Media and Cyber or Digital Literacies
This chapter emphasizes the overwhelming amount of information available through
the internet and contrasts this with the past, where librarians curated information.
However, it argues that traditional literacy skills remain crucial in navigating this new
information landscape. The chapter will investigate the relationship between media
literacy and cyber/digital literacy.
Definitions:
Aufderheide (1993) defines it as "the ability to access, analyze,
evaluate, and communicate messages in a wide variety of forms.
Christ and Potter (1998) define it as "the ability to access, analyze,
evaluate, and create messages across a variety of contexts."
Hobbs (1998) posits that it is a term used by modern scholars to
refer to the process of critically analyzing and learning to create
one's own messages in print, audio, video, and multimedia.
Media literacy can thus be defined as "the ability to identify different
types of media and understand the messages they are
communicating" (Common Sense Media, n.d.).
According to Boyd (2014), media literacy education arose in the US
and UK because of concerns about manipulation through war
propaganda (1930s) and advertising (1960s). The need to teach
people to identify bias and misinformation in media (print, radio, TV)
became apparent.
Identify five (5) essential concepts necessary for any
analysis of media messages:
1. Media messages are constructed.
2. Media messages are produced within economic, social, political,
historical, and aesthetic contexts.
3. The interpretative meaning-making processes involved in
message reception consist of an interaction between the reader, the
text, and the culture.
4. Media has unique "languages," characteristics which typify
various forms, genres, and symbol systems of communication.
Gee, Hull, and Lankshear
(1996) noted how literacy always has something to do with reading
a text with understanding, and that there are many kinds of texts,
and each one requires a specific set of skills to understand, and
make meaning out of them. Digital Literacy (also called e-literacy,
cyber literacy, and even information literacy by some authors) is no
different although now the "text" can actually be images, sound,
video, music, or a combination thereof.
What Media Literacy Is Not
Given the broad and somewhat nebulous nature of media, literacy,
its implied definition can be gleaned by understanding what media
literacy is not. The following is a list of actions that are often
mistaken for being representative of media literacy (Center for
Media Literacy. n.d.):
•Criticizing the media is not, in and of itself, media literacy.
However, being media literate sometimes requires that one indeed
criticize what one sees and hears.
•Merely producing media is not media literacy although part of
being media literate is the ability to produce media.
•Teaching with media (videos, presentations, etc.) does not equal
media literacy. An education in media literacy must also include
teaching about media.
•Viewing media and analyzing it from a single perspective is not
media
literacy. True media literacy requires both the ability and willingness
to view and analyze media from multiple positions and perspectives.
•Media literacy does not simply mean knowing what and what not to
watch: it does mean "watch carefully, think critically."
Challenges to Media Literacy Education
One glaring challenge to teaching Media Literacy is, "how do we
teach it?" Teaching it as a subject in itself might not be feasible
given how overburdened the curriculum is at the moment, while
integrating it into the subjects that are currently being taught might
not be enough to teach what are essentially media consumption
habits-skills and attitudes that are learned by doing and repetition
rather than by mere classroom discussion (Koltay, 2011).
Livingstone and Van Der Graaf (2010) identified "how to measure
media literacy and evaluate the success of media literacy
initiatives" as being one of the more pemicious challenges facing
educators in the 21st century, for the simple reason that it we
cannot somehow measure the presence of media literacy in our
students, how do we know we have actually taught them?
Finally, a more fundamental challenge to Media Literacy Education
is one of purpose. As Chris & Potter (1998) put it, "Is media literacy
best understood as a means of inoculating children against the
potential harms of the media or as a means of enhancing their
appreciation of the literary merits of the media?"
Digital Literacy can be defined as the ability to locate, evaluate,
create, and communicate information on various digital platforms.
Put more broadly, it is the technical, cognitive, and sociological skills
needed to perform tasks and solve problems in digital environments
(Eshet-Alkalai, 2004).
• Tool literacy - competence in using hardware and software tools;
• Resource literacy - understanding forms of and access to
information resources;
• Social-structural literacy - understanding the production and
social significance of information;
• Research literacy - using IT tools for research and scholarship;
• Publishing literacy - ability to communicate and publish
information;
• Emerging technologies literacy - understanding of new
developments in IT; and
• Critical literacy - ability to evaluate the benefits of new
technologies (Note that this literacy is not the same as "critical
thinking," which is often regarded as a component of information
literacy).
Lanham (1995), in one of the earliest examples of a functional
definition of the term described the "digitally literate person" as
being skilled at deciphering and understanding the meanings of
images, sounds, and the subtle uses of words so that he/she could
match the medium of communication to the kind of information
being presented and to whom the intended audience is. Two years
later, Paul Gilster (1997) formally defined digital literacy as "the
ability to understand and use information in multiple formats from a
wide range of sources when it is presented via computers,"
explaining that not only must a person acquire the skill of finding
things, he/she must also acquire the ability to use these things in
life.
Bawden (2008) collated the skills and competencies comprising
digital literacy from contemporary scholars on the matter into four
groups;
1. Underpinnings- This refers to those skills and competencies that
"support" or " enable" everything else within digital literacy,
namely: traditional literacy / ICT literacy.
2. Background knowledge- This largely refers to knowing where
information on a particular subject or topic can be found, how
information is kept, and how it is disseminated.
3. Central competencies- There skills and competencies that a
majority of scholars agree on as being core to digital literacy today
namely:
• reading and understanding digital and non-digital formats;
• creating and communicating digital information;
•evaluation of information;
• information literacy; and
• media literacy
4. Attitudes and perspectives- Bawden(2008) suggests that it is
these attitudes and perspectives that link digital literacy today with
traditional literacy, saying " it is not enough to have skills and
competencies, they be grounded in some moral framework,
specially:
• Independent Learning
• Moral/ Socail Literacy
Information Literacy within Digital Literacy
Eshet-Alkalai (2004) draws attention to Intermation Literacy as a
critical component of Digital Literacy as "the cognitive skills that
consumers use to evaluate information in an educated and effective
manner." In effect, Information Literacy acts as a filter by which
consumers evaluate the veracity of the information being presented
to them via digital media and thereupon sort the erroneos,
irrelevant, and biased from what is demonstrably factual.
Socio-Emotional Literacy within Digital Literacy refers to the ability
to critically evaluate and navigate online interactions, particularly in
distinguishing between truth and deception.
Eshet-Alkalai (2004) highlights that this literacy involves being "very
critical, analytical, and mature" in cyberspace. It requires users to
apply real-life experiences to digital interactions, helping them
recognize scams, false information, and manipulation.
*Example:*
“Let’s say you get a message that you’ve won a free phone, but you
need to give your personal details to claim it. A digitally literate
person knows it might be a scam. But a socio-emotionally literate
person also understands that scammers use emotions—like
excitement or urgency—to trick people. They stay calm, think
carefully, and don’t fall for it.”
While older users tend to be less naive, they are not entirely
immune to online traps. Digitally literate individuals develop social
awareness and emotional intelligence in online spaces, allowing
them to avoid cyber scams and misleading digital interactions.
Digital Natives
The term digital has become a buzzword in the education sector,
popularized by Prensky (2001) to describe the generation born
during the information age, meaning they have grown up in a world
with the internet, computers, and digital technology. They are
naturally familiar with digital tools and often integrate them into
daily life seamlessly.
This contrasts with digital immigrants, who only acquired familiarity
with digital systems as [Link] immigrants belong to the
generation before the digital era, who had to earn and adapt to
technology as adults. Unlike digital natives, they were not raised in
a world dominated by the internet and digital communication.
A common misconception is that digital natives are inherently
digitally literate.
One example is how Senior High School instructors observe that
students who use the Internet for entertainment struggle with
research, as they lack skills to locate, access, and comprehend
academic information. Another issue is the mistaken assumption
that all digital natives have equal digital [Link] to education
and experience is the key determinant—privileged children have
more exposure to technology and education, while children from
poorer backgroundslack access, leading to disparities in digital
literacy.
Challenges to Digital Literacy Education
Digital Literacy Education shares many of the same challenges to
Media Literacy For example: How should if be taught? How can it be
measured and evaluated? Should it be taught for the protection of
students in their consumption of information or should it be to
develop their appreciation for digital media?
Brown (2017) also noted that despite the global acknowledgement
that Digital Literacy Education is a need, there is as of yet no
overarching model or framework for addressing all of the skills
deemed necessary. Put simply, there is no single and
comprehensive plan anywhere for teaching digital literacy the way it
should be taught. Accordingly, he asked, "What assumptions,
theories, and research evidence Underpin specific frameworks?
Whose interests are being served when particular frameworks are
being promoted? Beyond efforts to produce flashy and Visually
attractive models how might we reimagine digital literacies to
promote critical mindsets and active citizenry in order to reshape
our societies for new ways of living, learning and working for better
future for all?"
Despite the challenges posed by the broad and fluid nature of
media (and therefore digital) literacy, educators in the Philippines
can spearhead | literacy that are of utmost importance, namely,
critical thinking and the grounding of efforts by doubling-down on
those concepts and principles of Media Literacy critical thought in a
moral framework.
• Teach media and digital literacy integrally. Any attempt to
teach these principles must first realize that they cannot be
separated from context meaning, they cannot be taught separately
from other topics. Critical Thinking requires something offer than
itself to think critically about, and thus cannot develop in a vacuum.
Similarly developing a moral framework within students cannot be
taught via merely talking about it. This moral framework develops
by practicing hat s. basing our decisions on it, in the context of
everything else we do in our day-to-day lives. We therefore agree
with Koltay (2011) that the teaching of the fundamental principles of
these and other literacies should be done integratively with other
subjects in school, however difficult the process might be. In other
words, teach them in mathematics, sciences, language arts, social
studies, and so on. Make them part of the school curriculum and in
the everyday life of the students. Anything else will be as misguided
as merely telling a plant to grow and expecting it to do So by the
power of your words.
• Master your subject matter. Whatever it is you teach, you must
not only possess a thorough understanding of your subject matter,
you must also understand why you are teaching it, and why it is
important to learn. As educators, we must not shy away from a
student genuinely asking us to explain why something we are
teaching is important. After all, teaching is in itself a kind of media
the students are obliged to consume; it is only fair they know why.
• Think "multi-disciplinary." How can educators integrate media
and digital literacy in a subject as abstract as Mathematics, for
example? The answer lies in stepping-out of the "pure mathematics"
mindset and embracing communication as being just as important
to math as Computation. Once communication is accepted as
important, this opens-up new venues where the new literacies can
be exercised. For example, have students create a webpage
detailing what systems of linear equations are, why they are
important, and the techniques for solving them. Alternatively, they
can create poster infographics that explain the same things. The
exact same strategies can be applied to nearly any subject and any
topic, it is just a matter of believing, as educators, that how we
Communicate is as important as what we communicate.
• Explore motivations, not just messages. While it is very
important that students learn what is the message being
communicated by any media text, it is also important to develop in
them a habit for asking why is the message being communicated in
the first place. In the case of an information pamphlet warning
against some infectious disease for example, is there an outbreak
we are being warned of? If not, could this then be an attempt to sow
panic and discord in the target populace? Why? Who stands to gain
from doing such things? Ihe objective here is not so much to find the
correct answers, but rather to develop the habit of asking these
questions.
• Leverage skills that students already have. It is aways
surprising how much a person can do when they are personally and
affectively motivated to do so in other words, a person can do
amazing things when they really want to. Students can produce
remarkably well- researched output for things they are deeply
interested in, even without instruction. Harnessing this natural
desire to explore whatever interests them will go a long way in
improving media and digital literacy education in your classroom.