Conversation Starters
The Core Theme shared by all the Conversation Starters is that the nature of political participation is changing in an era of networked communication. More and more we rely on each other for news and information, more and more we work through issues and concerns in conversation with others within our social networks, and more and more we tap the affordances of new media in order to mobilize for change.
As we do so, then, there are practical and ethical challenges: Young people--indeed, all of us--need to take responsibility for the quality of information they circulate, they need to recognize the risks and opportunities of political engagement, they need to understand the copyright implications of their choices to remix and share media, and they need to respect the contributions of others within their community. We want to use these interstitials to help young people to better understand what is at stake in participatory politics and to ask core questions before they act online.
This path navigates key themes and concepts that emerge through this changing participation landscape. For each theme we include conversation starter short film, a real world example that reference relevant events and existing media, and a discussion guide to help you get a conversation started in your class room or community.
The conversation starter videos featured on this path were created through a collaboration between MAPP, Participant Media and Joseph Gordon Levitt's HitRecord.
Follow this path: