Week Five

When watching the video Living in an Acoustic World I couldn't help but think of many of the points Jenkins addressed. One of the most interesting concepts McLuhan spoke on was the end of secrecy and the monopoly of knowledge, a direct result of the electronic environment, "with the end of secrecy goes the end of monopolies of knowledge. There can no longer be a monopoly knowledge in learning, in education, or in power" (McLuhan). Jenkins (2010) stated "Participatory culture is emerging as the culture absorbs and responds to the explosion of new media technologies that make it possible for average consumers to archive, annotate, appropriate, and recirculate media content in powerful new ways" (p. 8).  Both men make the point that no longer are a select few in the visual world the creators of knowledge and definers of literacy. As we move to a more acoustical world everyone can create, share, interpret knowledge; we can be both consumers and producers of information.  Through affinity spaces and the participatory culture of  new media environments more and more people are participating in society in ways that were once out of reach. But whose responsibility is it to teach critical media literacy?

According to Jenkins, new media skills should be a part of the educational curriculum, "the new participatory culture places new emphasis on familiar skill that have long been central to American education; it also requires teachers to pay greater attention of the social kills and cultural competencies that are emerging in the new media landscape" (Jenkins, 2010, p. 27). It is necessary to for the American education system to begin to teach critical media skills in order to avoid the three main issues surrounding new medias; inequalities, transparency, and ethical challenges (Jenkins, 2010).  

Everyday in my classroom I see so much when it comes to  issues of technology and new medias. What I have found is that for the most part the current educational system does not see how new media technologies fit into the big picture, or as Green mentioned across the curriculum. Beyond using computers for simple information searches, teachers and support staff feel that technology should be taught in isolation and restricted to tech ed. McLuhan shared that knowledge creates ignorance and gets in the way of progress. I see this statement come alive everyday, and even more so with the implementation of the Common Core. There is no room for new media instruction in this new curriculum, no room for creativity, individual thinking, critical thinking, or collaboration; it is  an endorsement of  what McLuhan termed "private identity". It almost seems as if education is like the railway train McLuhan spoke about "moving goods along a track" and that "Many educators think that the problem in education is just to get the information though, get it past the barrier, the opposition of the young, just to move it and keep it going."


Jenkins, H., Clinton, K., Purushotma, R., Robison, A.J. & Weigel, M. (2006). Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: Media education for the 21st century. Chicago: The MacArthur Foundation. Retrieved from http://www.newmedialiteracies.org/files/working/NMLWhitePaper.pdf  


McLuhan, M. Living in an acoustic world. (PDF Document). Retrieved from http://www.marshallmcluhanspeaks.com/media/mcluhan_pdf_6_JUkCEo0.pdf