Exploring the roots of digital and media literacy through personal narrative

264 Pages·2016·9.79 MB·English

by  Hobbs, Renee

Exploring the Roots
of Digital and Media Literacy
through Personal Narrative

Exploring the Roots
of Digital and Media Literacy
through Personal Narrative
Renee Hobbs
Edited by
TEMPLE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Philadelphia  •  Rome  •  Tokyo
TEMPLE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19122
www.temple.edu/tempress
Copyright © 2016 by Temple University—Of The Commonwealth System
of Higher Education
All rights reserved
Published 2016
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Hobbs, Renee, editor.
Title: Exploring the roots of digital and media literacy through personal narrative
/ edited by Renee Hobbs.
Description: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania : Temple University Press, 2016. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015039689| ISBN 9781439911570 (hardback : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9781439911587 (paperback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781439911594 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: Media literacy. | Digital media. | Mass media—Philosophy.
| Digital media—Philosophy. | Mass media and culture. | Mass media in
education. | Scholars—Biography. | Intellectuals—Biography. | BISAC:
SOCIAL SCIENCE / Media Studies. | EDUCATION / Computers &
Technology.
Classification: LCC P96.M4 E87 2016 | DDC 302.23—dc23 LC record available at
http://lccn.loc.gov/2015039689
The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed
Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992
Printed in the United States of America
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Introduction ■ Renee Hobbs 1
1 Historical Roots of Media Literacy ■ Renee Hobbs 9
2 David Weinberger on Martin Heidegger
■ David Weinberger 37
3 Lance Strate on Marshall McLuhan ■ Lance Strate 49
4 Dana Polan on Roland Barthes ■ Dana Polan 66
5 Cynthia Lewis on Mikhail Bakhtin ■ Cynthia Lewis 77
6 Srividya Ramasubramanian on Gordon Allport
■ Srividya Ramasubramanian 85
7 Michael RobbGrieco on Michel Foucault
■ Michael RobbGrieco 94
8 Gianna Cappello on Theodor Adorno ■ Gianna Cappello 107
9 Douglas Kellner on Herbert Marcuse ■ Douglas Kellner 126
vi \ Contents
10 Henry Jenkins on John Fiske ■ Henry Jenkins 138
11 Amy Petersen Jensen on Bertolt Brecht
■ Amy Petersen Jensen 153
12 Donna E. Alvermann on Simone de Beauvoir
■ Donna E. Alvermann 161
13 Jeremiah Dyehouse on John Dewey ■ Jeremiah Dyehouse 170
14 Renee Hobbs on Jerome Bruner ■ Renee Hobbs 180
15 Vanessa Domine on Neil Postman ■ Vanessa Domine 197
16 Peter Gutierrez on Scott McCloud ■ Peter Gutierrez 208
17 Susan Moeller on Roland Barthes ■ Susan Moeller 222
Epilogue ■ Renee Hobbs 233
Contributors 237
Index 243
Exploring the Roots
of Digital and Media Literacy
through Personal Narrative

Introduction
RENEE HOBBS
I
f you’re lucky enough to have known your genetic grandparents,
you may have heard stories about their life experiences, which
may be entertaining, amusing, or just strange. If you’re really
lucky, your grandparents may shed insight on your culture and your
values, reflecting the recent past as experienced in ordinary life. Once
in a while, our grandparents may help us understand our own par-
ents and even our own lives. I am lucky to have known three of my
four grandparents, who were hard-working children of immigrants
living in Minersville, Pennsylvania, raising families and working in
the coal fields and dress factories of the region. Although I remember
some marvelous stories about their struggles and adventures in the
Roaring Twenties, I wish I had been able to know my grandparents
better. But they lived far away, and our family had only limited con-
tact with them while I was growing up.
My intellectual grandparents, on the other hand, are people I feel
that I know quite well. Even though I have only encountered them in
books, their ideas resonate deeply with my own experiences, dreams,
and ideas. Because I’m an inveterate reader, of course, many authors
and creative people have influenced my thinking—not just when I
was young but throughout my life. I feel like I have spent the better