A Civic Media Literacy Toolkit

Civic IDEA is a media literacy intervention to help build the capacity of youth to be more engaged citizens through the creation and distribution of media. Civic IDEA incorporates accessible technologies and a focus on connecting critical inquiry with active engagement in daily life. Youth who engage with the IDEA framework will learn to identify and investigate issues, deliberate around their values, express alternative narratives to current messages, and advocate for communities and issues that matter.

Incorporating Dynamic Tools Into the Learning Process

Each module in the IDEA framework-Investigate, Deliberate, Express, and Advocate-is anchored by an interactive digital learning tool and series of activity guides that facilitate fun and creative inquiries. Databasic is a simple online tool that allows users to quickly analyze data sets, look for correlations, and create visualizations and connections. @Stake is a mobile role playing game that enables small groups to deliberate about civic issues they define themselves. MediaBreaker allows youth to input and remix visual content to express themselves in relation to mainstream media narratives. Emerging Citizens encourages civic advocacy through popular social media modalities, such as Twitter, Wikipedia and memes.

Collectively, the tools and guides move learners from critical inquiry to active engagement and participation in daily civic life.

Project Team

Principle Investigators

Paul Mihailidis
Eric Gordon

Project Manager

Gabe Mugar

Lead Developer

Johnny Richardson

Lead Designer

Courtney Lord

Design Assistant

Makenna Gordon

Research Assistants

Lauren Stott
Lindsy Goldberg