To explore 0wnz, I recommend starting with THEY 0WNZ.
0wnz reflects a combination of a number of media literacy models, both traditional and innovative. The former include both protectionist and constructivist models of media literacy. The latter draws on ideas from the free software ond copyleft movements.
The model of media literacy I was taught as a kid stressed that media are out to play on your emotions and your wallet. I am still committed to this model; I'd like to see more people grow up to be smart consumers of the messages about themselves and the world around them spread by advertisers, producers, and newscasters.
However, much of the literature I read this semester claims that emphasizing how bad the media are will only lose kids' interest in media literacy. Steele and Brown (in Adolescent Room Culture: Studying media in the context of everyday life, 1995) recommended that instead, educators should build from the meanings kids make of media content and an understanding of their affinity to particular shows or songs. This site keeps those recommendations in mind.
The links above (They Ownz, We Ownz, Frame, etc.) lead to the site's different sections. "They Ownz" will be a digest of media and ad industry trade publications. Editors of this section will primarily look for articles which talk about "owning" viewers or their "eyeballs" and offering these audiences up to advertisers. My hunch is that teens -- at a developmental stage where they are trying to define themselves as independent, mature people -- will find the way ad mavens talk about owning them to be offensive. (I know I did, at that age.) Thus, I figure this message will provide a good jumping-off point for reflection on ownership issues.
Youth culture traditions which flew beneath the radar for previous generations -- making collages of magazine pictures, making mix tapes to share music, drawing your own versions of popular comics -- are running afoul of intellectual property laws as they make their way onto the Internet. The current generation of teenagers create fan websites with content "stolen" from magazines and "official" websites of stars. They share music illegally over peer-to-peer servers. They remix songs and re-edit video, walking a fine line of fair use laws. They write fan fiction. They hack code for video games, web servers, and even more complicated devices like DVD players. Some of them have received cease-and-desist letters for doing so. A few have even gone to jail. The idea of "ownership" should thus be naturally interesting to the current generation of teens.
This is why I have also incorporated students' own media production activities into the 0wnz site. Following Steele and Brown's suggestion that we engage with students' own understanding of their favorite media, this model also incorporates students' existing media production rather than insisting they develop entirely original media content for the purpose of a media literacy class or workshop.
New Directions
After thinking some about similar existing resources, and talking with friends who are involved in fanfiction and other communities, I have decided to make some changes to my original model for 0wnz.
Ultimately I think all of the news will appear on a central page (both the They 0wnz and the We 0wnz sections, the S0S section, and contest announcements) and visitors will be able to start discussions on any news item. This model is kind of like the one slashdot.org uses. For the moment, though, I'm leaving these content areas separated out into different sections, mostly for the sake of clearly demonstrating what kinds of content each section would have.
A friend involved in fanfiction communities confirmed what I had guessed was a flaw in the original plan for this site. There really isn't a need to provide yet another hosting site for fanfiction, as I had originally planned -- there are plenty out there already. The same goes for most of the other content. Any kid can put up her own fansite, or her own website with remixed music or videos. My friend suggested a more pressing need might be to provide an index of fanfiction and other resources, as it is often hard to find the stories or videos you want when you go out looking for them.
Such an index should strengthen kids' artwork viz. other forms of entertainment and content by making it more accessible and visible. In addition, an index would provide site visitors with more opportunities for social investment. A ranking or karma system could help identify the best fiction, music, and video out there, and help people find it more easily.