{"id":8145,"date":"2025-08-24T09:56:16","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T14:56:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ic4ml.org\/?p=8145"},"modified":"2025-08-24T09:56:25","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T14:56:25","slug":"the-journal-of-media-literacy-spring-2026-issue-mcluhan-mosaic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ic4ml.org\/pt-pt\/blogs\/the-journal-of-media-literacy-spring-2026-issue-mcluhan-mosaic\/","title":{"rendered":"The Journal of Media Literacy Spring 2026 Issue: McLuhan Mosaic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Journal of Media Literacy Spring 2026 Issue<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

McLuhan Mosaic<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Co-edited by Neil Andersen, Carol Arcus, Antonio Lopez, Andrew McLuhan\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Call for Proposals<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2014and, in many cases, sparked a moral panic. News headlines and commentators seem jubilant in their alarmist chorus: \u201cThe sky is falling!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a moment that brings to mind the ironic response of Marcus Yallow, the protagonist in Cory Doctorow\u2019s Little Brother<\/em>, who quips: \u201cWhen in trouble or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout.\u201d But neither Marcus nor Cory follow that advice. Instead, they dig in: research, reflect, and take thoughtful action; that\u2019s what today\u2019s media literacy educators must do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2013and in the collaborative writings with his son Eric\u2013went 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\u2019 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<\/em>, 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<\/em> 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\u2019s 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<\/em> (1988) remains a relevant analytical tool whose application is timeless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2014it\u2019s 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<\/em>, hot & cool media<\/em>, acoustic space<\/em>, the global village<\/em>, the tetrad,<\/em> technological determinism<\/em>, media ecology <\/em>and media effects<\/em> are not just historical artefacts\u2014they remain powerful tools for students, teachers, and anyone striving to understand and navigate their relationships in our complex, mediated world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the spirit of honoring our multiple media literacy ancestors, this JML<\/em> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This call is inclusive of the teachers, academics, researchers, media practitioners and community organizers that make up the media literacy community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Please address any, or a combination, of the following. (Possibilities are not limited to this list):<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Media Theory and Historical Foundations<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n