Reflections from the JML Editorial Team:
Karen Ambrosh, Belinha De Abreu, Hannah Conner, and Grace Msauki
IC4ML has just published its fifth online issue of The Journal of Media Literacy (JML) since transforming from a print journal for over fifty years. With the help of courageous guest editors and creative authors willing to share their work in different ways, we are beginning to reach our goal of making JML a more fluid interactive space for all voices, bridging academia to action. We want to create space for thoughtful conversations that allow for incompleteness, discomfort, and complexity.
Our editorial management team came together on Zoom to discuss the process, structure, and results of this past year’s work on the issue Media and Information Literacy: Enriching the Teacher/Librarian Dialogue. The yearlong process of bringing a journal issue to publication is an invaluable learning journey for us that we would like to share with you.
Early in the process, we invited David Buckingham to lead our Advisory Council in a discussion based on a provocative blog he wrote the previous year (see the YouTube video), which then became part of the issue as a written dialogue between David and several responders.
Belinha pointed out that she appreciated the way in which we delved into the questions that people were ruminating about.
“Having David’s blog as our jumping off point was excellent because he really poked holes into some of the ideas that people perceived to be true about media literacy and information literacy, and then provided even more perspective that I think was necessary for us to move forward. That really fired up and engaged the advisory board, as well as a number of people who are really interested in delving into these topics. So I love the idea of starting with a question that is controversial, that maybe puts us into an uncomfortable dialogue, but we’re willing to have those uncomfortable moments to get to someplace good, which is, I think, where we actually got to with this journal. Very good, in fact.”
Hannah got excited about this process too.
“I like that our journal destabilizes some of the conventions and assumptions we’ve made about information literacy and media literacy, but it also brings people in. So not only are we stirring it up a bit and problematizing things that we haven’t considered before, but we’re also calling people into this conversation. I think that is what is especially valuable about the work that’s being done through JML.”
Grace was new to IC4ML and the JML, coming to us through a fellowship this year. She joined us for the Advisory Council discussion, submitted an article with her colleague from Zimbabwe, and then assisted on the production of the journal while in her fellowship in Milwaukee. She states,
“I’m so glad that I came while this journal was being produced, all the way through the whole publication process. It was a different experience for me because the term that I was really more acquainted with was UNESCO’s ‘media and information literacy’. Through reading all of these articles by the different authors, I’ve come to see things from a different angle, looking at media literacy and information literacy from a more critical angle. Now I know the foundations of the different disciplines, which is actually a good thing, because that’s the only way that we can come to the point of actually seeing where we are going.”
The message that came through from all of the authors in this issue is that there are many ways of looking at the world and we have to be ready to apply multiple lenses or frameworks to truly see the complexity of today’s media and information landscape. Those of us in the field of media literacy education need to lead the way by opening ourselves up to these complexities, embracing the struggle that comes with growth and change, because it is in that struggle that the best things come forth.
One struggle we have been facing as a Journal is that we are not a peer reviewed publication and we can’t seem to break through the wall of being accepted by Google Scholar, a necessary component for many up and coming academics who want to write for us. With this issue, we specifically asked for articles in different formats to help bridge our journal with a wider audience of practitioners, teachers, activists, media producers, etc. We were excited to receive more creative dialogue pieces, opinion pieces, a podcast, a photo essay, and scholarly videos. Our editorial team discussed how these kinds of articles strengthened the conversation and helped us solidify why we might want to live outside of the academic journal structure.
Belinha described why she has a problem with the peer review process at times.
“We abandon some amazing ideas sometimes because someone, somewhere deems it not enough. We want to allow for all representations to exist which also allows for an incompleteness of ideas, yet they are well thought out, well considered ideas. We want our audience to be everyone, the academic, the practitioner, the media producer, and the engaged citizen. We want a more free space for all voices.”
Hannah pointed out that authors Guldin and Morrison while talking about breaking down the silos of academia (with sledgehammers if possible), showed how academic authority can inhibit new voices by making them think they are not enough or are not prepared to share in those spaces. They called for more critical MIL work to empower students to take action and see their own potential as producers of information and thought. Hannah noticed,
“It is interesting that IC4ML and JML are sort of trying to exemplify that call to action in the way we offer students blog space and allow for more representative voices in our journal through a conversational journal structure. And isn’t that the goal of media literacy education?”
IC4ML has been thrilled to receive more submissions and requests to collaborate from northern and southern Africa due to the connections made through our interns Safa Sadeddine from Algeria and Grace Msauki from Zimbabwe. Grace and her colleague, Nancy Kwangwa shared the MIL work that is going on in Sub-Saharan Africa right now in their article. Grace said,
“People will feel more inclined to engage with our journal when they know that they will be represented well and listened to from their point of view.”
We know we need to continue to build that trust with our audience and we are grateful for the opportunity begun through these fellowships.
The battle of thought needs to continue with many questions still unanswered. IC4ML is poised and ready to take on this challenge with the help of you, our readers, our authors, and our contributors. Please engage with us by reading, sharing, and responding. Let’s work through the discomfort that comes with incomplete answers and complexities that make living in today’s media and information landscape a joyous chaotic challenge!
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