By Mindy Faber
Over the last few decades, the proliferation of low cost digital media production tools has given rise to an expanding number of after-school programs that use digital media to engage young people in art, organizing, journalism, citizenship and leadership development. The explosion of this this new media is redefining how youth learn, create, and participate in the public sphere.
Although the issue of youth and their relation to the media is taking on a new sense of urgency among educators, policy-makers and social researchers, especially in the context of the recently proposed 21st Century Community Learning Center budget cuts, research on the topic is still difficult to find.
Featuring the work of the MIT/MacArthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning Initiative, Center for Media Justice, Pew Internet and American Life Project, Free Expression Policy Project, Open Society Institute, Stuart Foundation, and many more, some of the topics researched in the body of work, housed together for the first time, include:
–Findings on the positive impact of after-school programs, the budget for which President Bush has recently proposed a cut of over 50%, despite findings which prove they bring about greater parental involvement in school, student engagement, and student commitment to homework
–An analysis of how young people are using new media to participate in the electoral process
–A study of the digital divide between immigrant youth and their native-born peers
–An examination of policy concerning intellectual copyright, network neutrality, and radio deregulation, each of which give shape to young people’s ability to access information and participate in mainstream discourse
–Case studies of effective youth media programs within the United States and abroad
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IssueLab is an online publishing forum for nonprofit research. Our mission is to more effectively archive, distribute and promote the extensive and diverse body of work being produced by the third sector. For more information, please contact Sarah Macaraeg at 312-315-8476 or sarah@issuelab.org; or visit www.issuelab.org.