ā€“ What is media literacy?

In the interview with Julie Smith, her descriptions of media literacy are kind of like the language of media, for example, films have their own language system, and which is different from that of television–a different color theme in different film scenes communicates a different message to the audience. In this sense, every media platforms offer their own set of the language system, which reminds me of the work of the great Communication scholar McLuhan, who said that the medium is never natural, mediums communicate to us and affect how we view the world & construct our reality (McLuhan, 1967). That is if we donā€™t know have the ā€œhigh level of media literacy to select the right medium for a particular topic; obtain the proper permissions to reuse otherā€™s materialā€¦ā€ we would let the medium take us where it wants to go, and have no control on what effects they might have on us (Trilling & Fadel, 2009).Ā 


ā€“ Why is it important?

I think it is really important for us to learn about media literacy because we are in a media-generated world, where we have to know how to access, evaluate and use the language of different media mediums. In evaluating media literacy, we are engaged in a process where we assess who controls the information source, who are the intended audiences, what the different contents mean to individuals and society as a whole.


ā€“ Why is it dismissed?

I think media literacy is dismissed is because people tend to hold prejudice to media literacy. For example, in the interview, Smith was talking about how parents are trying to get their children off Snapchat or other social media platforms, the parents have a misconception of what social media platforms can do, and their fear prevents them to learn about them further. For example, my parents also think that I spent too much time on Weibo (a Chinese version of Twitter), but this platform provides me with valuable news resources I need for my minor courses and even my major courses. Moreover, this semester, I engaged in a Twitter chat activity in my other EDCI course, and that educational event really let me see how it is possible for educators to use social media platforms to engage students in meaningful conversations. Having these experiences made me see the value of media, but many people lack the access to know about these things.Ā 

Another reason that I think why people often dismiss media literacy is that we have a negative attitude toward ā€œmediaā€ or ā€œinternetā€. For example, we tend to think of the internet as a place that is full of misinformation,Ā  and as human beings, we want to be affirmed, in other words, we don’t want to hear or process tons of information (eg. Julia Smith refers this as the ā€˜information glutā€™), we don’t know which information source is accurate, and that makes us anxious.


ā€“ Why should you aim for varied views but the factual consensus in your PLN?

I think the factual consensus would put the conversation to an end, which is not a good thing. Just like the academic discourse, we rarely have academic papers that arrive at a conclusion without pointing a research direction for the following researchers. This should also be the mode of how PLN works, we should aim for varied views and expand our conversation.

References:

Media Literacy ā€“ Facts Matter ā€“ Course YouTube Channel https://youtu.be/57r3-aEnci0

McLuhan, M., & Fiore, Q. (1967). The medium is the message. New York, 123, 126-128.

Trilling, B., Fadel, C., Partnership for 21st Century Skills, & Books24x7, I. (2009). 21st century skills: Learning for life in our times (1st ed.). Jossey-Bass.

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