Digital and Media Literacy: A Plan of Action. A White Paper on the Digital and Media Literacy Recommendations of the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy

This report proposes a detailed plan that positions digital and media literacy as an essential life skill and outlines steps that policymakers, educators, and community advocates can take to help Americans thrive in the digital age. It offers a plan of action for how to bring digital and media literacy education into formal and informal settings through a community education movement. The plan of action includes 10 recommendations for local, regional, state and national initiatives aligned with the themes of community action, teacher education, research and assessment, parent outreach, national visibility and stakeholder engagement. These action steps do more than bring digital and media literacy into the public eye. Each step provides specific concrete programs and services to meet the diverse needs of our nation's citizens, young and old, and build the capacity for digital and media literacy to thrive as a community education movement. Appended are: (1) Portraits of Success; (2) About the Author; and (3) About the Communications and Society Program. (Contains 4 figures, references and a bibliography.)