Audiences, Intertextuality, and New Media Literacy

Deconstruction is a pedagogical mantra in media education. But unless content is analyzed within its relevant contexts, textual deconstruction borders on the myopic. Rooted in archival traditions, this article models a discovery process that can be used to position and remix media artifacts within relevant historical, economic, social, cultural and technological contexts. Media archeology of this type offers insights into cross-generational understanding of legacy media as each new generation investigates and repurposes found media for its own creative purposes.