Media Literacy in the Information Society Cyprus, 4 February 2011
Beware the hype, but prepare students for life in the Information Age Frank Webster City University London
3 points Media Literacy as a Concept Warnings Positives
Media Literacy The Metaphor of Literacy Intimidating Computers and communications are pervasive and vital to how we live But so are cars/food: Car Literate? Telephone Literate? Food Literate?
Literacy and Cognitive Development
Media Literacy as Technique Technological Skill/Competencies: to use Excel, Word, to programme Yes, but why? Technology cos fear of the expert But technological ability does not give power Indispensability v Power High Technology = Low Technical Skill
But We are in the Information Age Technical Skills are minimal, if essential for everyone Short courses: e-mail, software packages, creating a blog But how to use internet is much less important than what the information is for and what is to be done with it Critical Information Skills need to be nurtured
Critical Information Skills Don t use the language of literacy (false comparison) Put Computers in their Place They are tools that follow rules John Searle (1932-) Brains are biological They think in terms of semantics, not syntax Computers cannot substitute for human minds
Warnings: Information Age Dangers of Cocooning (Cass Sunstein) Self confirmatory information Network = PLUs But recognise that we all must filter information to cope Information Overload a growing problem Work on filtering knowingly and sensitively to guard against risks Cultivate openness without being swamped
Warnings Decline of Attention Spans? Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle. Nicholas Carr (2010), The Shallows New York: Norton
Warnings David Nicholas and Ian Rowlands (ed) (2008), Google Consumers Grazers/Skimmers/Bouncers Hyperlinked Minds? Non-linearity a good thing? Linear Thinking = logical, reasoned Information v Being Informed
Warnings Immediate Gratification On YouTube, you can get a whole story in six minutes. A book takes so long. Close Reading needs to be nurtured Develop the ability to concentrate over lengthy stretches of time
Warnings Decline of reading stamina amongst children and students Neil Postman (1985), Amusing Ourselves to Death
Susan Jacoby (2008), The Age of American Unreason 40% of Americans under 44-years-of-age did not read a single book over the course of a year Bleak House Book versus the DVD?
'What Chinese parents understand is that nothing is fun until you're good at it. To get good at anything you have to work'. Amy Chua, Why Chinese Mothers are Superior, Wall Street Journal, January 8 th 2011
Paradox: Filtering brings the familiar and helps us cope with information excess But we need to be alert to the unfamiliar Closed to information excess yet open to information that matters
Positives Must all use digital resources Internet brings information quickly, easily and at untold speed and volume See internet a source not only for answering questions but also for asking questions about answers one receives Importance of Gatekeepers/Authorities Educate in Evaluation Ways of developing Trust in filters Howard Rheingold (1947-) http://www.rheingold.com/ Cultivate scepticism and openness
Positives Crap Detector Check out information on the internet: E.g. who owns the site? Check at easywhois.com http://www.easywhois.com/ Then check out author's /organisation's name to see what others think of him/her/it More trust If.edu or.gov If affiliation of author is clear If authors are certificated. If sources are cited and can be checked If the site is bookmarked on social bookmarking services like Delicious or Diigo
Positives Triangulation of information E.g. News BBC, NYT, CNN, Al Jazeera English, Le Monde, CBC Twitter Encourage as filter that helps one keep open to interesting/new information as well as to familiar Search facility Use it to investigate (the crowd sourcing phenomenon)
Positives Interactivity is key element of new media Send Tweets Produce Wikis Participate in Discussion Forums
Why produce? Learn by Doing Employment Opportunities Represent oneself or one s interests
Conclusion Don t accept that media literacy has equivalence to literacy But recognise no turning back Encourage critical thinking See possibilities of internet