Newswise — It's summertime, and what are millions of pre-teen girls across America doing? Chances are they're spending a significant chunk of their time surfing the Internet, watching MTV, thumbing through teen and celebrity magazines and listening to CDs by their newest favorite recording stars.
While they may view it as "entertainment," the flood of imagery delivered via online media, television, magazines and popular music is also subtly shaping young girls' social and emotional development, along with their perceptions of body image and health, according to media literacy researchers at Temple University.
Now, a new interactive Web site targeting preteen and early teenage girls aims to give them the tools to think critically about the media messages that bombard them, particularly those that influence their attitudes about beauty, nutrition, celebrity culture and their own identity.
My Pop Studio (http://www.mypopstudio.com) engages girls in the mass media and entertainment industry decision-making process, empowering them to create their own animated pop star in the site's "Music Studio," where they make the decisions about what their pop star wears (sneakers? high heels? midriff-baring top?); her hair style, body shape and makeup; and the lyrics, instrumentation and beat of the song she sings. (Will it be: "My goal is in sight and I ain't gonna fumble..." or "Walkin' on the edge, that's where I wanna be..." ?)
In addition to fashioning their own recording sensation, they can edit a TV program and compose a scene in the site's "TV Studio," design a multi-page magazine spread in the "Magazine Studio" and test their multi-tasking abilities in the "Digital Studio."
Created by a team of researchers at the Media Education Lab of Temple University's School of Communications and Theater, My Pop Studio is believed to be the first Web site of its kind to use online games to teach media literacy.
"My Pop Studio aims to re-frame popular culture in ways that can be powerful for girls," said Renee Hobbs, director of the Media Education Lab and associate professor of communication at Temple.
"Weaving an educational component into the pop entertainment culture they consume gives them the opportunity to feel the power of making creative choices and to recognize that those choices have consequences.
"On a deeper level, they will be equipped with the tools of media literacy and an understanding that 'stuff doesn't just appear on the TV screen.' There has been conscious, calculated construction of the media messages that are constantly delivered to them."
Hobbs describes My Pop Studio as a "creative play experience in which girls can create, edit, share, analyze and comment upon the media in their lives — especially those incessant, and often subtly delivered, messages about body image and health that affect girls and young women."
The site also provides a link to downloadable lesson plans for parents to use in informal, home-based learning and for teachers to introduce in classrooms. The activities and discussion questions aim to promote dialogue and strengthen critical thinking and communication skills.
In creating the site, the team at Temple's Media Education Lab regularly tapped into focus groups of girls from different parts of the country (New York, Baltimore, Beverly Hills, Seattle, Montana, Philadelphia) to provide feedback during the development of the project.
In addition, a national advisory board of experts from the fields of media and child and adolescent development contributed insight and expertise.
"My Pop Studio has a high entertainment quotient to attract kids while it is providing important learning opportunities," said Henry Jenkins, director of the Comparative Media Studies program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an advisory board member.
Funding for My Pop Studio was provided through a $250,000 grant from the Office on Women's Health (OWH) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. OWH works to improve the health and well-being of women and girls in the United States through its innovative programs, by educating health professionals and motivating behavior change in consumers.
The mission of the Media Education Lab (http://www.mediasmartphilly.com) in the department of Broadcasting, Telecommunication and Mass Media at Temple's School of Communications and Theater is to expand and improve the practice of media literacy and to conduct research examining the relationship between media, technology, community and education in the lives of children and youth.
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