MEDIA AND INFORMATION LITERACY CM4
communication unique to their group.
MEDIA AND INFORMATION SOURCES
Information is already processed data. Meaning,
somewhere along the way an interpretation has already
been made by the reader and then shared to others.
Sometimes, this is where misunderstandings start,
because different people have different interpretations
of information coming from just one source. For
example, journalists who cover a similar event may
write different articles about it, depending on the angle
they choose to write about. If you’re familiar with
journalistic practices, this is a legitimate course of action
and not at all an alibi for ‘bias’ as some would say. This
is part of the editorial process determined by
journalistic values.
Indigenous Media As we explore the formal sources of
media and information, we need to understand that the
ecosystem of information and related materials will not
be complete without indigenous media and information
sources. The term indigenous knowledge implies a
connection to place and to indigenous or first/aboriginal
people. It is local knowledge and is defined by Warren
(1991) as the knowledge that is unique to a given
culture or society. Most often it is not written down. It is
the information base for society, which facilitates
communication and decision making. Indigenous
information systems are dynamic and are continually
influenced by internal creativity and experimentation as
well as by contact with external systems (Flavier et al.,
1995).
Indigenous knowledge today can be in any form of
media that is created and controlled by the community
for the community and about the community. This is
because print, broadcast, and new media still cannot
reach some rural areas, although they have a wide
reach. Indigenous media and information then aim to
develop and produce culturally appropriate information
in the languages understood by the community. These
are channels for change, education, and development
because of its direct access to local channels. They are
also highly credible because they are near the source
and are seldom circulated for profit. Some notable
examples from around the world include Tambuli Radio
Network in the Philippines, the Deadly Mob aboriginal
organization of Alice Springs, Australia, and the Koahnic
Broadcast Corporation in Alaska. These are content
about indigenous peoples that may be distributed
through dominant forms of media or through forms of
Through these local channels or forms, culture is
preserved, handed down, and adapted. Examples of
indigenous media include folk or traditional media,
gatherings and social organizations, direct observation,
records (written, carved, or oral), and oral instruction.
According to the International Institute for Rural
Reconstruction (IIRR) toolkit for documenting
indigenous knowledge (IK), here are some
considerations when it comes to sources of information
about IK:
 Community members, especially elders, are the best
sources of IK. But, since IK is unevenly distributed in
communities, it is important to find out who knows
what to tap the right sources. Otherwise, data will not
truly reflect IK in the community. For example, the
women who are in charge of home gardening, and not
anyone else, should be the ones asked about them. It is
their field of expertise.
 Folklore, songs, poetry, and theater can reveal a great
deal about people’s values, history, and practices. These
are often not written down and therefore, need to be
recorded.
 Although IK is mostly transmitted by word of mouth,
some indigenous forms of recordkeeping exist. These
include community records like writings, paintings, and
carvings. Records can also consist of trees planted as
boundaries, notched poles, and many other forms.
 People working with communities such as
extensionists, can be valuable sources of IK.
It is important that we acknowledge the valuable
resource we have in indigenous knowledge and channel
it through indigenous media and information. After all,
before the development of cities and metropolises, the
indigenous person/people (IPs) and the lumads were
here first and thus have access to ancient practices that
still work and are perhaps better than ours because it is
less destructive to the environment. Ignoring
indigenous media and information can only result in
development and education programs that are
irrelevant and ineffective.
Library Books have been familiar to us for a long time.
Usually, a huge number of books from general to
specific subjects is arranged in a room which today we
call a library. All literary, musical, artistic, or reference
materials (books, manuscripts, recordings, or films) are
kept but not for sale.
Libraries, either physical or digital, are often classified
into four groups:
o academic libraries that serves colleges and
universities,
o public libraries that serve cities and towns of all types,
o school libraries that serve students from Kindergarten
to Grade 12, and
o special libraries that are in special environments such
as hospitals, corporations, museums, military, private
businesses, and the government.
Due to the wealth of information in a library, it is
important to know the following skills in accessing
information:
-the access tool to use
-how the information being accessed may be classified
-the depth of detail required (some libraries provide
only an abstract of the topic)
-more detailed information might require membership
or some conformity to the set rules of the source (e.g.
database).
Libraries of published books are often considered highly
reliable, accurate, and valuable. This is because ISSN or
ISBN registration ensures that standards were followed
in producing these materials. Books and documents
from dominant sources are also often peer reviewed.
Hence, secondary information coming from libraries
are the closest we could get to accuracy and reliability if
we happen to not have any access to primary
information in the form of indigenous knowledge and
other firsthand data from experts
Internet The Internet is a global computer network
providing a variety of information and communication
facilities, consisting of interconnected networks using
standardized communication protocols. Common
search engines used for surfing information are Google,
Yahoo and Bing.
Information found on the internet may be quite varied
in form and content. Book copies, published articles and
journals, blogs, recorded videos, etc., can all be found
using the internet. Thus, it is more difficult to determine
its reliability and accuracy. Accessing information on the
internet is easy, but it requires more discipline to check
and validate. Factual and fictitious data are often
merged. It is our duty then as smart users of media to
always validate our source.
Here is a checklist to help us determine the reliability of
information found in the internet:
Author. The author’s willingness to be identified is a
good indication of reliability.
Date of publication or update. While the information
may be true, it may not be reliable if it is outdated and
may have lost relevance.
Citations. Reliable authors have the discipline of citing
sources of their information.
Domain or owner of the site or page. The domains .edu
and .gov are reserved for academic institutions and the
government, respectively. Information from such sites
are presented with caution and are usually well-
grounded.
Site owners may have an agenda that affects how
information is presented Site design and writing style.
Credible sources take time to make their information
accessible and easy to comprehend.
Also, in determining whether information is accurate,
run it by this checklist:
-Look for facts.
-Cross-reference with other sources to check for
consistency.
-Determine the reason for writing and publishing the
information. Check if the author is objective or leaning
heavily on a certain point of view
-Check for advertising. Advertisers may use related
information to market their product.
Too often we suffer from information overload from the
sheer glut of data available. Scammers, trolls, and other
purveyors of fake news are getting very clever with
misinformation dissemination. Therefore, we must also
empower ourselves so that even without Wonder
Woman’s golden lasso of truth, we can decide what to
believe and what to reject as mere pish-posh.
RAVAT Checklist
And since we already know the various media and
information sources we have, it’s time to determine
how credible they are. Here is RAVAT, another
mnemonic to help us discern what’s good and what’s
not.
Reliability Information is said to be reliable if it can be
verified and evaluated. Others refer to the
trustworthiness of the source in evaluating the
reliability of information.
Accuracy It is the closeness of the report to the actual
data. Measurement of accuracy varies, depending on
the type of information being evaluated. Forecasts are
said to be accurate if the report is like the actual data.
Financial information is considered accurate if the
values are correct, properly classified, and presented.
Value Information is said to be of value if it aids the user
in making or improving decisions. The value of the
information may also depend on the need of the user.
Authority of source Much of the information we gather
daily do not come from a primary source but are passed
on through secondary sources such as writers,
reporters, and the like. Sources with an established
expertise on the subject matter are considered as
having sound authority on the subject
Timeliness Reliability, accuracy, and value of
information may vary based on the time it was
produced or acquired. While a piece of information may
have been found accurate, reliable, and valuable during
the time it was produced, it may become irrelevant and
inaccurate with the passing of time (thus making it less
valuable). Other information may be timeless, proven to
be the same in reliability, accuracy, and value
throughout history
Now there has also been the rise of alternative media
and information as counterpoint to mainstream and
mass media. Independent media, as some call it,
include social media, blogs, and flash mob
performances. These alternative forms provide greater
freedom and power to ordinary individuals and are a
quicker way of distributing information. The downside is
that a lot of the information being passed around is
biased and inaccurate. Nevertheless, credible
alternative media sites are actually good ways of
looking at “the other side” of mainstream, the side not
often looked at, advocating marginalized groups that
are usually taken for granted by corporate and
government-controlled media outlets.
Remember, while it may be difficult to fully determine
the reliability, accuracy, value, and timeliness of any
information, as well as the authority of the source,
literacy in media and information benefits from the
development of these skills.
Summary:
-What are the different sources of information?
Information can come from both firsthand/primary and
secondhand/secondary sources. Indigenous knowledge
is a good source of firsthand information while the
library and internet are for secondhand information.
-Why is it necessary to differentiate between sources of
information?
Information should not be taken at face value. Knowing
its source and the differences between sources helps us
discern which piece of information is credible and worth
sharing to others. Your purpose in using the information
will also determine which source you will likely look at.
-How do we evaluate media and information sources?
We run them by the RAVAT checklist for reliability,
accuracy, value, authority, and timeliness. That way, we
can discern if the information is relevant or not.
 MEDIA AND
INFORMATION LITERACY
CM5
MEDIA AND INFORMATION LANGUAGES: GENRE,
CODES, AND CONVENTIONS
Media and Information Languages
Deciphering the media and information languages is like
playing charades: to win the game, that is, to
understand the message, we have to be familiar with
the hints that are given to us. To do so, we must speak a
common language governed by certain codes and
conventions. Common means that the rules in
understanding the code are shared by members of the
group who use that code.
Robert Young (2017) classifies media codes into three:
symbolic codes, technical codes, and written codes.
“Conventions are expected ways in which codes are
organized in a product” (Young, 2017).
These codes and conventions in media language and the
choices made regarding their selection, combination,
and exclusion influences “meaning in media products to
create narratives, to portray aspects of reality, to
construct points of view, and to represent the world in
ways that convey messages and values” (“Media
language”, 2017). In other words, being a smart user of
media also requires us to know exactly how these
elements are put into play.
Codes
Symbolic codes
key point: Symbolic codes are conceptual codes that
any kind of audience will immediately pick up on to help
them interpret the message of a media product.
Symbolic codes take on the lives of symbols; meaning,
the depiction of these codes in a media product frame
or shape the narrative in associative or connotative
terms. These codes include setting, mise-en-scene,
acting, and color.
The setting includes the time and place in the media
product. Setting can also include any of these elements:
 Climate/season
 Landscape
 People
 Social structures and economic factors
 Moral attitudes and behavioral codes.
The depiction of setting in a film foregrounds the
atmosphere in it and by extension, the emotional
expectations that the audience could have. Tate Taylor’s
2016 film The Girl on the Train opens with the main
character on a train speeding to New York City, with the
trains movement and the girls point of view already
setting the stage for the movement of the narrative.
The mise-en-scène refers to the visual elements in the
frame. This means that the composition of all the
elements found within the physical boundaries of the
shot or the frame creates an effect on the audience and
establishes the context of the narrative. For instance,
one shot or frame could include the setting, the props,
the costumes, the lighting, and the characters. These
elements also help us determine the genre of the media
product. Take a look at this table below.
The combination of these components in a single shot
will help establish the context of the narrative and set
the expectations of the audience.
Acting, on the other hand, is perhaps the most obvious
element we observe as audiences. The actor plays a
character through the use of facial expressions, body
language, vocal qualities, and movement. Some
elements like accent, a nervous tic, and the kind of walk
the actor employs for the character all help establish
that character for us and make them more believable.
Aside from acting, the color palette of a film also helps
deliver a specific message and foreground our
expectations. We have been taught the meanings of
colors in our Art classes when we were younger. Those
meanings, albeit varying in different cultures, are still
very useful. The color palette in the first few shots of
The Girl on the Train is monochromatic blue and other
dark colors when the scenes focus on the character
played by Emily Blunt. When the scenes shift to the
views that she’s seeing, i.e., the houses in the suburbs,
When the camera looks up, this low angle creates an
the colors suddenly become light and sunshiny,
impression of power, making the subject look large. A high
depicting life in stark contrast to hers.
angle when the camera looks down creates an impression
You may notice that all these elements are codes that of weakness because the subject appears small. On the
we are aware of when we see a media product. We other hand, if the camera looks at the subject from eye-
don’t really need technical knowledge to say that the level in a normal or straight angle, the subject looks equal
color palette of a film affects its message. Those are to the viewer which helps them feel equal to and identify
symbolic codes for you: because they are social in with the subject. Still, there are also some film terms
nature, these codes “live outside the media product which we may already be familiar with.
themselves, but would be understood in similar ways in
the „real life‟ of the audience” (Young, 2017). If our
lives were also one big ongoing film, we would
recognize these codes right away.

Technical Codes
key point: Technical codes depend on the particular
medium we are using and require more than just a
cursory knowledge from the audience, unlike symbolic
codes
Unlike symbolic codes, technical codes require technical
knowledge. They are also “specific to a media form and
do not live outside of them” (Young, 2017). Different
mediums such as film and photography have different
codes that are only confined to such mediums and not
to anything else. The use of stark lighting in
photography, for instance, can convey an atmosphere
of unceasing violence because it is a static medium. In
contrast, films do not often use stark lighting in every
shot or frame; films also progress through several
scenes which could help soften the visual effects any
stark lighting may have on an audience.

Technical codes in media include camerawork, editing,

audio, and lighting.
Camerawork refers to “how the camera is operated,
positioned, and moved for specific effects” (Young,
2017). Some aspects include positioning, movement,
framing, exposure, and lens choice. Here are some
technical terms for us to learn.
These different techniques of visual composition help
establish the placement and relationship of all the
elements within the shot. A close up of two characters
could indicate a close relationship while a long shot
could indicate distance. And even without the use of
such angles, the portrayal of space in the frame also
equates to the emotional/ psychological distance
between the characters.

Editing may in be in the form of graphic, rhythmic,

spatial, and temporal edits and is the “process of
choosing, manipulating, and arranging images and
sound” (Young, 2017). Films shot in modern times may
intentionally be in grayscale or sepia tone or edited to
be so to indicate a certain period or genre.
Films are usually not shot chronologically and so editing
helps create the illusion that the movie is unfolding
naturally, without the intervention of the filmmaker.
Audio, which may be diegetic or non-diegetic, includes
dialogue, sound effects, and music, and is the
“expressive or naturalistic use of sound” (Young, 2017).
Diegetic sounds mean the sounds that occur within the
world of a narrative, as when a character happens to
listen to the radio at one moment in the film. Non-
diegetic sounds are the sounds that are superimposed
on us, the background music that heightens the
emotional effect of the film. We can’t hear where their
source is on screen, as in voiceovers for documentaries
and film trailers.
Certain kinds of music correspond with certain genres.
Sometimes, a main character like James Bond has a
whole theme unto himself. Sound effects can also be
used to emphasize certain elements as in the fizz of a
soft drink in an advert, or the canned laughter in most
sitcoms. Most sound effects are also not captured
realistically on field recordings or are drowned by other
noises in the periphery and so they have to be recorded
separately and just added in the postproduction phrase
for crisp sound. Artists who engage in this kind of work
are called Foley artists after Jack Donovan Foley who
pioneered this method.
Lighting, on the other hand, is the “manipulation of
natural or artificial light to selectively highlight specific
elements of the scene” (Young, 2017). It may include
quality, direction, source, and color. Lighting may also
be expressive and help define the space within a frame,
separate foreground from background, create textures,
mold and shape, reveal or conceal.
Written Codes
key point: Written codes are the literal language aspect
of any media product.
And because we are dealing with language, it also goes
without saying that we are dealing with written codes
that can either be printed or spoken. According to
Young (2017), “written codes can be used to advance a
narrative” and “communicate information about a
character or issues and themes in the media product.”
Spoken codes include dialogue and song lyrics while
print codes include design, layout, and typography.
They may also employ buzzwords and catchphrases to
make their product more memorable to audiences, such
as those used by adverts.
Typography organizes text and creates meaning
through the use of fonts to emphasize some content
over the others. A love letter in a Chiller font would just
mean creepy stalker and not romantic lover, right? As in
this CM, certain fonts are only used for certain parts to
emphasize their difference from each other and to
highlight a different aspect for your attention.
Color, too, is an important element, and is often
referred to as the explicit convention when reading or
consuming any media product. It’s the color that first
jumps out at us and with it are certain associations
designed to make us feel favorably or unfavorably
towards the media product.
Visual composition for press and desktop publishing is
called page layout. Considerations for this include
space, hierarchy, images and size, color, the use of
white/negative space, text and text location, headlines
and font size, audience expectations, and eye
movement across the page. Hierarchy for example
ensures that the most important parts of the page are
larger than the less important ones.
These elements of visual composition are also employed
in titles and credit sequences. For instance, the opening
sequence for the movie Catch Me If You Can involves
long strokes of letters that extend towards the end of
the screen, as if goading the viewer to “catch” those
strokes. This sets the tone of the movie and the
expectations of the viewers early on.
Media Conventions
key point: Conventions are standards in using the media
codes that act as rules governing behavior. They
become so by force of habit and social acceptance.
Young (2017) asserts that “conventions are accepted
ways of using media codes.” They are closely connected
to audience expectations of a media product. Often, our
reactions to a media product are shaped by conventions
which may come in the form of story conventions, form
conventions, and genre conventions.
Form conventions refer to the conventions inherent in a
certain medium. Newspapers are expected to have
headlines, news on the front page, an editorial page,
and other lifestyle sections in between, with the sports
news at the back pages. Films naturally have title and
credit sequences. Games have tutorial modes. TV series
have recaps at the beginning to update the viewers on
the narrative. And so on.
Story conventions are narrative structures that indicate
cause and effect, character construction, and point of
view, and help the audience make sense of the
narrative. Most narratives follow the Hollywood
opening, development, and closure pattern or the
equivalent of Freytag’s pyramid in literary narrative
structure: exposition, conflict, rising action, climax,
falling action, resolution. Flouting this convention
deliberately such as using a disjointed timeline for the
narrative by moving back and forth between past and
present usually indicates a certain significance in the
narrative.
Genre conventions, on the other hand, point to the
common use of tropes, characters, setting, or themes in
a particular medium. For instance, as this BBC site says,
soap operas and other genres that appeal more to the
emotions, there may be more close ups to focus on the
expressions of the characters. Low angles that look
intimidating to the audience are often used in action-
adventure films to make the character look larger than
life and therefore strong and invincible. A whip pan is
used to suggest panic and thrills in horror and action
adventure films. In contrast, shots in documentaries are
more stable and are often filmed using handheld or
shoulder-mounted cameras for ease of movement.
Tense dramas also have a slower pace of editing than
the more dynamic styles used in action adventure films.
Science-fiction and horror films, as a rule, use a lot more
special effects than the average afternoon drama.
These conventions exist because over time, the viewers
have become used to them by force of habit and have
come to expect them when consuming a media product.
It does not mean to say, though, that every convention
we have is correct or should be continued. The male
gaze, for example, has been much decried in films.
Notice how in certain beach movies or chick flicks, the
camera, using the point of view of the typical
heterosexual male, focuses on the curves of the woman
or her other attributes, thereby objectifying or
sexualizing her. This is very much prevalent in the
testosterone-filled movies of the Pinoy action heroes
we see in the PBO channel. Again, conventions become
generally accepted by force of habit. Literacy in political
correctness will also go a long way in correcting these
conventions to advance an ethics that is fair to every
member of society, no matter how, and especially if
they are, marginalized.
Marshall McLuhan‟s “the medium is the message” still
holds true. The way we present things in the media
products we produce contribute to the message we are
sending. As media and information literate individuals
who play the roles of audience, producers, and
stakeholders all at the same time, it is our responsibility
to send the right message by using the appropriate
mediums properly
Summary
What is the language of media?
The language of media is in the form of codes which are
signs understood and shared within a community. The
ways by which producers of media use these codes are
called conventions when they are accepted by the
audience and stakeholders, usually by force of habit.
How do the codes, conventions, and messages
embedded in media affect its audience, producers, and
other stakeholders? An unwitting audience of media
may be disadvantaged and manipulated to perform
certain behavioral patterns if unaware of these codes,
conventions, and messages. On the other hand, the
smart user of media will be able to exercise their critical
thinking and independence in full by making intelligent
decisions.
How is the medium the message at the same time?
The medium becomes part of, if not the, message at the
same time because by itself it is a statement, a choice
made by the content or media creator among other
choices available. Therefore, by virtue of being chosen,
it is assumed that it is the most compatible and most
appropriate medium and hence will help deliver an
organic message to the audience.
 MEDIA AND INFORMATION
LITERACY CM6
LEGAL, ETHICAL, AND SOCIETAL ISSUES IN MIL
As with practically anything on earth, MIL also abounds
with legal, ethical, and societal issues that, if anything,
has only gotten more complicated as we navigate this
new normal. Case in point, our synchronous sessions
are always recorded to facilitate easy review and
instruction during the asynchronous sessions, yet it also
raises the question of proper use of such videos.
Consent to being recorded, consent to the video being
shared, and the general topic of consent in general is a
prickly issue that must at all times be managed with tact
and sensitivity.
This CM is a very long one because those issues require
in-depth discussion and exchange of ideas. We will now
fully discuss copyright and fair use, what constitutes
plagiarism in academic works as well as knowing certain
netiquette to protect your virtual self. These issues also
feed into topics such as digital divide, internet
addiction, and cyberbullying which will be discussed in
the next CM.
Copyright and Fair Use
key point: When we want to use the resources created
by other people for personal or professional purposes,
there are certain conditions that we must meet to use
them freely, and without legal consequences.
Otherwise, we are criminally liable through plagiarism.
This episode in music history is a prime example of how
people may be forgetting the importance of respecting
one’s intellectual property. It is generally defined as a
category of property that includes intangible creations
of the human intellect (World Intellectual Property
Organization, 2016).
The key phrase here is intangible creations: whatever is
a product of your mind, be it a song/poem you just
scribbled while sitting alone in the bedroom at 3 in the
morning, a unique dance move you filmed and shared
on TikTok, a painting you have finished out of boredom,
or a story you shared on Wattpad. Intellectual Property
(IP, hereafter) is the umbrella term to which two of the
major terms you are going to encounter belong:
copyright and fair use.
Copyright is defined as a legal binding that grants its
owner the right to control an intellectual or artistic
creation, including right to profit from others using the
work in specific ways without permission, or from the
sale and performance of the work (Stony Brook
University, 2020). In simpler terms, you have all the
rights in the world to protect, manipulate, and share
your creative work with others.
If you are going to check the back cover of the album of
your favorite singer, you will find the words “ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED”, alongside the international symbol
for copyright, which is ©. This signifies that you, its
listener, are only allowed to enjoy it, and not to produce
it illegally, make money out of it, and worse, claim the
songs on the album as your own, and sell it. The same
goes with a movie.
Unfortunately for creators, this also applies to
copyright. When a copyright expires after a certain
amount of years has passed, all of the content the
creator produced will enter public domain. It is properly
defined as a body of creative work to which no exclusive
intellectual property rights apply.
There are certain conditions in which your song, story,
dance move, or poem will enter the public domain;
their copyright will expire when:
a. the length of effectivity of the copyright is expired;
b. you willingly waived the copyright; In an effort of
sharing your content with others who may need the
inspiration, you may choose not to file for a copyright of
your song, story, dance, or poem, and willfully
“dedicate” it to the public domain. This is called
copyleft. For some, it will mean losing potential to gain
monetary profit from their creations. For others, it is
simply a means for “free publicity” for their work, only
to file copyright for their later works in the future, when
the public has appreciated their work.
c. the copyright has been forfeited by a ruling court in
the country where the content was created/distributed;
Probably because the copyrights in other countries are
more stringent, or more lax, thus not coming to terms
with your own copyright. Spain, Canada, Switzerland,
and the Netherlands are some countries where
downloading copyrighted material for personal, non-
commercial use is perfectly legal.
d. copyright laws are inapplicable.
There are some creations that are automatically
categorized as public domain, i.e. free to use, because
copyright laws did not exist at all when they were
created. The most prominent examples being classical
music, those from Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Bach, and
the others. This is a good explanation on why the poem
“Mi ultimo adios” is freely taught to students in their
Filipino, and History classes, without the fear of Jose
Rizal’s descendants chasing the tail of teachers for using
their ancestor’s work, since Rizal wrote his swan song in
a time where Philippine copyright laws were totally
non-existent. (Uhm, were at war against the Spaniards,
aint nobody got time fo‟ dat!) In the Philippines, a
certain creation will have its copyright expired and
automatically enter the public domain when they reach
a good amount of years. Refer to the table with
condensed information coming from the Republic Act
No. 8293, formally known as the “Intellectual Property
Code of the Philippines”.
Of course, there are times that you will unintentionally
manage to use certain elements from an original
content. As much as this is unavoidable, this is dictated
in legal parlance as the provision for fair use. Fair use is
generally defined as a provision of copyright law that
allows the use of copyrighted work without permission
from the copyright holder under specific circumstances
(Creative Commons USA, 2018).
This means that you can use any copyrighted content
from another person without asking for permission,
provided that you clearly state the intention of using
such content. Some of the circumstances that cover fair
use include:
a. purpose (how will you use it?),
b. degree/intensity of the original work used (how
much will you use?)
c. impact of the original work on the target
market/audience (what’s in it for those who will see
what you used?)
Fair use “allows a rather limited amount of copying
without the copyright owner’s permission for specific
purposes” (Stony Brook University, 2020). Some
purposes/intentions where fair use is dominantly
enforced are:
a. news and current affairs This includes commentary
and criticism programs on all forms of media. When you
hear your favorite newscaster or radio commentator
use a quotation from his favorite movie to launch a
tirade against, say, a candidate running for Senator, the
production company that created the movie cannot call
for copyright infringement, since it can be considered
fair use.
b. education-related materials Just like the example
regarding teaching “Mi ultimo adios” absolutely free to
students, any copyrighted material is constituted for fair
use if it is used for educational purposes. This includes
mentioning trademark names when teachers give
examples to students in, for instance, an
Entrepreneurship class. Your instructor may be regaling
you with stories on how doughnut brands like Tim
Hortons, KrispyKreme, and Dunkin‟ Donuts rose to their
respective successes. If you love watching
documentaries, and you see a lot of videos, songs, and
brand names used all throughout, they are technically
safe from copyright infringement, as it is generally
perceived that in good faith, those content are used to
educate people about a particular topic.
c. parody Parody is generally defined as a comedic
commentary about a work, that requires imitation of
the said work (Copyright Alliance, n.d.). Fair use, in this
case, guarantees protection against copyright
infringements as parodies imitate, mock, ridicule, or
even criticize items of pop culture. How do you think
the longest running comedy show in Philippine TV has
survived for so long imitating and mocking the
Avengers, historical action movies like “Gladiator” and
“300”, and anime series like Dragon Ball Z? Michael V.,
et.al. will have to thank the concept of fair use for that.
d. sampling of music Just after the Vanilla
Ice-Queen/Bowie fiasco, it has long been accepted
afterwards that hip-hop songs, or even songs from
other music genres borrow some elements and mix
them along with their original content. Prominent
examples include the theme song of the Men in Black
movie franchise, which borrows elements from the
1970s disco hit “Forget-Me-Nots” by Patrice Rushen.
Included in the agreement to avoid court litigations is
the fact that Rushen even agreed to have the chorus of
her song revised to accommodate the supernatural law
enforcer theme of the Will Smith hit.
For your content to strike the clauses of fair use, three
(3) common guidelines must be met:
a. the majority of the content must come from you,
with the copyrighted material only constituting
inspiration, mention, sampling, and interpolation;
b. you must give credit to the creators of the
copyrighted material; for instance, if you are going to do
a short film for an indie film competition, and you
borrowed some elements from a particular movie, it is
imperative that you mention the creators of the
material you borrowed; and
c. you must assure that your material is for
noncommercial use only; you are not allowed to sell or
make other means of profit from the creation you
conceived with the copyrighted material along with it.
Plagiarism
key point: Using someone else’s work without proper
attribution and calling it your own is a gross violation of
ethics and standards of academic honesty, not to
mention intellectual property rights.
1. Verbatim plagiarism From the Latin “word”, this is
the fundamental kind of plagiarism that the majority
commit, student or professional alike. It is simply
copying each and every single word from an original
source, and “pasting” it on the new content, passing it
off as an original. This is also known in other references
as cut-paste plagiarism, and copy-paste plagiarism, due
to the ease with which you can do this kind of
plagiarism through the computer.
2. Mosaic plagiarism It is the act of compiling parts of
different resources, changing some of the words to
accommodate the topic, then combining them into one
single new content, much like stained glass mosaics in
churches. Compared with copy-paste plagiarism, mosaic
plagiarism is easier to detect, because the major
giveaway of outputs plagiarized in this manner is the
inconsistency of one sentence with another, especially if
not proofread well before submission.
3. Misattribution Plagiarism This can come in various
forms and is one of the most dangerous kinds of
plagiarism, too. You can commit misattribution
plagiarism by:
a. leaving an uncited paraphrase/quotation as discussed
in an earlier CM, even if you rearranged a certain piece
of information in your own words, you must never
forget to mention the source of that information.
Failure to do so constitutes plagiarism, whether by
accident or by blatant intention.
b. composing an inadequate paraphrase of the original
source If the authority that checks your outputs
observed that the original source is still dominant than
your own words, this also constitutes to plagiarism. You
must take advantage of the liberty that paraphrasing
gives you.
c. linking information to an incorrect/false/made-up
citation Make sure that you get all the basic AND
correct details needed to make a citation, or else, when
the authority checking your output does check the
references you used, and it led them to a dead link, or
even a non-existent resource, you will be in big trouble.
And no, we do not cite fictional characters in academic
texts. Save that for your Facebook statuses, and
Instagram photo captions.
4. Self-Plagiarism You read it correctly: you can dupe
yourself in terms of your own outputs. Self-plagiarism is
committed by submitting the same output you had in a
previous course to a current course, again without prior
acknowledgment. For instance, you are asked by your
facilitator in Media and Information Literacy course to
compose an essay about plagiarism. You remembered
that your Research instructor also had the same task
last year, and your essay got an almost perfect score.
Hoping that the facilitator won’t notice and knowing
that it will take quite an effort to write an essay similar
to what you already did, you submitted that same essay
to your MIL facilitator. Self-plagiarism may not just
involve whole outputs. When you copy parts of an
output that you made previously, and used it in a
current output, you’re cheating on yourself, as well as
disrespecting your craft. What academics do is to cite
their own paper, no matter how arrogant it may seem.
The more pressing issue here is academic honesty and
integrity.
Netiquette
key point: When engaging with people over the
internet, we must practice certain rules and regulations
which are universal to ensure a smooth flow of
information and to show respect for other people.
Before Friendster, Multiply, Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram, and Reddit, one of the places on the internet
where people can converge and share a piece of their
day (or their whole life) is through the usage of online
fora. An online forum is a community in which people
on the internet (called “members”) communicate with
each other through posted messages (Vbulletin, 2020).
It is also known as an online bulletin board, paying
homage to the old school way of getting noticed within
one community by posting advertisements,
announcements from the local government unit,
missing person notices, and even personal information
on a large bulletin board usually posted in a public
space, in an attempt to make a match with someone
else in the same community, such as a pen pal or a
meet-up for a physical date. Compared to chat rooms
(such as ones on Yahoo! Messenger, ICQ, and
Blackberry Messenger) online fora encourage people to
write long messages to liven up an online conversation
called a “thread” (yes, this is where the internet jargon
came from) for others to contribute as well.
And compared to chat rooms which can get raucous
with the many codes, emoticons or emojis, and
acronyms present, online fora has certain rules for all
members to comply with. One common rule is the
avoidance of consistent use of uppercase letters
(colloquially termed as “all caps”) when communicating
with someone. Violate these rules, and you are kicked
out of the thread, or worse, “banned” from the whole
forum itself
The “all caps” rule is one of the earliest forms of
netiquette that has transcended the age of e-mails and
online fora into the age of social media and instant
messaging. etiquette that users of the internet must
subject themselves to maintain a good, and respectful
environment of sharing and distributing information in
the World Wide Web. Some of the general netiquette
that we commonly practice have been condensed in the
table below:
Do’s…
Maintain relevance, appropriateness, and tact.
- Especially in online class, you must remember that
you are engaging with people whose academic and
social standing is unknown to you. Avoid talking as if
you’re best buddies with someone whom you don’t
know.
- Stick to the topic. It is unethical to segue into
another topic without finishing the previous one.
That is plain disrespectful and will make the user feel
irrelevant in contributing information within the
online circle
- There will always be time for memes, jokes, and
fun. Unless you are allowed to be informal, you must
set your “default” tone on the internet to formal.
Think before you click.
- This is self-explanatory and is highly repeated on
campaigns regarding netiquette. If you think there
are consequences that you can’t be responsible for,
then don’t post it. It’s that simple.
- This goes the same with the resources that you
access. Consider the safety of the website/resource
before clicking it.
Secure your privacy.
- This is one of the most highly ignored conventions
regarding netiquette. Always change your password
on all online accounts every now and then. It is
recommended by IT experts that you change your
passwords every 90 days.
Respect a netizen as you would a “real” one.
- Remember, writing is more permanent than speech
and does not contain nonverbal cues. Being polite
and courteous to people you communicate with on
the internet will never scratch your ego.
Wait for your turn, otherwise, excuse yourself
during arguments. - Especially when you are
engaging with multiple persons online, as much as
possible, speak only when you are addressed directly.
Avoid barging in a conversation of two other persons
as this will give them an impression of you being an
attention seeker.
Don’t…
Flame other people who don’t share the same line
of thought as you. - “flaming” is the term used for
online communication which means to attack the
person making the argument, and not the argument
the person laid out. This is the online version of
argumentum ad hominem when holding academic
debates. It is safe to say that if you are the kind of
internet user who loves to flame other people, you
simply don’t know how to argue with others, and you
can’t accept defeat, criticism, and rejection IRL. The
internet, therefore, is not for you.
Send a barrage of unnecessary messages. - You may
be familiar with this in another term: spamming. It is
highly unethical for you to send a barrage of
messages that is of no use and interest to the
receiver, not to mention that it also takes up a lot of
space on their email accounts and chat windows. You
surely don’t want to wake up with a lot of
notifications on your phone, only to find out that they
are about nonsensical stuff.
Talk in straight uppercase letters (i.e. all caps). -
Writing your messages on the internet in all caps is
the online equivalent of shouting and yelling. And
 even if your intention with using uppercase letters is
to gain attention, it does not work that way, not to
mention that words consistently written in uppercase
is also a pain to read.
Share critical personal information. - Unless you
want to follow the philanthropical footsteps of Willie
Revillame and Oprah Winfrey, NEVER share any of
the following critical information regarding you and
your person:
-- full name
-- credit/debit card numbers
-- birthdate
-- present address
-- present school (for students); present workplace
(for professionals)
-- similar information regarding your
parents/guardians, siblings, and other relatives This
information can be potentially used for identity theft,
as well as credit card scams.
Record/Take a screenshot of your conversations
without the consent of the other party/ies. - This is a
blatant violation of other people’s internet freedom.
A lot of incidents regarding identity theft (e.g.
duplicate social media accounts), and cyberbullying
(e.g. taking a candid screenshot of your friend and
posting it online for others to make fun of) root from
this violation of netiquette. If you don’t want your
own face to end up as the next trending meme, don’t
do the same to your friends, family, and others.

Much has been said regarding netiquette, but to sum it

all up, just take note of this Latin phrase: Memento
publicum. Remember that you are in public. What you
say, and how you present yourself online is regarded
nowadays as constitutions of your digital self. We must
be careful with how we present ourselves digitally
because others may take it as being one with our
personal, true selves.
 MEDIA AND
INFORMATION LITERACY
CM8
LEGAL, ETHICAL, AND SOCIETAL ISSUES IN MIL
Virtual selves are a curious thing. From the avatars we
construct to the roles we play in role-playing games
(RPGs) to the profiles we create online; we leave traces
of ourselves; we leave a print of our virtual selves
online. However, whether these virtual selves are
wholly equivalent to our offline selves is another matter
entirely. And this is never more apparent than in the
issues we are going to discuss for this CM: issues of
digital divide, internet addiction, and cyberbullying.
Digital Divide
Key point: Information, and the various technologies
that provide access to such, is unequally distributed to
people, especially within a minority, a country, or a
specific community due to various factors. Equality on
the internet is, at this moment, an abstract idea.
Initially conceptualized by the American psychologist
Lloyd Morrisett, the concept of a digital divide is
defined as an uneven distribution in the access, use of,
or impact of information and communications
technologies between a number of distinct groups
(National Telecommunications and Information
Administration, USA, 1995). When your friend knows
how to operate an iPhone (with an iOS) and a Samsung
Galaxy phone (with the latest Android 10 installed in it),
and you’re stuck with a hand-me-down Android FroYo-
powered smartphone, then this is an apparent division
of your respective capabilities to acquire your tool to
access the same information you both have within
reach.
As scholars in the field of ICT are divided on what really
constitutes a digital divide, the following divisions are
those considered to be the most apparent in the
Philippine context.
a. Access to Information -
-among socio-economic groups This is manifested in
online news portals such as ABS-CBN News website,
which maintains a separate, “tabloidized” news portal
called Patrol.PH, which is targeted for the working class
- among socio-political groups Elderly citizens
supporting election candidates they frequently hear on
radio and television; youth supporting candidates who
campaign over social media;
- between geographical locations The nightly news
focuses more on events that happen in the NCR and
Luzon, and less in Visayas and Mindanao;
- between geopolitical statuses The amount of
American-related news shown in the People’s Republic
of China (especially in the state-run network CCTV), and
the amount of Chinese-related news shown in American
households (in their Big 4 stations: ABC, NBC, CBS, and
Fox);
- between genders According to a 2018 report, males
dominate the knowledge of using mobile devices for
gaming, looking for jobs, while females are left with
using the basic functions of their phones such as making
phone calls, and the calculator application.
b. Access and Usage of Technology - capability of using
a particular software/application (you know how to cite
references in Microsoft Word with ease using the
References toolbar, while your classmates still cite
theirs manually), - access to technological tools (such as
the smartphone example earlier), - quality of internet
connection (South Koreans are cruising on 27mbps
average internet speed, while Filipinos are tippy-toeing
on a 6mbps average speed [as of 2017])
There are many other divisions to consider when
discussing how the world is still imbalanced in terms of
access to information and usage of the different
technologies to access such information. Seeing and
feeling a digital divide is a pressing issue because it
promotes inequality among people, groups, and
institutions. In terms of access to information, a digital
divide can turn into a source of discrimination among
peers, superiors, and other people we may encounter to
engage a conversation with. Most of us are ashamed to
admit that we still read books in the library to get
information out of the teasing and discrimination we
may get from our friends who have a steady access to
the internet to look for sources for their Review of
Related Literature and Studies in your latest Research
project. After all, they may argue, why spend time
scouring dusty, outdated hard bounds and paperbacks
when you can simply google it and wait for a few
milliseconds for the results?
In a broader scope, the digital divide is a reflection of
the progress and decline of the society a person belongs
to. A child from the far-flung provinces who has only
tried using a computer unit running on a CRT monitor
and a Pentium 3-powered CPU may be alienated with
the sight of college students in the city carrying laptops
running on AMD Ryzen processors, and paper-thin
Apple MacBook laptops. This is also a good reason that
people from foreign countries lament the monthly rates
we pay to the top telecommunications companies for a
measly 2mbps broadband connection.
With the sudden shift to full online modalities for
learning during this pandemic, the business sector and
other institutions are already trying to address this
divide. Gaps are still present; nevertheless, it is hoped
that soon, the on/offline status that we have will be by
choice and not by connectivity or access issues.
Internet/ Online Addiction
key point: If not regulated properly, using the various
capabilities of the Internet can lead to an addiction that
may be hard to regulate.
Internet addiction, a.ka. online addiction is generally
defined as the excessive use of computers to the extent
that it interferes with daily life. Simply put, if using the
internet is what dictates how you get by your day, the
way you use it may be considered problematic
Dr. Keith Beard (1995), an expert on internet addiction,
proposed a characteristic list which is answerable by
“Yes” or “No”. On your own, you may want to check
these characteristics to see whether you fit the bill.
Do you feel preoccupied with the internet?
-- Do you think about what you did there yesterday?
-- Do you anticipate the next online session you will
have?
Do you feel the need to use the internet with increasing
amounts of time to achieve satisfaction?
Have you repeatedly made unsuccessful efforts to
control, cut back, or stop Internet use?
Do you feel the following when attempting to cut
down/stop internet use? -- restlessness -- moodiness --
irritability – depression
Do you stay online longer than originally intended?
Have you jeopardized/ risked the loss of the following
because of the internet? -- significant relationship
(family, friends, coworkers, and/or partner) --
job/career opportunity -- studies/educational
opportunity
Have you lied to family members, a therapist, or others
to conceal the extent of involvement with the internet?
Do you use the internet as a way of escaping problems
or relieving a dysphoric mood (such as helplessness,
guilt, anxiety, and/or depression)?
If you answered “yes” to at least five of the criteria, you
need to get your internet intake regulated immediately.
Because just like an addiction to illegal substances,
tobacco, and alcohol, internet addiction (specifically
addiction to online games and social media) is being
pushed by psychologists and psychiatrists to be
considered a mental-behavioral disorder, next to
gambling disorder.
There is hope, fortunately, for those who can’t stop
immersing themselves in the AMOLED screens of their
smartphones, and the 16-inch screens of their laptops.
The very first thing that is recommended is to talk with
someone whom you can trust. This is for two reasons:
1. to discuss and acknowledge that you are having a
problem with spending too much time on the internet,
and 2. to implicitly cut off some screen time and
immerse yourself once again in the real world.
Another way to curb internet addiction is to allot
specific hours in which to engage yourself in physical
and mental activities, such as trying out a sport, solving
puzzles, engaging in a specific hobby that will develop
skills such as creativity and artistic freedom. Enrolling in
skills-based courses is also a good solution to improve
your wellbeing.
If you still find yourself going back to your old ways, it is
time to get professional help, just as a person
experiencing anxiety, depression, or any life-hindering
mental health condition will do. Always remember that
admitting your weaknesses will never make you less of
a human being: admission is the first step to recovery.
Because after all, how can a doctor treat a patient if the
patient won’t tell about the pain?
Cyberbullying
key point: Stepping on someone else’s rights or
harassing them using digital means can lead to severe
consequences.
Cyberbullying. Experts generally define cyberbullying as
the act of harassment or overpowering another person
through digital means (such as social media).
Cyberbullying is one of the most pressing concerns in
schools and households around the world and comes in
various forms and functions.
Depending on the intention that a certain perpetrator
of cyberbullying wants to achieve, there are many ways
to execute it, some of the most common are:
a. cyber harassment This is when a perpetrator attacks word. Cyberbullying can also have drastic effects on
a person in a constant basis with the objective of their socialization skills, developing a sense of social
instilling emotional harm, fear, and lack of security anxiety, doubting the intentions of the next person who
within the victim’s online social circles. The attacks can will approach them.
come in the form of: i.) unnecessary messages (such as
One of the things that you should do immediately when
threats and ransoms) ii.) posting of unnecessary media
encountering a cyberbully is to ignore them. Chances
related to the person, with the objective of exposing, or
are that the person is merely trolling you and gauging
shaming, and/or making fun of the victim, and/or iii.)
whether you will bite into the trap, causing the
enticing the victim to do something for the
cyberbully to attack you more, until you can no longer
perpetrator’s benefit (such as cybersex, scamming,
fend off, and you start feeling insecure about yourself. If
fraud, etc.)
there is ever an appropriate time to say the children’s
b. cyber stalking This is when the perpetrator follows
story adage: Do NOT feed the trolls! Do not serve them
the trail of the victim through acquiring their personal
anything that they can use against you in their next
information, with the intent of harming them using the
campaign of cyberbullying, thus discouraging them from
acquired information. This is prevalent among
attacking you.
celebrities, with perpetrators going through their
personal social media accounts and the cloud storage The internet has a hive mind and will usually latch on to
devices of their mobile devices during a mass hacking of whatever is trending at any given moment. Therefore,
accounts in 2014. breaking the chain of cyberbullying also includes not
c. trolling This is an intentional form of bullying. To troll giving any fodder for trolls. No likes, no reacts, no
someone is to blatantly attack someone whom you are comments whatsoever. If you must take action, do so
not in good terms with or a random person for the through proper channels.
satisfaction of getting to the nerves of that person,
eliciting unsuspecting replies and rebuttals, only to be
met with more intentional attacks. Flaming, as
discussed in the lecture regarding netiquette, is an
avenue of trolling.

What makes cyberbullying bothersome and more

dangerous than conventional bullying is the fact that
most of the time, we cannot identify the perpetrators,
and worse, we have no options of responding to or
fighting back the cyberbully, thinking that it will not
affect them at all if we did.

Who are at risk of cyberbullying? Every single one of us,

especially when we have constant access to the
internet. It has been pointed out by experts that people
subject to cyberbullying may have lower self-esteem,
increased thoughts of committing suicide (formally
called as “suicide ideation”), and various emotional
responses such as getting scared, frustrated, angry,
anxious, and depressed (Hinduja & Patchin, 2009).
Doctors even mention that in a physiological point of
view, victims of cyberbullying can get less sleep, thus
impacting their physical well-being (American
Osteopathic Association, n.d.). Students at school may
feel intimidated (just like the case of Salvosa) to go to
school and attend their classes, with the fear of being
prejudiced and jeered at with their every move and
 MEDIA AND
INFORMATION
LITERACY CM9
OPPORTUNITIES, CHALLENGES, & POWER OF MEDIA &
INFORMATION
From the lessons that we have discussed in the previous
course materials, we can deduce that media is
undeniably a powerful tool that functions to inform,
entertain, educate, and influence people.
As already mentioned, media and information can
greatly influence people’s lives, and this influence may
either be positive or negative—it could either be an
opportunity or a challenge. An opportunity that
functions to strengthen and enrich the connections
between citizens and organizations comprising the
economy, education, social, and political parties, or a
challenge that poses risks, threats or the negative
effects to people’s lives. In this course material, we will
discuss both the opportunities and challenges of media
and information.
Challenge - A challenge is something new and difficult
which requires great effort and determination.
Opportunity - A time or set of circumstances that makes
it possible to do something.
Opportunities in Media and Information
Key Concept: The New Media or the Internet provides
great opportunities to improve life for all users. It has
positive effects on economy, education, society, and
politics
1. Economy Media and information has a great impact
towards the economy. It improves the efficiency of the
economy by providing economic actors more and better
information which will help them make decisions that
will improve economic stability
Economic actors need accurate and timely information
to allocate their resources efficiently. Business owners,
investors, and other groups also relies on media to
know the needs and demands of the people.
A free and independent media also provides
information and monitoring to the economic policy
development process leading to more effective
economic policies. Playing their role and function in a
democratic society as a watchdog can also reduce
political risk and increase good governance- conditions
that are important for robust economic development.
2. Education Media plays an important role in learning
and education; it continues to transform and help the
sector of education especially in this time of pandemic.
Since many schools from around the world started to
offer remote learning were students are allowed to
enrol and study even without leaving their homes,
teachers and students heavily rely on different forms of
educational media such as those which are accessible
through mobile phones in order to continue the delivery
of learning According
to the recent statistics, the educational mobile apps are
the third most frequently downloaded applications on
the mobile phones with the current rate at 8.47%.
Below is another recent statistic showing the specific
education apps most frequently downloaded for June
2020.
In this generation where the usage of new media or the
internet is really on its peak, teachers and students are
given the opportunity to access unlimited media, thus,
they have the ability to acquire unlimited information
and knowledge at their fingertips.
3. Social Media of today is playing an outstanding role
in creating and shaping of public opinion and
strengthening of society. Media is the sword arm of
democracy. Media acts as watchdog to protect public
interest against malpractice and create public
awareness.
In addition, at this time, media (specifically social
media), becomes as essential as our daily needs. Any
website allows social interaction which is considered a
social media sit, including social networking sites such
as Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, gaming sites and Virtual
works, video sites such as Youtube, and Blogs. This sites
give entertainment and communication and have grown
in recent years.
4. Politics The political landscape has changed quite a
bit in the last couple of decades. The internet has
played a large role in this transformation. Social media,
in particular, is now a serious factor in political
campaigns and in the way people think about issues.
Candidates and their supporters constantly post their
views on Facebook and Twitter. Each party has its own
pages, from which it broadcasts propaganda and
requests for donations. Let’s look at some of the leading
ways that social media influences politics today
1. News Around the Clock One of the ways that social
media has transformed politics is the sheer speed at
which news, poll results and rumors are shared.
Whereas in the pre-internet days, people had to wait
for the next newspaper or TV news show to get the
latest information, online news is a 24/7 phenomenon.
2. Demographics and Targeting Targeting is used
throughout the advertising industry to make sure that
ads and messages reach the right audience. Politicians
do this as well. In the age of social media, politicians and
people running for office are able to target their
campaigns.
3. Direct Interaction With Politicians One of the
positive effects that social media has on politics is the
opportunity for voters to interact more easily with
candidates and elected officials. Traditionally, if you
wanted to meet a politician or candidate, you’d have to
attend a live event. Not everyone is able to do this. With
modern technology, it’s now possible to attend virtual
events where you can participate in live streaming
events and interact with politicians and candidates.
Challenges in Media and Information
The Internet provides a wealth of content for all groups
of users. With almost everyone having their mobile
phone with various functionalities and access to the
Internet, the media and information that strengthens
the connections between citizens and organizations also
poses threats, risks, abuse, and misuse.
Cybercrime According to Technopedia, cybercrime is
defined as a crime in which a computer is the object of
the crime (hacking, phishing, spamming) or is used as a
tool to commit an offense (child pornography, hate
crimes). Cybercriminals may use computer technology
to access personal information, business trade secrets
or use the internet for exploitative or malicious
purposes.
There are different types of cybercrime:
1. Hacking is the most common type of cybercrime
committed across the world. Hacking is a crime which
entails cracking systems and gaining unauthorized
access to the data stored in them. Hacker is a person
who breaks in to a computer system.
2. Phishing is a cybercrime in which a target or targets
are contacted by email, telephone or text message by
someone posing as a legitimate institution to lure
individuals into providing sensitive data such as
personally identifiable information, banking and credit
card details, and passwords.
3. Virus dissemination. Virus is a program which attach
themselves to the computer or file and then circulate
themselves to other files and to other components on a
network. They usually affect the data on the computer,
either by altering or deleting it.
4. Cyber stalking is the use of internet or other
electronic means to stalk someone. It is online
harassment and online abuse. Mostly cyber stalking
involves following a person’s movement across the
internet by posting threatening messages to the victim
or by entering the chat rooms frequented by the victim
or by constantly bombarding the victim with the e-mails
etc.
5. E-mail Spoofing happens when an e-mail that
appears to originate from one source was actually sent
from another source. This can also be termed as e-mail
forging.
UNESCO also presented several challenges and risks
related to online content which are adapted from Youth
Protection Roundtable Tool Kit – Stiftung Digitale
Chancen 2009
1. Age-inappropriate content such as adult
pornography might especially harm younger children
when exposed to it unintentionally. The risk of facing
age-inappropriate content can result from the user’s
own conduct when searching for it deliberately, as well
as stumbling across it without intending to. Special
attention should be given to content that is not illegal in
general but might harm younger users.
2. Infringement of human rights / defamation. In the
anonymity of the web, propaganda against certain
population groups or individuals can easily be
widespread. Also, defamatory content is harmful to
children and young people whose opinion might be
influenced by misleading information.
3. Copyright infringement is a risk mostly related to the
conduct of users themselves. Irrespective of whether a
copyright has been infringed deliberately or
accidentally, the infringement is seen as fraud by the
holder and puts the violator at risk of penalty.
4. Bullying. Various types of bullying seem always to be
part of people’s lives. Bullying one another is certainly
simplified by the Internet due to the anonymity
provided by the medium. Children and young people in
particular risk being both victims of bullying and
offenders. Hence bullying is related to one’s own
conduct as well as to the conduct of others.
5. Identity theft. Getting hold of, and making use of,
other people’s electronic identity (e.g. user name and
password) with the intent to commit commercial or
other fraud and to benefit from it is called identity theft.
Identity theft is a growing risk as the number of virtual
identities is increasing with the number of people online
and particularly those using personalized services
Power of Media and Information
The power of media and information revolves on its
influence. Remember that while media strengthens and
enriches the connections between citizens and
organizations, it can also manipulate and pressurise the
society, controlling it in negative ways.
This is exact reason why having the capability to analyse
and evaluate media and information is crucial. One
should possess essential skills and competencies that
will allow them to engage with media and other
information providers effectively, so that they could
avoid being manipulated or controlled by the vast
information present in our society.
MEDIA AND
INFORMATION
LITERACY CM11
PEOPLE MEDIA & TEXT INFORMATION AND MEDIA
PEOPLE MEDIA
Just like the people aforementioned, social media
influencers – specifically YouTubers’ vlogs have been
our go-to activity to spend our long afternoon. Indeed,
in the virtual world especially now that we are in the
pandemic, a lot of people really showed interest in
creating contents as social media influencers that cover
their life styles, hobbies, family interests, and love
stories. Famous YouTubers can be called now as
celebrities because of the million subscribers, thousand
viewers, and back-to-back sponsorship as product
endorsers and others. Truly, social media has
empowered almost everyone to be channels of
information thus becoming medium of communication.
With people’s influence in different forms of media, we
consider them as people media. People media refers to
people that are involved in the use, analysis, evaluation
and production of media and information. The best
simple example is a teacher in a classroom. (MIL
Curriculum Guide by DepEd). These are people who
works behind all types and forms of media such as text
media, visual media, multimedia, etc., (which we are
going to talk about in the next course materials) in
propagating information and exchanging of knowledge.
People media can be classified into two types, (1)
people as media and (2) people in media.
PEOPLE AS MEDIA are individuals that serve as channels
of information. They are the media itself. The person
serves as a medium for another person to learn or
acquire a new knowledge. Traditionally, this is limited to
folk media, writing, or creating a media artifact but with
the advent of social media, individuals have been
empowered to not just create media artifacts but to
give feedback, edit and add on to the media artifact.
People who are media themselves include the
following:
a. Opinion Leaders: They are individuals or
organizations that are able to influence people by their
opinion. They are ones that the opinion receivers
consider credible and hold high regard for in that
particular area. Take for example, a member of your
circle of friends who is the love guru among you. So,
imagine people who have professional backgrounds in a
specific field where their advices are taken seriously
b. Citizen Journalist: These are people who are not
professional journalists but who disseminate
information using Web sites, blogs, and social media.
They are using tools of the modern technology and
internet to create augment or fact-check media on their
own or in collaboration with others
c. Social Journalist: These are journalist that uses social
media to make their content available to more people.
It consists of a hybrid of professional journalism,
contributor and reader content. Its format focuses on
the involvement of the society, engagement of
audience, verification and collection of news, data and
analysis, and relationship-building. It commonly takes
place in open publishing platforms such as Twitter and
WordPress.
d. Crowdsourcing: It refers to the collection of
information based on opinions and preferences from a
large group of people answered through the internet,
social media, and/or smartphone applications. People
related to crowdsourcing activities are sometimes paid
as freelancers, while others do small tasks voluntarily.
PEOPLE IN MEDIA are individuals that are working
behind the forms of media. They use forms such as text
media, visual media, multimedia, etc. in redistributing
information and sharing of knowledge. They are media 2. Micro-blogging – Twitter, Instagram
practitioners that share their expertise or first-hand 3. Special interest networks – Linkedin, Pinterest
experience of events. These are the journalist 4. Media Sharing – YouTube, Flickr
themselves. 5. Collaborative news -Reddit, Waze,
a. Print Journalist: It refers to a writer and/or reporter 6. Discussion Forums – Google Groups
who work for newspapers and magazines. They gather 7. Group buying/merchant sites – OLX, Groupon,
and analyze facts from newsworthy events through Dealgrocer
conducting interviews, investigation, and/or 8. Virtual worlds – Farmville, World of Warcraft,
observation. Secondlife, Minecraft
b. Photo Journalist: Someone who photographs, edits, ADVANTAGES AND LIMITATIONS OF USING SOCIAL
and displays images to tell a narrative. They are MEDIA
journalistic professionals who possessed skills in
interpreting and communicating through photographs.
c. Broadcast Journalist: It talks about someone who
conducts research, investigation, and present news and
current affairs content in television, radio, and in the
virtual world. The goal is to present information in a
balanced, accurate, and interesting way through
different forms of media such as news bulletins,
documentaries, and other real-life programs.
d. Multimedia Journalist: This refers to a storyteller
who works across many dimensions combining text or
print, photographs, sounds, videos, and graphics in
presenting information.

CHARACTERISTICS OF PEOPLE MEDIA

1. Tech Savvy: They should be proficient in the use of
technology.
2. Credible: They are able plausible and reliable.
3. Flexible: They know how to use a range of technology
and are able to change or to do variety of tasks.
4. Charismatic: They catch the attention of different
people as part of their audience.
5. Updated: They are aware of the latest events in the
society.
6. Articulate: They are able to express themselves easily
in clear and effective language
As social media enabled people to be the medium of
communication, here are characteristics of social media
that help embody people media.
CHARACTERISTICS OF SOCIAL MEDIA
1. Individualized, builds profiles (includes personal
details, pictures, likes)
2. Connects with friends and people (includes referrals
by other friends or by the site itself)
3. Uploads content in real time
4. Enables conversations (both private and public)
5. Provides tracking (history and threads)
FORMATS & EXAMPLES OF SOCIAL MEDIA
1. Relationship or Social networks – Facebook
Text Information and Media
key point: Text is usually compared to pictures and
images as better visual information.
A text is a simple and flexible format of presenting
information or conveying ideas whether hand-written,
printed, or displayed on-screen (MIL TG by CHED). As
written codes advances our narrative, text is a powerful
tool in disseminating information, providing direction,
and giving suggestions. Thus, Text Information and
Media in general refers to materials, programs,
applications, and the like that teachers and students use
to formulate new information to aid learning through
the use, analysis, evaluation, and production of
alphanumeric characters and symbols.
Text is available in different forms of media may it be
formal such as what we see on news articles, published
books, newspapers, magazines, advertisements,
research works, etc. or informal such as blogs, personal
e-mails, SMS or text messages, online messengers,
social media platforms, etc.
A. Formal text-based materials are created and
distributed by established institutions such as publishing
companies, news agencies, etc. These also undergo a
rigorous process of editing or evaluation and
are usually governed by censorship of the state.
B. Informal text-based materials come from personal
opinions or views on different issues, processes, etc.
Text can vary in its length. It can be as short as a single
sentence or phrases such as the catchphrases that you
are already familiar with up to news articles or
investigative reports. Regardless its length, a text is
carefully written with the purpose of sending an
important message to your target audience.
In our exposure to text media and information, we can
either be a consumer or a producer of content. As a
consumer, these are the questions that you need to ask
with regards to the content of text media and information:
• Who or what institution is sending this message? • What
techniques are used to attract and hold attention? • What
is the language used by the writer? • What views are
represented? Are they balanced? • How might the
message be interpreted in different ways? • What is
omitted, slurred or added in the message?
Text as Visuals
The world can never be understood without letters.
These letters are used to send a message into different
expressions such as love, hatred, or other emotions.
These letters also developed as an object for art
expression. This fusion of art and writing is called as
typography.
Typography is the art of arranging text based on
typefaces, point size, line length, and spacing. Its
purpose today varies depending on the tone, mood, or
theme of the setting where it will be used
Here are the things that you need to know in order to
make use of text as visuals in media and information:
Typeface or known as font, font type, or type refers to
the representation or style of a text in the digital
format. A typeface is usually comprised of alphabets,
numbers, punctuation marks, symbols and other special
characters. When fonts are installed in the computer,
they usually come in file formats such as True Type Font
(.ttf), Open Type Font (.otf), etc. In the absence of
images or drawings, text is the easiest way of
communicating to your audience. The use of various
font types can express different emotions or meaning
just like what we agreed on written codes.
Types of Typefaces: Serif - connotes formality and
readability in large amount of texts. This font is usually
used for the body text of books, newspapers, magazines
and research publication. Also, serif fonts give a classic
or elegant look when used for title or heading.
Examples: Times New Roman, Garamond, Baskerville
Sans serif - brings a clean or minimalist look to the text.
This font is used for clear and direct meaning of text
such as road signage, building directory or nutrition
facts in food packages. Also, sans serif fonts give a
modern look and is used primarily in webpage design.
Examples: Arial, Helvetica, Tahoma, Verdana, Calibri
Slab serif- carries a solid or heavy look to text. This font
can be used for large advertising sign on billboards.
Examples: Rockwell, Playbill, Blackoak
Script- draws much attention to itself because of its
brushlike strokes. This must be used sparingly and not
to be used in large body text. This font is usually used in
wedding invitation cards or other formal events.
Examples: Edwardian, Vladimir, Kunstler
Display or decorative- caters to a wide variety of
emotions (such as celebration, fear, horror, etc.) or
themes (such as cowboys, circus, holidays, summer,
kiddie, etc.) Examples: Chiller, Jokerman, Curlz MT
Design principles and elements:
1. Emphasis - refers to the importance or value given to
a part of the text-based content. When trying to make a
point or highlighting a message, you can make the text
bold, italicized, have a heavier weight, darkened or

lightened (depending on your background color) or
enlarged.
2. Appropriateness - refers to how fitting or suitable the
text is used for a specific audience, purpose or event. In
the creation of text-based content, make sure that the
selection criteria (tone, style, purpose, clarity) is
followed. As for the choice of typefaces to be used,
refer to the discussion of the characteristics of the
fonts. When it comes to large body text, the font should
be clear enough to read
3. Proximity - refers to how near or how far are the text
elements from each other. When two things are closely
related, we bring them close together. Otherwise, we
put text elements far from each other. For example, the
main title and subtitle are usually placed close to each
other.
4. Alignment - refers to how the text is positioned in the
page. This can be left, right, center or justified
5. Organization - refers to a conscious effort to organize
the different text elements in a page. Organization
ensures that while some text elements are separated
from each other (based on the principle of proximity),
they are still somehow connected with the rest of the
elements in the page. When there are many elements
needed to fit in a page, start by creating a framework or
a compartment for the elements. Divide the space by
creating lines across the page, making it
look like a cabinet with various space sizes. Once you
are done compartmentalizing, you can place the
different text elements on the boxes.
6. Repetition - concerns consistency of elements and
the unity of the entire design. Repetition encourages
the use of repeating some typefaces within the page.
When several typefaces are used on a page, it might
distract the audience and fail to communicate what you
want them to get from the content. To strike a balance,
do not also use just a single typeface for a visual design
product.
7. Contrast - creates visual interest to text elements.
Contrast is achieved when two elements are different
from each other. When you place a white text on a very
light yellow background, contrast is not achieved and
the text will be difficult to read, but when you put a
white text on a dark brown background, contrast is
created. Contrast can be achieved in various ways, by
joining the following elements: large font with a small
font, serif and sans serif, thin elements with thin
elements, cool color and warm color
MEDIA AND
INFORMATION
LITERACY CM12
VISUAL AND AUDIO INFORMATION AND MEDIA
Together with the text information and media that we
discussed in the previous course material, another
media and information resources that people media use
is the visual information media. As consumers of media
and information, we cannot deny the fact that most of
us get more interested looking at visual contents
compared to plain text.
Today, the power of visuals is a key content, and should
be a valuable part where we exert our effort in
producing information. According to the Digital
Information World, storytelling and data visualization
are the need of the hour. Stakeholders focus more on
showing instead of telling making visual content
trending and rises higher in terms of use and affectivity.
Also, consumers these days crave visual content that
greatly impacts the overall evaluation of material.
Studies show that:
a. 90% of the information transmitted to the brain is visual
b. 80% of people remember what they see
c. Visual are processed 60,000 times faster in the brain
than text
d. 40% of people will respond better to visual information
than text
Visual Information and media refers to materials,
programs, applications and the like that teachers and
students use to formulate new information to aid
learning through the use, analysis, evaluation and
production of visual images (MIL Curriculum Guide by
DepEd). Types of visual information and media includes
photography, video, screenshots, infographics, data
visualization (charts and graphs), comic strips or
cartoons, memes, visual note-taking, etc. Visual media
produced by organization, schools, government, and
established media/publishing outfits are considered
formally produced; otherwise, they are informally
produced.
This visual information and media main purpose are to
gain attention, create meaning, and facilitate retention.
VISUAL DESIGN ELEMENTS
a. Line – describes a shape or outline. It can create
texture and can be thick or thin. Lines may be actual,
implied, vertical, horizontal, diagonal, or contour lines.
b. Shape – usually a geometric area that stands out
from the space next to or around it, or because of
differences in value, color, or texture. Shape may also
be organic.
c. Value – the degree of light and dark in a design. It is
the contrast between black and white and all the tones
in between. Value can be used with color as well as
black and white. Contrast is the extreme changes
between values.
d. Texture – the way a surface feels or is perceived to
feel. Texture can be added to attract or repel interest to
a visual element. Visual texture is the illusion of the
surfaces peaks and valleys, resulting in a feeling of
smoothness or roughness in objects.
e. Color – determined by its hue (name of color), intensity
(purity of the hue), and value (lightness or darkness of
hue). Color and color combination can play a large role in
the design. Color may be used for emphasis, or may elicit
emotions from viewers. Color maybe warm, cool, or
neutral. It plays a major role in our visual perception, as it
influences our reactions about the world around us. It is
therefore important to create color palettes that evoke
the appropriate audience reactions. Color has three
properties.
f. Form – a figure having volume and thickness. An
illusion of a 3-dimensional object can be implied with
the use of light and shading. Form can be viewed from
many angles.
VISUAL DESIGN PRINCIPLES
a. Consistency of margins, typeface, typestyle, and
colors is necessary, especially in slide presentations or
documents that are more than one page.
b. Center of interest – an area that first attracts
attention in a composition. This area is more important
when compared to the other objects or elements in a
composition. This can be by contrast of values, more
colors, and placement in the format.
c. Balance – a feeling of visual equality in shape, form,
value, color, etc. Balance can be symmetrical and evenly
balanced, or asymmetrical and unevenly balanced.
Objects, values, colors, textures, shapes, forms, etc. can
be used in creating balance in a composition.
d. Harmony – brings together a composition with
similar units. If for example your composition was using
wavy lines and organic shapes, you would stay with
those types of lines and not put in just one geometric
shape. (Notice how similar Harmony is to Unity - some
sources list both terms).
e. Contrast – offers some change in value creating a
visual discord in a composition. Contrast shows the
difference between shapes and can be used as a
background to bring objects out and forward in a
design. It can also be used to create an area of
emphasis.
f. Directional Movement – a visual flow through the
composition. It can be the suggestion of motion in a
design as you move from object to object by way of
placement and position. Directional movement can be
created with a value pattern. It is with the placement of
dark and light areas that you can move your attention
through the format.
g. Rhythm – a movement in which some elements recur
regularly. Like a dance, it will have a flow of objects that
will seem to be like the beat of music. h. Perspective –
created through the arrangement of objects in two
dimensional space to look like they appear in real life.
Perspective is a learned meaning of the relationship
between different objects seen in space.
Audio Information and Media Third on our list how
people media maximizes technology resources is the audio
information and media. This refers to materials, programs,
applications and the like that teachers and students use to
formulate new information to aid learning through the
use, analysis, evaluation and production of sound (MIL
Curriculum Guide by DepEd). Media convergence is
evident when visual information and media is combined
now with audio information and media. Audio enhances
the mood and convey emotions that visuals can’t. Thus, it
is vital to make certain that the key message and intention
are consistent in both different media.
Types and Categories of Audio Information
1. Radio broadcast - live or recorded audio sent through
radio waves to reach a wide audience.
2. Music - vocal and/or instrumental sounds combined
in such a way as to produce beauty of form, harmony,
and expression of emotion. It is composed and
performed for many purposes, ranging from aesthetic
pleasure, religious or ceremonial purposes, or as an
entertainment product.
3. Sound recording - recording of an interview, meeting,
or any sound from the environment.
4. Sound clips/effects - any sound, other than music or
speech, artificially reproduced to create an effect in a
dramatic presentation, as the sound of a storm or a
creaking door.
5. Audio Podcast - a digital audio or video file or
recording, usually part of a themed series, that can be
downloaded from a website to a media player or
computer.
Different Ways of Storing Audio Media
1. Tape - magnetic tape on which sound can be
recorded.
2. CD - a plastic-fabricated, circular medium for
recording, storing, and playing back audio, video, and
computer data.
3. USB drive - an external flash drive, small enough to
carry on a key ring that can be used with any computer
that has a USB port.
4. Memory Card - (aka flash memory card or storage
card) is a small storage medium used to store data such
as text, pictures, audio, and video, for use on small,
portable, or remote computing devices.
5. Computer hard drive - secondary storage devices for
storing audio files.
6. Internet/Cloud - websites or file repositories for
retrieving audio files, and more precisely the files are
stored in some datacenter full of servers that is
connected to the Internet