around, and geeking out—refl ect and are intertwined with young people’s practices, learning, and identity formation within these varied and dynamic media ecologies

Italian books and French medical libraries in the renaissance

This chapter explores the circulation, collection and use of Italian books by French medical doctors in the Renaissance. Medical humanism and the innovative methods adopted in Italian universities prompted many doctors and students of medicine to travel to Italy. This chapter explores how they acquired Italian books for their courses and collected them as mementos of their journey. The author highlights the exchange of Italian books both as gifts and as part of private transactions. Court physicians were particularly keen collectors of such items. The evidence presented from probate inventories indicates that doctors owned a range of items, from cheap editions for everyday use to valuable items of great prestige. The chapter concludes with reflections on collecting as a means of social elevation.PostprintPeer reviewe

The Industry and Policy Context for Digital Games for Empowerment and Inclusion:Market Analysis, Future Prospects and Key Challenges in Videogames, Serious Games and Gamification

The effective use of digital games for empowerment and social inclusion (DGEI) of people and communities at risk of exclusion will be shaped by, and may influence the development of a range of sectors that supply products, services, technology and research. The principal industries that would appear to be implicated are the 'videogames' industry, and an emerging 'serious games' industry. The videogames industry is an ecosystem of developers, publishers and other service providers drawn from the interactive media, software and broader ICT industry that services the mainstream leisure market in games, The 'serious games' industry is a rather fragmented and growing network of firms, users, research and policy makers from a variety of sectors. This emerging industry is are trying to develop knowledge, products, services and a market for the use of digital games, and products inspired by digital games, for a range of non-leisure applications. This report provides a summary of the state of play of these industries, their trajectories and the challenges they face. It also analyses the contribution they could make to exploiting digital games for empowerment and social inclusion. Finally, it explores existing policy towards activities in these industries and markets, and draws conclusions as to the future policy relevance of engaging with them to support innovation and uptake of effective digital game-based approaches to empowerment and social inclusion.JRC.J.3-Information Societ

The Status of Internet Education in Japanese and German Guidelines on ICT and Media Education

This paper tries to locate references to Internet related elements in curricula and guidelines for general education in Japan and Germany from around 1985 to the present. The most obvious difference is the historically grown concentration on «information» in Japan vs. «media» in Germany (although in Germany informatics exists as a general school subject) and accordingly the assignment of Internet related content to the respective area. The guidelines do not differ much in that they stress comparable general aims of education, but differences in focus become visible through examination of the detailed content listed for information and media education. The paper concludes with suggestions to further pursue some of the strong points from both approaches

The Use of Social Networking Sites among the Undergraduate Students of University of Nigeria, Nsukka

This study was carried out to investigate the use of social networking sites among the undergraduate students of university of Nigeria Nsukka. In the context of today’s electronic media, social networking sites have come to mean individuals, using the Internet and web application to communicate in previously impossible ways. This is largely the result of a culture-wide paradigm shift in the uses and possibilities of the internet itself. The objectives of the study are to ascertain the various categories of social networking sites used by UNN Undergraduates, to examine the extent of usage of social networking sites by UNN Undergraduates, to examine their (UNN Undergraduates) purposes of using social networking sites, to determine the benefits of using social networking sites and to identify the dangers associated with social networking and to proffer strategies to ameliorate such dangers. The study adopted the descriptive survey research design which was employed to derive responses from a sample size of 150 undergraduate students of university of Nigeria Nsukka who were selected via random sampling techniques. Data were collected from this population using questionnaire. The 150 respondents completed and returned the questionnaire correctly representing 100% response sate. Means (x) were used to analyze the six research questions that guided the study. The result of the study reveals that mostly all the student were using the social networking sites in interaction with friends, connecting to their class mates for online study and for discussing serious national issues and watching movies etc. There are also laudable benefits of using social networking sites and dangers associated with social networking and such dangers can be ameliorated using the strategies available in the work. Drawn from the findings, it was recommended that university Authorities should organize seminars to enlighten students on the not-so good aspects of social networking sites etc. In addition useful suggestions for further research were equally made

DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY, LITERACIES, AND IDENTITY: EXPERIENCES OF HISTORICALLY MARGINALIZED ADOLESCENTS

New media and digital technologies shape the literacy practices and identity development of adolescents (Ellison, 2014, Barton & Hamilton, 2000; Perry, 2012; Lotherington & Jenson, 2011). Research into this phenomenon has largely focused on the general adolescent population. However, this narrative inquiry focuses on the experiences of four adolescents of color in New York City who live in poverty. Participants in this study visit a neighborhood library to access computers and the Internet. The researcher conducted semi-structure interviews in the library to evoke narratives about participants’ use of digital media and observed participants as they used the library computers. Analysis of data revealed several patterns in their stories. None of the participants had daily, personal access to technology outside of school. Their schools provide little time on computers and minimal access to the Internet. One student did have extended computer time for English language learning, and another had a used cell phone with no data plan. All participants exerted enormous effort to gain limited access to computer time after school on weekdays only. At the library computers, they completed school work, played games, used social media, learned English, and conducted research. These literate practices enabled playful learning by doing and the trying on and crafting of identities in these virtual spaces. Students developed hope for future careers--as a photographer, an animator, a medical doctor, and a film maker