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Media literacy has come of age. In a society as mass mediated and media saturated as our own, communication technologies are at the core of the political, economic and cultural environments.
Yet, how many of us - or our students - are taught to "read" the media? How many of us know who makes the decisions about the programs that the rest of us see or don't see? What will happen to those of us who don't have access to the latest information technology - to our students who can't afford personal computers? To our fellow citizens who can't afford computer-generated searches and costly... Read More
Mourning the Late Great Book
Is computerization is making the book an endangered species? By Rosalind Silver
Whither the book?
In the future, a book may be bought as a bubble-wrapped package containing a dust jacket together with a computer chip from which a reader prints out the text at home.
Publishers may not stock inventory but print books as customers order them.
Information will be acquired rapidly from computerized data banks, but literature and poetry will remain in printed form.
A distinction may have to be made between literature in book form and information in book form. These conclusions about the future of books and information are just a few of the diverse opinions voiced by... Read More
I've got a pet theory (I've got a couple of them, actually, but only one is worth sharing with you here). People are smarter than they think they are; they're also more creative than they think they are. And in the area of video production, they know more than they think they do. Luckily for me, my theory was proven correct just last week. A woman at work asked me to help her put together a videotape, a kind of video yearbook for a soccer team her daughter was on. She'd been videotaping the girls all season long with her camcorder, and now she wanted to turn that footage into a year-end... Read More
Redefines literacy based on the information revolution.
Is a competency, not a course and therefore interdisciplinary.
Is experiential, hands-on and consistent with learning styles.
Fosters responsible citizenship in a democratic society.
Nurtures group work, cooperative learning and partnership.
Is sensitive to stereotyping, bias and multicultural education.
Is consistent with the critical thinking skills movement.
Is integral to key components of health/wellness education.
Has been successful with at-risk students and retention rates.
Connects the curriculum of... Read More
Hobbs, R. (1998). Building citizenship skills through media literacy education. In M. Salvador and P. Sias, (Eds.) The Public Voice in a Democracy at Risk. Westport, CT: Praeger Press, pps. 57 -76.
Introduction
A thirteen year old is studying the cover of a Time magazine issue featuring the furrowed face of Bob Dole. "This photo," he says, "seems to suggest a negative attitude toward the candidate. It's in black-and-white, and this makes Dole look older, and meaner, and notice how his face has deep lines and his eyes are not looking at the camera. This image was chosen to cast... Read More
This influential article by
a noted British cultural scholar succinctly critiques the research school of "media
effects" that tends to dominate social science research in the US and fuels
enormous media coverage about media's negative influence on children especially
— e.g. watching violence on TV increases aggression and violence in real
life. Gauntlett outlines ten fundamental flaws in 'effects models' studies, arguing
that these models specifically support conservative ideologies, treat children
as inadequate, assume superiority of the educated and elite and make no attempt
to understand... Read More
A comprehensive new curriculum resource designed to strengthen media literacy and communication skills and promote reading, writing and critical thinking skills for students in grades K-12. ASSIGNMENT: MEDIA LITERACY provides all the tools you need to help students explore the impact of media and technology in our society.
Designed in alignment with rigorous state curriculum frameworks, ASSIGNMENT: MEDIA LITERACY is the first comprehensive approach to embedding media literacy skills into subject areas of language arts, social studies, health education, family and consumer science, and the... Read More
Abstract:
Teachers can improve students' critical reading and viewing skills through interactive learning activities that make use of a wide range of nonfiction media, including film, television, print, and the Internet. Four classroom learning experiences designed to facilitate careful analysis of the ways in which media messages are constructed are described in this article. These activities, appropriate for children aged approximately 12 and older, are intended to create a learning environment that encourages active discourse on critical questions about information sources, belief,... Read More
How Media Education Is Like What You Already Know
Chapter 1 / Screening Images: Ideas for Media Education By Chris Worsnop
A lot of what you are about to read in the rest of this book is based on the premise that teaching the media is not a mystery confined only to a certain erudite set of cognoscenti, but something that any good teacher like you can readily handle in class using your existing knowledge and expertise.
The expertise will come from your experience as a teacher, and from your experience with the media. You already know a lot about helping youngsters learn, and helping youngsters learn media is easier than in many other subjects, because the subject matter is something that the kids already like.... Read More
In 1987, a group of teachers from the Ontario Association for Media Literacy (AML) drew up the Key Concepts of Media Literacy for the Government of Ontario Media Literacy Resource Guide. At that point in time, media literacy had been mandated as part of the English curriculum for Grades 8 through to 13. Working over several months, we put together our key concepts from a variety of sources in Australia and Great Britain — particularly the work of Len Masterman — adding a few Canadian ideas of our own. Since 1987, a number of people have taken the key concepts and reduced them to four or... Read More
Let’s Break the Circle of Blame! US Senate Testimony
Summary of Testimony by CML Founder Elizabeth Thoman to the United States Senate Commerce Committee: July 12, 1995
For 40 years, the American people have been engaged in a "circle of blame" about media violence: viewers blaming writers; writers blaming producers, producers blaming the networks, networks blaming the advertisers. And advertisers blaming the public for watching! It's time to stop the circle of blame and recognize we all share responsibility for the culture we are creating and passing on to our children.
The media industry must also accept responsibility for what they put into public space and time. Leaving this issue only up to parents is like asking parents to be responsible for the air... Read More
Aspen Media Literacy Leadership Conference - Part I
Forward to the Final Conference Report Aspen Institute / Charles M. Firestone, Program Director 358_AspenFrwd_Firestone.pdf
Aspen Media Literacy Conference - Part III
Media Literacy: From Activism to Exploration. (Conference backgrounder) J. Francis Davis 357_AspenBkgnd_Davis.pdf
Sontag On Photography: Two Views
Two working photographers respond to Susan Sontag By Christian Molidor, RSM and Mike Harter, SJ
Photography is the world's number one hobby. So when Susan Sontag's On Photography hit the bestseller list recently, it caused an uproar among photo professionals and hobbyists alike. "To photograph people," Sontag said, "is to violate them...It turns people into objects that can be symbolically possessed." In an attempt to further explore the values of photography today, Media&Values asked two professional photographers to read the book and share their responses.
"Essentially the camera makes everyone a tourist in other people's reality, and eventually in one's own."
— Susan... Read More
A growing body of research suggest that if we teach children to become critical viewers, we do more than give them the ability to analyze the construction of isolated images; we also give them the ability to think critically about the composition of the picture, enhancing their ability to read words and worlds. Although many continue to regard television viewing as a passive process, other see the potential of the video age to develop new literacies while reinforcing traditional literacy. A 1990 issue of The Harvard Education Letter, for example, reported: "The video screen is... Read More
"I think adults have a great deal of difficulty looking at television through a child's eyes. It is hard to know what children are thinking when they are watching television, or if they are thinking, or how they are making sense out of what they see. I think television, particularly the commercial part, takes advantage of the child's trust in adults, Children trust what they hear from adults. If adults in television and tell them that eating a lot of sugar is good for them or is nutritious or is healthy, children tend to believe it." — John Condry
A strange thing I have observed over many years in the business of news gathering and news presentation is that by some infallible process media people always manage to miss the most important thing. It’s almost as though there were some built-in propensity to do this.
However, in moments of humility, I realize that if I had been a correspondent in the Holy Land at the time of our Lord’s ministry, I should almost certaily have spent my time knocking about with the entourage of Pontius Pilate, finding out what the Sanhedrin was up to, and lurking around Herod’s court with the hope of... Read More
Introduction: Television Awareness Training (TAT)
The Viewer's Guide for Family and Community. By Ben Logan and Nelson Price, United Methodist Communications, Stewart M. Hoover, Church of the Brethren , Carolyn K. Lindekugel, Lutheran Church of America
In the mid-1970's, faced with the growing influence of television and media in the lives of American families, a small group of communications professionals working in the national offices of several leading Protestant religious denominations formed the Media Action Research Center, a non-profit collaborative organized to develop educational programs about media that could be used across the mainline religious landscape. Their first project was the creation and publication in 1977 of Television Awareness Training, a 10-week adult education course for use in local churches and community... Read More
WORKSHOP REPORT: Integrating Media Literacy Across the Curriculum
Report of CML's K-12 Professional Development Seminar conducted by Elizabeth Thoman, Founder, Center for Media Literacy Report by Lisa Tripp, Ph.D. Candidate, Dept. of Communication, U. of California / San Diego
What does a plain white bath towel have to do with teaching language arts? Fifteen teachers from throughout Southern California plus the state of Kansas and the country of Japan, learned there were many connections between the two at a day-long professional development seminar Saturday, June 17, 2000, conducted by Elizabeth Thoman, founder and president of the Center for Media Literacy.
The latest in a series of seminars sponsored by CML's Felton Media Literacy... Read More
As a graduate student just arrived from Zambia to study at Syracuse University in 1968-9, I developed the habit of scanning the local papers for news from my home continent.
It was a pretty futile search. I was increasingly dismayed at the near-total lack of news from any part of Africa being presented to Syracuse readers. I also soon discovered that the little African news that occasionally found the light of day and trickled into the Syracuse Herald and Journal was almost always negative. This inspired me to spend some of my free time embarking on a more serious investigation of news... Read More
Institutional changes in the way the media operates are necessary to keep healthy democratic dialogue alive. But while we work towards fundamental changes in the way the media works, the public can tap newspapers, radio, and TV to make their voices heard. Too few members of the public take advantage of these opportunities. What can you do? One of the quickest, easiest, and least expensive steps you can take is to call radio talk shows. Talk radio has become immensely popular across the country. Hundreds of talk radio shows are on the air. You may not listen to them but millions of... Read More
STARTING POINT: Today's Image Culture and Why Media Literacy Matters
By Rosalind Silver and Elizabeth Thoman
In the recent movie Avalon, Barry Levinson's sensitive film portrait of an immigrant family before and after World War II, the delivery of the family's first TV set is portrayed as a significant milestone. Three generations of Krichinskys squeeze together in front of their tiny new television set and stare vacantly at a black and white test pattern. "Just wait," one of the children says, "something will happen."
And it did. Throughout the '60s and '70s, television grew from a diversion in the living room into a national obsession. From moon landings to Leave it to Beaver, a president's... Read More
Beyond the blame...beyond the debate...are human beings – children, young people and adults of all ages -- who are daily bombarded with violent images from the media and popular culture.
The parameters of this problem, as we've seen in the pages of this issue, are complex and interrelated. There are First Amendment concerns as well as public policies resulting from the deregulation of the media industry during the Reagan years. And as Walter Wink so eloquently writes in the first article, violence is the very stuff of our fundamental... Read More
"Who does what with a technology for what purposes is, at least in part, a cause and effect of gender.
Men are more likely than women to be owners and operators of cameras that take pictures of women. Women have their pictures taken and may be more likely to have responsibility for maintaining family ties and history through photographs.
Men speak, write and publish more in the public world of commerce, politics and ideas. But women write the family letters and make the family telephone calls."
— Lana Rakow in Gendered Technology, Gendered Practice, Critical Studies in Mass... Read More
From the research reports we’ve cited, it is clear that the cost of new technology goes far beyond the price tag. At the same time, we find our lives, and our leisure, enhanced by television, video, stereos and tape decks -- as well as computers for work and for play. Here are some ideas to consider in evaluating the cost of new entertainment media in our lives.
Researchers around the world verify that gender is a strong indicator of what types of programs people watch. Men everywhere prefer sports, action-oriented programs and news while women prefer dramas, including serials, soap... Read More