Project New Media Literacies has produced videos to help teach kids how new media creators go about creating. The MacArthur Foundation, an NML sponsor, featured the videos on its Spotlight on Digital Media and Learning blog:
In the challenge “Expressing Characters across Multimedia,” youth practice the skill of “transmedia navigation” by first learning about storytelling, and then watching a video with NBC’s Heroes creators Mark Warshaw and Jessie Alexander. The two discuss how they use the characters in the show across different media, such as in a graphic novel or even through toys.
Students then explore how the character Claire Bennett navigates and is featured in different media platforms, including the television show, in her Myspace account, and as an image in a graphic novel.
“Originally the video collection was somewhat static,” says Anna van Someren, Creative Manager, Project New Media Literacies. “But we’ve pushed it a lot farther now. We wanted to move toward a new framework – the Learning Library – that allows users to interact with the material. It’s a much more community-based, dynamic experience now.”