Making New Media: Creative Production and Digital Literacies (New Literacies and Digital Epistemologies) Hardcover – 1 Jan 2009

With a mediascape dominated by various forms of social networking, digital authoring technologies and video editing, how might media educators make the shift and interpret the semiotics of creating new media?

UK scholar Andrew Burn seeks to answer this question. In his book, "Making New Media: Creative Production and Digital Literacies," Burn looks at pop culture and social semiotics: in other words, the signs related to the process of creating new media in classrooms. It is a book filled with case studies of student projects and teacher assessments, garnered through Burn's 10 years of study. His goal is to learn about the future of digital media by looking at the past. Burn notes that the concept of new media--in and of itself--presents particular challenges, as by definition it is a recent development and one that educators are still learning themselves.

Each case study examines both the creation of the new media and student responses, verbal and written, to their own work. Chapter 2 deals with the digital isolation of images from film, which Burn says builds on literacies of visual semiotics. In Chapter 3, high school teens make movie trailers for Hitchcock's "Psycho" using digital editing software. Burn says this activity illustrates the literary process of selection, as each student's choice of shots and sequencing is wrapped in socio-cultural meanings. Students read film like texts, using a new vocabulary of digital media. Chapter 4 features primary school children making their own computer animations: drawing up storyboards and working with secondary school students to transfer work online. This too shows the semiotic choices of children, who Burns calls the new digital reader/writers. In Chapter 5, a Year 11 group makes short films of poems; this depicts the interactions between students and media texts through new technologies. Burn interviews children about the differences between book, film and video game interpretations of a "Harry Potter" book in Chapter 6. The following two chapters of Burn's book, 7 and 8, focus upon students making video games in secondary schools (one basing his game on Homer's "The Odyssey") and a teacher's exploration of Second Life in her classroom. Both chapters are about finding new creative spaces in which children can grow.

Burn argues that media education can level out the playing field for young people, allowing them to more easily access culture and different technologies. Like many other media educators and advocates, he too is making the argument that media studies in general create better thinkers and more analytical students--by harnessing technologies youth already use and understand.

I found this 150-page book cumbersome at first, as the introductory chapter was laden with Greek philosophy references and some psychoanalysis. For a book claiming to be about the creation process, it seemed theory heavy, devoid of practical application, and slightly highfalutin. But, the book quickly picked up after the first chapter as it dove into the specific case studies. These case studies were incredibly interesting, as they gave readers a sense of what went on in the minds of students during all steps of the creation process. One amazing aspect of the book is the discussion of sheer advancements in curriculum embraced by UK schools. Each case study details an incredible new media project, with the most incredible aspect being that primary school or secondary school-age children and teens do them. The thought of elementary students working on animation, or high schoolers designing video games, is inspiring for educators. But, Burn also says projects such as these give students a sense of excitement and achievement. Student responses in this book are a testament to this; they are articulate and telling of a high level of comprehension. Thus, new media projects seem to be a win-win for educators and students alike, fostering a great learning experience on both ends of the spectrum.