Youth Participation and Media Literacy on The-N.com

Abstract

The N is an edgy nighttime network for teens that is owned by Viacom and currently available in 55 million homes. The network's website, available at http://www.The-N.com, offers teenagers a variety of forums in which they can interact with media and with each other, including message boards, games, quizzes, and exclusive web-episodes (“webisodes”) of their favorite programs. While The N's main goal is not media literacy, many of the website's features offer teens and preteens the chance to actively participate in their own media culture – whether by playing at media creation through mash-ups and games, or by deconstructing The N's advertising and programming on the message boards. Through this type of active participation, users can potentially acquire media literacy skills.