The real power in the media landscape

Mobile phones are a key device in the lives of students, for whom interactive technologies are entertainment, identity maintenance and communication devices all at the same time. The ownership of games consoles is remarkable as well, given that most of respondents were young women (65 per cent education and 77 per cent communication). In a world where games are increasingly moving into areas beyond pure entertainment, any shift of gender bias towards game-playing is significant.

Of course with this access come problems. The more that can be put out on the web, the more rubbish, junk and worse material will proliferate. Teachers have a responsibility here, to educate students to look critically at the materials they are consuming on daily: perhaps more importantly to give them the tools of creation and show them how to use them effectively. The typewriter of the 1950's is the video camera and computer of the new millennium. And like the pen, young people need to learn and be taught how to use new technologies creatively and critically.

The well-documented slide of audiences for television and cinema is partly explained by the growth in the culture of participation. While in the past young people have consumed film and television they now, have the first realistic chance of making media and they are learning to do this in their classrooms.

The participatory nature of modern media is a profound challenge to media monopolies. This contemporary do it yourself media culture comes with its dangers but it also offers ways to presenting diverse views to international audiences. This provides serious opportunities for educators, as national and international learning collaboration becomes feasible. What this makes possible today is that film being shot by your 12-year-old daughter could be shown to international audiences tomorrow, perhaps this is where the real power lies in the new media landscape?