Mystery Science Theater 3000 + Michael Moore's TV Nation = Media Literacy Education?
May 3, 2009 8:13 AM Subscribe
Mystery Science Theater 3000 + Michael Moore's TV Nation = Media Literacy Education?
I developed this weekly series of short (about 5 min or less) YouTube videos because traditional models of "media literacy" are rapidly going out-of-date, and are often alienating to their targets. How do we reconcile hating crappy commercial media with acting like raving fans about particular shows or bands? How do we inform people about media "constructedness" at a time when teenagers produce their own tutorials on greenscreening for YouTube? The Media Show is an attempt to walk these fine lines. On the show, Weena and Erna, two New York City puppet sisters, skip school and hide out in an ad agency closet to talk about ads, the Internet, copyright issues, TV, music, games, and movies.
(NOTE: All links are on YouTube.)
We'd love to have any feedback from young people, homeschoolers, librarians, media critics, other educators, and otaku fanboys and fangirls of any persuasion. What that we do is working, and what isn't? (Keep in mind we hope this will mostly be encountered by learners in an out-of-school setting.)
We think a lot about how to reach different audiences; for example, we produced episodes which would be appropriate to send to your older relatives to encourage them to be considerate and visit Snopes.com before they send forwards.
We're also constantly trying new tactics; for example, one recent episode parodied old after-school specials while others, like this one about Photoshopping are more narrative. We also do a lot of interviews about weird or interesting media jobs.
Every episode includes a prompt to try a media project, like this one where we mash up the Head On ad with the DeBeers diamonds ad.
Let us know what you think! We're also always looking for people to talk about their weird media jobs, or educators who are brave enough to use videos with cussing (always bleeped!) in their classrooms or other youth groups.
(My other media literacy-esque project, which numerous MeFites have helped me with, is the Gumbaby Project, a blog about the data.)
I developed this weekly series of short (about 5 min or less) YouTube videos because traditional models of "media literacy" are rapidly going out-of-date, and are often alienating to their targets. How do we reconcile hating crappy commercial media with acting like raving fans about particular shows or bands? How do we inform people about media "constructedness" at a time when teenagers produce their own tutorials on greenscreening for YouTube? The Media Show is an attempt to walk these fine lines. On the show, Weena and Erna, two New York City puppet sisters, skip school and hide out in an ad agency closet to talk about ads, the Internet, copyright issues, TV, music, games, and movies.
(NOTE: All links are on YouTube.)
We'd love to have any feedback from young people, homeschoolers, librarians, media critics, other educators, and otaku fanboys and fangirls of any persuasion. What that we do is working, and what isn't? (Keep in mind we hope this will mostly be encountered by learners in an out-of-school setting.)
We think a lot about how to reach different audiences; for example, we produced episodes which would be appropriate to send to your older relatives to encourage them to be considerate and visit Snopes.com before they send forwards.
We're also constantly trying new tactics; for example, one recent episode parodied old after-school specials while others, like this one about Photoshopping are more narrative. We also do a lot of interviews about weird or interesting media jobs.
Every episode includes a prompt to try a media project, like this one where we mash up the Head On ad with the DeBeers diamonds ad.
Let us know what you think! We're also always looking for people to talk about their weird media jobs, or educators who are brave enough to use videos with cussing (always bleeped!) in their classrooms or other youth groups.
(My other media literacy-esque project, which numerous MeFites have helped me with, is the Gumbaby Project, a blog about the data.)
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posted by RogerB at 11:28 AM on May 5, 2009