The NMC’s New Media Literacy & Learning Initiative is a multi-year effort to explore and expand the potential of new developments in visual and digital literacy, and the umbrella for a range of research, publications, conferences, and related activities.

The Initiative is informed by work in media literacy, semiotics, iconography, visual cognition, and the arts, but centers on the set of abilities and skills where aural, visual and digital literacy overlap. These include the ability to understand the power of images and sounds, to recognize and use that power, to manipulate and transform digital media, to distribute them pervasively, and to easily adapt them to new forms.

Publications
A Global Imperative: The Report of the 21st Century Literacy Summit
This monograph, the final report of the 21st Century Literacy Summit held in April 2005, presents an action plan for this emerging field applicable to higher education, K-12 education, policy makers, media & the arts, and research, and details the strategic priorities and specific recommendations for these sectors that were the summit's major outcomes.
Download the monograph (1Mb, 32 pp)

Activities
In February 2005, NMC hosted the Online Conference on Visual Literacy to explore how emerging ideas, constructs, tools, and theories are fueling new interest in visual communication. The program included sessions within the following tracks:

• Exploring the Visual/Digital Literacy Landscape
• Successful Projects & Real-Life Examples
• Visual/Digital Literacy Trends and Issues

As a second major activity under the umbrella of this initiative, the NMC, working with Adobe Systems, the George Lucas Foundation, and others, convened the 21st Century Literacy Summit in April 2005. Major outcomes of the summit were to articulate broad-scale priorities for this emerging field and to develop an action list of recommendations to meet those priorities.

For More Information
The NMC Online Conference on Visual Literacy
Learn about this special 3-day conference and view several archived presentations, including the conference keynotes.

Visual Record of the 21st Century Literacy Summit
Download a PDF of the 11"x17" booklet containing images from the Summit, including the visual records of the discussions. (5.9 Mb)

"Media Literacy: Who Needs It?!!"
Keynote presented by Henry Jenkins, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
NMC Summer Conference, June 2005
(available as streaming video)

"Beyond Words"
Keynote presented by Stephanie Barish, Creative Media Collaborative
NMC Summer Conference, June 2005
(available as streaming video)