Citizenship and The Media

The media and citizenship study group includes academics, educators and cultural professionals working in art and community media institutions throughout Vancouver. This group explores critical visual cultures and literacies that are crucial for developing possibilities for change and renewal in a time of new digital media ecologies. Today, new participatory cultures are taking shape that exploit the opportunities and affordances made available through information technologies. This is encouraging and yet the ongoing development of alternative forms of cultural expression that deepen and enrich public life depends on the development of a whole new set of abilities that enable communities to operate in and exploit the possibilities offered by new media. This group is concerned to map these abilities by examining alternative forms of digital media practice. Our goal is to make clear the kinds of critical media literacies that are central for enabling digital citizenship today.