Use Video Camera Like a Pencil – A Blog Like a Textbook

Today during our lunch break at the “Create, Make and Learn Institute”, I picked up a copy of the July – August September 2014 newsletter of the Peace and Justice Center in Burlington, Vermont. The newsletter includes an article by Dr. Rob Williams, board president of ACME: Action Coalition for Media Education, titled, “Fight for the Light! A response to the film Shadows of Liberty.” Rob advocates media literacy education for students and citizens of all ages for multiple reasons. I like how he juxtaposes video cameras and pencils, along with blogs and textbooks in his article. In response to the question, “What should we do” in the face of journalism in dominated by the “Lords of the Cloud (Facebook, Amazon, Google, and Apple)” he wrote:

First, promote cradle-to-grave media literacy education in every classroom and community; every thinking citizen must be taught how to “read and write” across multiple media platforms, in keeping with the most enlightened of the Framers’ emphasis on public education and the importance of virtuous citizenship. Students should know how to use a video camera as well as a pencil, and a blog platform as easily as a textbook.