MIL

• Five Laws of Media and Information Literacy:

  • Information, communication, libraries, media, technology, and the Internet are for use in critical civic engagement and sustainable development
  • Every citizen is a creator of information/knowledge and has a message
  • Information, knowledge, and messages are not always value neutral
  • Every citizen wants to know and understand new information
  • Media and information literacy is a lived and dynamic experience and process
• Media:

  • Mass communication through physical objects like radio, television, computers, film
  • A bearer of pop culture and subliminal messages communicated to a wider audience
  • Examples include government, media corporations, advertising, or entertainment companies
• Evolution of Traditional to New Media:

  • Prehistoric Age (1500 BC to 1500 AD): Stone Age and Metal Age, no system of writing existed
  • Industrial Age (1700s to 1930s): characterized by economic and social changes, introduction of power-driven machines
  • Electronic Age (1930s to 1980s): transistor communication became more efficient
  • Digital Age (1900s to 2000s): shift from traditional industry to an economy based on information computerization
• Roles of Media:

  • Entertainment: creative outlet, source of fantasy, means of escape
  • Information and Education: channels of information and knowledge, provide learning about the world
  • Public Forum: facilitate informed debates, vehicle for cultural expression and cohesion
  • Watchdog: promote transparency, expose corruption, essential for democratic processes
• Media Literacy:

  • Prevents manipulation by teaching how to interpret media messages
  • Set of conceptual understandings to interpret media messages
• Media Convergence:

  • Types of media have a co-existing relationship
  • Content of one media platform permeates another
  • Ability to transform different media into digital code for accessibility by various devices
• Information:

  • Facts learned about a place, person, or thing
  • Descriptions and answers to the unknown
  • Knowledge that empowers us
• Proper use of information depends on people's abilities to understand their information needs, locate, retrieve, and evaluate the quality of information

  • Wide and diverse selection of information material available, varying in accuracy and reliability
  • Information exists in various forms and sources, ranging from 'very good' to 'very bad'
• The DIKW Pyramid:

  • Information is processed data
  • When information is applied to real-world scenarios, it becomes knowledge
  • Wisdom is the accumulation of knowledge through lived experience over the years
• Importance of Media and Information Literacy (MIL):

  • MIL brings together disciplines to understand the importance of media and other information providers
  • Helps individuals make informed decisions, learn about the world, build a sense of community, maintain public discourse, and engage in lifelong learning
  • Encourages citizens to become active producers of information and innovators of media and information products, as well as critical thinkers
• • Information Literacy: ability to recognize when information is needed, locate, evaluate, and effectively communicate information in various formats
  • Technology Literacy: ability to use technological tools responsibly, appropriately, and effectively
  • Media and Information Literacy: essential skills and competencies to engage with media and other information providers effectively, develop critical thinking, and lifelong learning skills
• Synthesis of important MIL terms:

  • Literacy: ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate, and compute using printed and written materials
  • Media: physical objects used for communication or mass communication through objects like radio, television, computers, film, etc.
  • Media Literacy: ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and create media in various forms
  • Information: broad term covering processed data, knowledge derived from study, experience, instruction, signals, or symbols
• Information Literacy:

  • Information is data collected, processed, and interpreted for presentation in a usable form
  • Broad term covering processed data, knowledge derived from study, experience, instruction, signals, or symbols
  • In the media world, information is often used to describe knowledge of specific events or situations gathered or received through communication, intelligence, or news reports
• Stages/Elements of Information Literacy:

  1. Identifying/recognizing information needs

  2. Determining sources of information

  3. Citing or searching for information

  4. Analyzing and evaluating the quality of information

  5. Organizing, storing, or archiving information

  6. Using information in an ethical, efficient, and effective way

  7. Creating and communicating new knowledge
• Ethical Use of Information:

  • Plagiarism: using other people’s words and ideas without acknowledging the source
  • Common Knowledge: facts widely known and do not need documentation
  • Interpretation: documenting facts that are not generally known or ideas that interpret facts
  • Quotation: using someone’s words directly and citing the source
  • Paraphrase: using someone’s ideas but rephrasing in your own words and acknowledging the source
• Fake News:

  • News stories that are false and fabricated without verifiable facts, sources, or quotes
  • Multi-step process involving creating or taking content, passing it off as real news, and capitalizing on social media for attention
  • Infodemic: an overabundance of information, some accurate and some not, making it hard to find trustworthy sources and reliable guidance
• Dangers of Fake News:

  1. Influence on business

  2. Influence on politics

  3. Ruining personal lives

  4. Feeding a conversation
• How to Spot Fake News:

  1. Check the headline for excessive punctuation, capital letters, or claims about containing secrets

  2. Use Google images to fact-check and research images

  3. Question the publisher/author for credibility and reliability before using information from a website
• Credibility of sources:

  • Check the "about us" page or author bio for credibility
  • If the author's background is unknown or not linked to the webpage, consider not using the source
• Easy sharing:

  • Memes are easy to share but may not be reliable
  • Memes can be used to spark discussions but may contain biased content
• Encounter of resources:

  • Consider how you found the resource (website promotion, Google ads, social media, etc.)
  • Resources advertised may be less reliable than those reaching top pages without ads
  • Consider the purpose of the document and if it may be biased or promotional
• Links:

  • Check if the source links to or cites various sources, including official and expert sources
  • Verify if the information aligns with reports from news websites
• Domain authority:

  • Use Google Advanced Search to check the domain of the article
  • Narrow down search results by including specific domains like ".gov" or ".edu" for more reliable information
• Up-to-date information:

  • Avoid pages with broken links as they may not be up-to-date
  • Check the date of the information, as older posts may not be relevant anymore
• Check more sources:

  • Verify information by checking 2 or more sources
  • Consistency among multiple sources increases the likelihood of accurate information
• Emotional stage:

  • Consider your emotional stage when evaluating information
  • Biased emotional states may affect how information is perceived
• Propaganda Techniques:

  • Bandwagon: Convincing the public to think, speak, or act a certain way because others are
  • Testimonial: Using words of an expert or famous person to promote an idea
  • Transfer: Associating qualities of a well-known person with a product
  • Name-calling: Stereotyping or labeling to attack opponents
  • Card Stacking: Manipulating information to make one product look better than another
  • Glittering Generalities: Vague statements that connect with audience beliefs
  • Plain Folks: Establishing the speaker as ordinary to build belief in the idea
• Different Types of Media:

  • Print Media:
  • Consists of newspapers, magazines, and books
  • Broadcast Media:
  • Includes television and radio
  • New Media:
  • Involves cinema, video advertising, and the internet
  • Print Media:
  • Paper and ink, traditionally mechanical
  • Includes newspapers, magazines, and books
  • Broadcast Media:
  • Reaches audiences through radio and television
  • New Media:
  • Content distributed digitally, media convergence
  • Includes cinema, video advertising, and the internet