New Media Literacies of Communication Students

Yıl 2012, Cilt: 3 Sayı: 4, 265 - 277, 01.12.2012

Jale Balaban-sali

Öz

This study examined new media literacy skills of university students based on Jenkins and his colleagues’ classification. Toward this purpose, an online Likert scale was administered to a sample (n=170). This scale included a multi-component understanding of media literacy such as tackling the consumption of media messages and the original creation of multimedia material. The Cronbach’s Alpha reliability coefficient of the scale was 0,93. The instrument was structured around three main sections; demographics, media use characteristics, and new media literacies (NMLs). The third section aimed to assess participants’ new media literacy skills by presenting them 60 items about their social and cultural modes of engagement, online interaction, and media consumption and creation patterns. The statements were conceptually built around the 12 NMLs skills identified by Jenkins and his colleagues. These skills are: Play, appropriation, distributed cognition, collective intelligence, judgment, transmedia navigation, networking, negotiation, and visualization. The results of the study showed that individuals who spent more time on Internet, social media, and blogging had the highest NMLs levels. Furthermore, young participants’ NMLs levels were higher than those over the age of 32.

Anahtar Kelimeler

New media literacies, Social media skills, New media literacy assessment, Digital literacies, Measuring new literacies

Kaynakça

• Belshaw, D.A.J. (2011). What is ‘digital literacy’? A pragmatic investigation. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Durham University, Durham, UK. Retrieved on 21 August 2012 from http://neverendingthesis.com/doug-belshaw-edd-thesis-final.pdf
• Binark, M., Bayraktutan Sutcu, G., & Bucakci, F. (2009). How Turkish young people utilize Internet cafes: The results of ethnographic research in Ankara. Observatorio (OBS*) Journal, 3(1), 286-310.
• Cohen, C.J., & Kahne, J. (2012). Participatory politics: New media and youth political action. Chicago, IL: MacArthur Network on Youth and Participatory Politics. Retrieved on 2 October 2012 from http://ypp.dmlcentral.net/sites/all/files/publications/YPP_Survey_ Report_FULL.pdf
• Coiro, J., Knobel, M., Lankshear, C., & Leu, D.J. (2008). Central issues in new literacies and new literacies research. In J. Coiro, M. Knobel, C. Lankshear, & D. Leu (Eds.), The handbook of research on new literacies (pp. 1-21). New York, NY: Routledge.
• Davies, A., Fidler, D., & Gorbis, M. (2011). Future world skills 2020. Palo Alto, CA: Institute for the Future for Apollo Research Institute. Retrieved on 12 September 2012 from http://apolloresearchinstitute.com/sites/default/files/future_work_skills_2020_full_res earch_report_final_1.pdf
• Gee, J.P. (2010). New digital media and learning as an emerging area and “worked examples” as one way forward. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
• Giroux, H.A. (2000). Cultural politics and the crisis of the university. Culture Machine, 2, 1-23. Retrieved on 12 July 2012 from http://www.culturemachine.net/index.php/cm/ article/view/309/294
• Hobbs, R. (2010). Digital and media literacy: A plan of action. Washington, DC: The Aspen Institute. Retrieved on 2 December 2011 from http://www.knightcomm.org/ wpcontent/uploads/2010/12/Digital_and_Media_Literacy_A_Plan_of_Action.pdf
• International ICT Literacy Panel. (2002, May). Digital transformation: A framework for ICT literacy. Retrieved on 15 May 2012 from http://www.ets.org/Media/Tests/Information_ and_Communication_Technology_Literacy/ictreport.pdf
• Jenkins, H., Clinton, K., Purushatma, R., Robison, A., & Weigel, M. (2006). Confronting the challenges of a participatory culture: Media education for the 21st century. Chicago, IL: MacArthur Foundation. Retrieved on 12 November 2011 from http://digitallearning. macfound.org/atf/cf/%7B7E45C7E0-A3E0-4B89-AC9C-E807E1B0AE4E%7D/JENKINS_ WHITE_PAPER.PDF
• Kellner, D. (2002). New technologies / new literacies: Restructuring education for a new millennium. In L. A. Lievrouw & S. Livingstone (Eds.), Handbook of New Media (pp.90- 104). London: Sage. Retrieved on 27 February 2012 from http://pages.gseis.ucla.edu/ faculty/kellner/essays/newtechnologiesnewliteracies.pdf
• Kellner, D., & Share, J. (2005). Toward critical media literacy: Core concepts, debates, organizations and policy. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 26(3), 369–386.
• Kellner, D., & Share, J. (2007) Critical media literacy, democracy, and the reconstruction of education. In D. Macedo & S.R. Steinberg (Eds.), Media literacy: A reader (pp. 3-23). New York: Peter Lang.
• Leu, D. J., Zawilinski, L., Castek, J., Banerjee, M., Housand, B.C., Liu, Y., & O’Neil, M. (2007). What is new about the new literacies of online reading comprehension? In L. Rush, J. Eakle, & A. Berger (Eds.), Secondary school literacy: What research reveals for classroom practices. (pp.37-68). Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.
• Literat, I. (2011). Measuring new media literacies: Towards the development of a comprehensive assessment tool. Paper presented at Teachers College Educational Technology Conference (TCETC). New York, NY.
• Livingstone, S. (2005). Media literacy – challenges ahead. Westminster Media Forum, Implementing Media Literacy: Empowerment, Participation and Responsibility. Millbank, London. Retrieved 8 July 2012 from http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/551/1/Westminster- Implementing-Literacy.pdf
• Simsek, E. & Simsek, A. (2012, May). New literacies for digital citizenship. Paper presented at the International Conference on Communication, Media, Technolog,y and Design. Istanbul, Turkey.
• TUIK. [Turkish Statistical Institute]. (2012). Hanehalkı bilişim teknolojileri araştırması. Retrieved on 15 September 2012 from http://www.tuik.gov.tr/PreTablo.do?alt_id=60
• Correspondence: Jale Balaban-Sali, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Communication Sciences,
• Anadolu University, Yunus Emre Campus, Eskisehir, Turkey