MEDIA AND

INFORMATION
LITERACY
COURSE MATERIAL #4

1st Term AY 2020-2021 Media and Information Literacy Page | 1

 WHAT WILL
YOU LEARN?

This module has been

designed to help you:

• define key concepts of

media and
information sources;
• demonstrate
understanding of
differences between
the sources of media
and information; and
• evaluate media and
information sources
according to the
RAVAT checklist.

MEDIA AND
INFORMATION
SOURCES
1st Term AY 2020-2021 Media and Information Literacy Page | 2
1st Term AY 2020-2021 Media and Information Literacy Page | 3
 WHAT’S INSIDE
THIS
MODULE?

▪ Media and Information

Sources
Indigenous
Library
Internet
Others
RAVAT Checklist

1st Term AY 2020-2021 Media and Information Literacy Page | 4

 FOCUS
QUESTIONS

❖ What are the different

sources of
information?
Media and
❖ Why is it necessary to
differentiate between
the sources of
Information
information?

❖ How do we evaluate
Sources
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.

In an earlier CM, we have already discussed the types of

media that are available to us. Throughout the years, media
has expanded its influence in delivering varied information to
the public. This information is available to us in many
different forms: published books, articles in newspapers and
magazines, print ads, commercial ads on TV, etc.

However, just as the same app will look and work differently
in different platforms, media and information sources too are
not the same and not created equal. That is why information
is one step ahead of data: it is data already processed and
refined. Thus, for us to effectively locate, evaluate, and
incorporate this wide variety of information to our
knowledge base, we must understand what these information
sources are.

1st Term AY 2020-2021 Media and Information Literacy Page | 5

 KEY POINT

Indigenous Even if information sources are

available globally, they can become

Media more valuable lessons locally. Social

technology and similar platforms
can be a tool for collecting, storing,
preserving, and even repurposing
indigenous knowledge systems in a
As we explore the formal sources of media and
time of rapidly accelerating change.
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 communication unique to their group.

1st Term AY 2020-2021 Media and Information Literacy Page | 6

 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.

How can “indigenized” media

technologies promote an open
and dynamic understanding of
culture in “the digital age”?

1st Term AY 2020-2021 Media and Information Literacy Page | 7

 LEARNING ACTIVITY
Information Progress
Here is a video of a Yakan elder (ca. 2010 in Zamboanga
City) demonstrating the making of mamâ, an areca nut and
betel leaf concoction.

Your task is to look for a similar IK item in your locality or

from your elders. Look up a video of it in Youtube and
answer the questions below that apply to that video:

1. How is the type of information helpful to the

community?
2. In what ways does passing on this information help
the community?
3. How did the IP know that the information they pass
on is true?
4. What difficulties did the IP face in passing on this
information to others?
5. What are the other pieces of information about this
subject that are available in popular media? Paste
the URL of the articles, videos, websites you find.

1st Term AY 2020-2021 Media and Information Literacy Page | 8

 KEY POINT

Libraries, whether physical or

digital, are still one of the best
Library
and most reliable sources of
information.
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.

1st Term AY 2020-2021 Media and Information Literacy Page | 9

 LEARNING ACTIVITY
LIB-erating!
And since we were just talking about firsthand and secondhand
information, let’s make use of the digital libraries that we have.

Here is a list of Open Educational Resources (OERs) which can

help you with information you want to look for, be it graphic or
verbal. Particularly helpful are Google Scholar and Internet
Archives.

Now, go back to the IK item you chose for LA 1. I’m sure you were
able to find other articles and videos related to it on major search
engines. But for this one, look them up on Google Scholar and
Internet Archives and see what your search yields.

Write a paragraph of about 200 words synthesizing the results of

your search. Use the APA format for citing your sources.

If there happens to be no search results, write a 100-word

justification of why this must be so.

1st Term AY 2020-2021 Media and Information Literacy Page | 10

 KEY POINT

The Internet can be both a

good and bad place. As
media and information
Internet
literate individuals, we have
to maximize our skills to
The Internet is a global computer network providing a variety
discern what’s good and
of information and communication facilities, consisting of
what’s not.
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.

1st Term AY 2020-2021 Media and Information Literacy Page | 11

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.

1st Term AY 2020-2021 Media and Information Literacy Page | 12

 LEARNING ACTIVITY
LOOKate!
Given the media and information sources, complete the matrix below
by examining their differences according to some criteria when
looking at information sources.

Accuracy Reliability Availability

1. Indigenous
knowledge

2. Library

3. Internet

Great job! You were able to understand the differences and uses of
the three media and information sources. Now, carefully answer the
following questions.

1. Which of these media and information sources are used

effectively in your community? How?

2. What are the challenges encountered in using these media

and information sources? What do you think we can do
towards addressing these challenges?

1st Term AY 2020-2021 Media and Information Literacy Page | 13

 KEY POINT

RAVAT In exercising information

literacy, we have to go
beyond the ILESPT stages
and use the RAVAT checklist

Checklist for credibility.

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.

1st Term AY 2020-2021 Media and Information Literacy Page | 14


There may be other ways to
determine the reliability and
accuracy of information. It is
also possible that certain
information may not exhibit the
characteristics in the checklist
but are deemed reliable and
accurate.
1st Term AY 2020-2021
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.
To recap, here are the questions you need to ask for each
criterion:
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.
Media and Information Literacy Page | 15
 LEARNING ACTIVITY
i-RAVAT yan!
Let us now try the RAVAT checklist for ourselves.
Here are links from two news articles covering
similar news. Choose one article and use the
selection criteria to answer the guide questions that
follow.

TOPIC:

RELIABILITY

ACCURACY

VALUE

AUTHORITY

TIMELINESS

1st Term AY 2020-2021 Media and Information Literacy Page | 16

 LEARNING OUTPUT
So RAVAT-ing!

To further sharpen your media and information literacy skills,

let us go back to the two articles in LA 4. This time, however,
look for an alternative media source where a similar article
may be found. Here is one from Bulatlat.com. If you can find
other sources, that would be better. Again, use the RAVAT
checklist to verify and compare the sources.

Afterwards, answer the following questions.

1. Having now read the three articles, two from

mainstream and one from media, or if you look at it
another way, one with a pro-military angle and two with
pro-lumad inclinations, what is your synthesis of the
event? What do you think really happened?

2. How do you choose from the wide variety of

information made available by different sources? How
do you decide which to believe?

For more information on IK

sources, click this link:
http://collections.infocollections.or
g/ukedu/en/d/Jii03re/

Practice makes for

proficiency!

1st Term AY 2020-2021 Media and Information Literacy Page | 17

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. Accuracy
Alternative media
How do we evaluate media and
Authority
information sources?
Firsthand information
We run them by the RAVAT checklist for reliability,
accuracy, value, authority, and timeliness. That way, we Indigenous media
can discern if the information is relevant or not.
Information
Internet
Library
Reliability
Secondhand information
Timeliness
Value

1st Term AY 2020-2021 Media and Information Literacy Page | 18

 References

Budka, P. (2019). Indigenous Media Technologies in "The Digital Age". Philbu's Blog. Retrieved
from
http://www.philbu.net/blog/tag/indigenousmedia/?fbclid=IwAR0vQiVAJ1Cfg0hwtofXuD
rAs1dbHBXEdXjMER6Rb-x-IvgBZW1uZmDLCgQ

Commission on Higher Education. (2016.) Media and Information Literacy: Teaching Guide for
Senior High School. Quezon City.

Oxillo, M. (July 30, 2017). Media and Information Sources- Media and Information (MIL).
Retrieved from _https://www.slideshare.net/markjhonoxillo/media-and-information-
sources-78382012

Schuler and Alvarez. (n.d.). Indigenous Media. Retrieved from

http://publicsphereproject.org/node/254#:~:text=Some%20notable%20examples%20fro
m%20around,Koahnic%20Broadcast%20Corporation%20in%20Alaska.https://www.slide
share.net/markjhonoxillo/media-and-information-sources-78382012

Yuvienco, Joel C. (2017). Media and Information Literacy: Being a B.E.S.T Digital Citizen for
Senior High School. C & E Publishing, Inc.

CONTRIBUTORS
Justine Daniel R. Gabuni

Maryan Joy C. Lopez

Renelyn O. Manacho

Ma. Carmie Flor I. Ortego

Jaycel Anne B. Panday

1st Term AY 2020-2021 Media and Information Literacy Page | 19

1st Term AY 2020-2021 Media and Information Literacy Page | 20