Re-visiting the Australian Media Arts curriculum for digital media literacy education

This paper re-visits the Media Arts curriculum 10 years after initial discussions within the Australian Media Education community helped to shape the content and contexts for teaching about media in Australian schools. 10 years is a long time in media history, particularly with the rise of social media and digital platforms as major venues for entertainment, information dispersal and social, cultural and political discourse. Media Arts was developed towards the end of the 2000s, when the focus in media literacy research was on ‘participatory culture’—the idea that digital media allowed almost anyone to be a media producer and consumer. In this context, Media Arts’ focus was on identifying the knowledge and skills young Australians required to creatively and productively participate in media culture. The use of digital media in society in the 2010s, however, drew attention to many of the problematic consequences of digital participation, including the ambiguous role of the digital platforms in mediating social and culture discourse. This paper investigates what should be updated in future versions of the Media Arts curriculum, particularly to respond to challenges such as disinformation, the media industries’ shift in power from Hollywood to Silicon Valley, and the impact of algorithmic culture on creative participation. The paper argues that while is it important for young people to develop creative and practical skills to make their own media, it is just as important for them to think critically about the technological contexts of digital media production, distribution and use, and its impacts on society and individuals.