News from the Co-Presidents
As autumn approaches, we want to share exciting developments about our organization with you. Allison Butler and I have been elected to serve as the new co-presidents of ACME. Along with fellow board members, we are honored and delighted to serve as ACME leaders, and would like to hear from all of you about how to best steer our organization in the right direction. We wish you continued success with your media education efforts. Please help us grow and expand by sharing ACME news within your social and professional circles. Also, we want to share your news, so please send us your stories, events, and newsworthy items for upcoming issues.
Have a productive and enjoyable Fall!
--Julie Frechette
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Mark Your Calendar for Upcoming Events
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This year, we are fortunate to have several upcoming media literacy events, with the first one scheduled for September 22-24, 2017: The Weave News 10th Anniversary Conference: Citizen Journalism as Activism: From Local to Global. Weave News will host a special conference at St. Lawrence University (Canton, NY) to mark its 10th anniversary of grassroots media making. The conference will spotlight work in investigative citizen journalism and critical media education, and will feature a series of hands-on workshops designed to help attendees develop key investigative and multimedia skills that are part of the citizen journalist toolbox. In addition to insightful panel sessions and presentations by several ACME board members, including a keynote by Bill Yousman, the event promises to be a dynamic weekend of learning, networking, and activism to bring back to your communities. We hope to see you there!
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As you prepare your educational and community work, make sure to plan for this year’s Media Literacy Week. Media Literacy Week is an annual event that takes place every November, with this year marked for November 7-10th. Co-led by MediaSmarts and the Canadian Teachers’ Federation, and branching out throughout the U.S., the week puts a spotlight on the importance of digital and media literacy as a key component of the education of children and young people. Join us in working with schools, libraries, and educational associations and organizations to inspire creative and innovative approaches to inform and engage youths in media literacy education and advocacy. The official theme of Media Literacy Week 2017 is Inclusion in a Connected World: A Place and a Voice for Everyone. The goal is to promote ways for diverse voices, perspectives and talents to participate in and enrich media and digital spaces. Help ACME promote your events and activities by sharing them with us! |
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 Mark your calendars for the February 2018 Critical Media Literacy Conference in Savannah, Georgia. This year, ACME will be a proud co-sponsor of the annual conference to be held at the Coastal Georgia Center. Look for forthcoming details here, on our website, and on our Facebook page.
On April 20-21, 2018, The Screen Time Program will host a conference at Wheelock College in Boston, Massachusetts to help mobilize parents and teachers in favor of screen time reductions. According to Jean Rogers, Program Manager at Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC), the goal will be to “teach and learn about new initiatives, programming, and proven methodology to reduce excessive screen use and restore healthy child development. " Watch for developments here and across our digital platforms.
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Media Literacy Resources
We encourage you to connect media literacy education to the current political issues facing our nation. With hateful displays of neo-fascism and misogyny appearing in a variety of communities and online places, our collective media literacy efforts and ACME spirit is needed now more than ever. A key difference between hate groups of the past and those of today is the way that people organize, connect on- and offline, and raise funds. Hate groups now crowdsource fundraising for events like the one in Charlottesville, Virginia. Moving beyond the analysis of individual messages and texts, we need to work together to help students understand the digital ecology in which these groups move. Here are some important resources we’d like to share with you:
#CharlottesvilleCurricullum features a number of resources to teach about the current socio-political issues facing the country.
The Southern Poverty Law Center offers a useful guide to oppose hate.
In this brief Associated Press (AP) blog, learn about the AP’s new policy on using the term "alt-right" which many believe is a euphemism for fascist and nationalist hate groups. This article also tackles the newly introduced and questionable term "alt-left."
This final resource features Elle Reeve, the incredibly brave journalist/documentarian from HBO’s Vice Media report/video that went viral. The piece is a short documentary film about what happened in Charlottesville, Virginia, Reeves describes the changing "aesthetic" of the white nationalist movement and the new rhetorical they are engaging in as they try to take their movement into the mainstream.
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