Review: Project New Media Literacies (2005)

As new media increases in the public and education spheres, it is essential that our educators are able to both incorporate new media into the classroom and provide students with the tools needed to actively participate in the media creation and production processes.Project New Media Literacies (NML) (http://new-medialiteracies.org/),formerly of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and now housed at USC's Annenberg School of Communication, answers this call.Launched in 2005 with funding from the MacArthur Foundation (as part of the Digital Media and Learning Initiative,) NML incorporates strategies, lesson plans, blogs and more into their learning platform, with the hopes of creating a living document that is helpful to all educators, regardless of the subject matter. 1 At NML's core is the desire to "equip young people with the social skills and cultural competencies required to become full participants in an emergent media landscape and raise public understanding about what it means to be literate in a globally interconnected, multicultural world." 2 In other words, the project attempts to not only teach students how to analyze the media but also, how to participate in our new mediated world.NML must be applauded in their request for a restructuring of the education system, with respect to media literacy education: "We believe that the New Media Literacies need to be integrated across the curriculum -not as an added-on subject, but as a paradigm shift in how we teach and think about traditional school content.Each discipline needs to take ownership of those skills which are central to doing research in their area."3 New media is an integral part of both our society and the learning process; therefore, it is es-