CfP for the journal “Media Studies”: Special issue on "Critical insights in European media literacy research and policy"

Guest editors: Sonia Livingstone, María del Mar Grandío, Tao Papaioannou, and Christine Wijnen

In a mediated and digital world, theoretical and pedagogical ambitions for media literacy among audiences are often huge with the promotion of media literacy holding out promises of critical literacy, democratic engagement and participatory culture. However, these ambitions for media literacy have often met with insufficient resources, a lack of policy commitment and problems of measurement. The Task Force on “Audience and Media Literacy” of the Cost Action “Transforming Audiences, Transforming Societies” would like to invite contributions to a special issue of the academic journal Media Studies, dedicated to the themes of new theoretical insights in media literacy research as well as methodological, pedagogical and policy challenges in the European context.

Framing media literacy within audience studies, this special issue seeks original empirical studies or new theoretical perspectives on conceptual, measurement or policy issues. Topics of interests include, but are not limited to the following:

• To what extent audiences can be seen as media-savvy?
• Is media literacy the same across all media?
• Are citizens audiovisually and digitally literate so as to be able to handle sensibly whatever the media expose them to?
• What kind of educational model is now adequate?
• What measures should the educational authorities take in the field of Media Education?
• What kind of policies should be encouraged from both national and European level?
• What resources underline media literacy and how could these be further developed?
• What kind of research methodology should be applied to measure the citizens’ skills on the new platforms?
• How can European research on media literacy best promote dialogue across academic, policy and industry stakeholders?

Deadline for the submission of long abstract: 31 January 2012

The full CfP, including submission guidelines, is available in attachment to this webpage.