The Journal of Media Literacy Spring 2026 Issue

McLuhan Mosaic

Co-edited by Neil Andersen, Carol Arcus, Antonio Lopez, Andrew McLuhan 

Call for Proposals

As communications media multiply at a dizzying pace, the need for media literacy education has never been more urgent. The rise of generative artificial intelligence has captured the public imagination—and, in many cases, sparked a moral panic. News headlines and commentators seem jubilant in their alarmist chorus: “The sky is falling!”

It’s a moment that brings to mind the ironic response of Marcus Yallow, the protagonist in Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother, who quips: “When in trouble or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout.” But neither Marcus nor Cory follow that advice. Instead, they dig in: research, reflect, and take thoughtful action; that’s what today’s media literacy educators must do.

Thankfully, to borrow from Renee Hobbs, we have our media literacy ancestors to draw inspiration from to support thoughtful action in the current moment. In particular, Marshall McLuhan–and in the collaborative writings with his son Eric–went beyond the moral panics wrought by the rise of mass media in the post-war years. Avoiding moral judgements, they wanted to understand media and their various forms according to what they afford and constrain. To paraphrase a McLuhan quip, freaking out about media content is meat for the guard dogs. New communication technologies are inherently disruptive (one can go as far back as Socrates’ lament about how alphabetic writing would destroy memory) and we are in danger of misunderstanding them if we privilege one kind of media over the other (such as print vs. electronic, books vs. TV). In his best known work from 1964, Understanding Media, Marshall McLuhan was doing what all good media educators do: he made the familiar strange. This is precisely what he did with everyday media, even getting us to see what we take for granted, such as the light bulb, as also a kind of media. Astute readers will note that the second half of Understanding Media is actually a series of short lessons about various types of media, from radio to clothing. The basis of those chapters was a media literacy curriculum that he was commissioned to produce in the 1950s by Washington DC’s National Association of Educational Broadcasters. As media literacy ancestors in training, we seek inspiration in the McLuhans to reconnect (and perhaps reboot) our own thinking about media education in an age of surveillance capitalism, artificial intelligence, crypto currencies, climate disinformation, digital platforms, and so on. In one important  example, the tetrad of media effects promoted by the McLuhans in Laws of Media (1988) remains a relevant analytical tool whose application is timeless.

In media literacy discourses, especially about emerging media and communications technologies, the McLuhans are conspicuously forgotten and their names are absent in the citations of media literacy research.That absence is more than an oversight—it’s a tragic loss because their ideas offer clarity and practical insight for people trying to make sense of and navigate the digital media environments. Concepts like media environments, hot & cool media, acoustic space, the global village, the tetrad, technological determinism, media ecology and media effects are not just historical artefacts—they remain powerful tools for students, teachers, and anyone striving to understand and navigate their relationships in our complex, mediated world.

In the spirit of honoring our multiple media literacy ancestors, this JML issue aims to explore ways that media literate thinking can respond to evolving communication environments – from the foundational insights of McLuhan, Neil Postman, Raymond Williams, and Stuart Hall and others, to accelerating developments that are reshaping the field. Let us also not forget the foundational contributions of bell hooks, Edward Said, and Laura Mulvey for expanding and including historically marginalized populations into media debates.

Key themes may include how technologies shape and are shaped by society, the challenges and possibilities introduced by artificial intelligence, the influence of digital environments on human development, and the importance of ensuring safe and healthy media experiences for children. The issue also highlights transformative pedagogies and the politics of authorship and expression in a digital era shaped by algorithms, remix culture, and platform economies. It will also entertain post-McLuhan developments in media literacy education. 

This call is inclusive of the teachers, academics, researchers, media practitioners and community organizers that make up the media literacy community.

Please address any, or a combination, of the following. (Possibilities are not limited to this list):

1. Media Theory and Historical Foundations

• How might the foundational ideas of media theorists, e.g., McLuhan, Postman, Williams, Hall, and/or Kuhn, and/or others, continue to shape — or challenge — our understanding of changing media environments?
• To what extent might the McLuhans’ ideas of media environments, hot & cool media, acoustic space, the global village, the tetrad, technological determinism, media ecology and media effects shape our relationships with the 21st century media environment?
• Are traditional media effects theories still relevant and should they remain a part of media education pedagogies?

2. AI, Power Dynamics, and the Future of Technology

• How might the rise of AI challenge traditional ideas of identity, labor, and/or democratic participation in cultural and political contexts?
• How might current uses of AI in governance, surveillance, and information systems raise ethical dilemmas, and how might society (governments, educators, citizens) respond?
• How might philosophical and cross-cultural perspectives help us rethink what it means to be human in an era increasingly challenged by artificial intelligence experiences?

3. Media, Cognition, and Human Development

• How might current media environments shape perception, learning, and consciousness throughout the stages of human development?
• What might be the cognitive and developmental impacts of growing up in increasingly virtual, algorithm-driven media environments?
• How might children’s rights to safe and healthy digital experiences be asserted?

4. Education, Pedagogy, and Critical Media Literacy

• How might media literacy pedagogies be integrated into education and/or teacher education?  
• How might inquiry-based and/or social justice-oriented approaches reshape media education pedagogy?
• What changes are needed to support transformative teaching today?
• In what ways might evolving media theories be transforming the goals, methods, and ethics of media education? 

5. Expression, Creativity, and Authorship in the Digital Environments

• What might be the consequences of algorithms shaping whose creative expressions are seen, valued, or monetized online?
• Who owns digital content once it is shared or remixed, and how might this affect how we define creativity and ownership today?
• How might digital platforms and tools shape the way we express ourselves—and what limitations or possibilities might they introduce?
• How might we develop and activate agency in our production, use, and interpretations of media and media messaging today?

Manuscript Format Options:

The JML Editorial Team encourages a variety of types of submissions for this issue. Please consider any of the following formats for your responses to the above call:

• Multimedia works – videos, animations, recorded productions, infographics/diagrams/drawings/photos, podcasts, songs and sound stories 
• Interviews or conversations 
• Scholarly works (original research, reports and briefings, case studies, action research)
• Personal reflections, stories, blog posts, journals, reviews

To Submit a Proposal:

Proposal due date: September 29th, 2025.

If interested, please submit a brief expression of interest that includes: a tentative title, author(s), abstract (250 words), and description of manuscript format, using this Google form. 

We hope you will contribute to the success of this special issue!

Calendar of Publication:

September 29th, 2025 – Proposals due

October 27th, 2025 – Acceptance notifications go out to authors

January 12th, 2026 – Final submission of completed manuscript with abstract, keywords, authors’ headshot, bio, thumbnail image, and any other necessary images/graphics/files – see Author Guidelines on our website.

Jan 12th – Feb 22nd, 2026 – Editorial committee reviews and works with authors on final edits

February 22nd – March 31st, 2026 – Layout and journal design work, final looks by authors and editors

April 13th, 2026 – Publication Date