MEDIA AND CYBER

OR DIGITAL
LITERACIES
Module 5:
 OBJECTIVES
at the end of the chapter, you should be able to:

develop a working understanding of media and

cyber/digital literacy and how they relate to one another.
appreciate the importance of developing media and
cyber/digital literacy both in ourselves and one another in
the information age
realize that practical steps must be taken to develop
these literacies early in children and cannot wait “until
they are older”
ICE BREAKER!
 MEDIA
LITERACY
 MEDIA LITERACY
we are in generation where media is
present and mostly used. we should be
aufderheide (1993) defines is as “the
media literate in order for us to have
ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and
critical engagement with materials
communicate messages in a wide variety of
produced by media. as it is most base,
forms”
media literacy the actie staty and crithal
hard (hola 2009)

christ and potter (1998) define it as “the
ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and
create messages across a variety of
contexts.”
hobbs (1998) posits that it is a term used
by modern scholars to refer to the process
of critically analyzing and learning to
create one’s own messages in print, audio,
video, and multimedia.
 MEDIA LITERACY
Media literacy can thus be defined as “the ability to identify different
types of media and understand the messages they are communicating”
(common sense media, n.d.). the exact type of media varies-television,
radio, newspaper, magazines, books, handouts, flyers, etc.- but what they
all have in common is that they were all created by someone, and that
someone had a reason for creating them
 FIVE ESSENTIAL CONCEPTS
NECESSARY FOR ANY ANALYSIS OF
MEDIA MESSAGES
1. media messages are constructed
2. media messages are produced within economic, social,
political, historical, and aesthetic context.
3. the interpretative meaning-making process involved in
messages reception consist of an interaction between the
reader, the text, and the culture
4. media has unique “languages”, characteristics which typify
various forms, genres, and symbol systems of communication.
5. media representations play a role in people’s understanding of
social reality.
 WHAT MEDIA LITERACY IS NOT:
the following is a list of actions that are often mistaken for being representative of media literacy:

criticizing the media is not, in an of itself, media literacy. however, being media literate sometimes
requires that one indeed criticizes what one sees and hears.
merely producing media is not media literacy although part of being media literate is the ability to
produce media.
teaching with media (videos, presentations, etc,) does not equal media literacy. an education in media
literacy must also include teaching about media.
viewing media and analyzing it from a single perspective is not media literacy. true media literacy
requires both the ability and willingness to view and analyze media from multiple positions and
perspectives.
media literacy does not simply mean knowing what and what not to watch; it does mean “watch
carefully, think critically”.
CHALLENGES
"how do we teach it?"

how to measure media literacy and evaluate the

TO MEDIA success of media literacy initiatives?

LITERACY "is media literacy best understood as a means of

inoculating children against the potential harms

EDUCATION of the media or as a means of enhancing their

appreciation of the literacy merits of the media"?
 DIGITAL
LITERACY
IN A CURRICULUM THEY ENVISIONED TO PROMOTE COMPUTER
LITERACY SHOULD VERY FAMILIAR TO READERS TODAY:

Tool Literacy- competence in Research Literacy- using IT tools

using hardware and software
tools
Resource Literacy-
understanding forms of and
access to information reources
Social-structural literacy-
understanding the production
and social significance of
information
for research and scholarship
Publishing Literacy- ability to
communication and publish
information
Emerging technologies literacy-
understanding of new
development in IT
Critical Thinking- ability evaluate the
benefits of new technologies (note that
this literacy is not the same as “critical
thinking,” which is often regarded as a
component of information literacy).
 DIGITAL LITERACY
digital literacy can be defined as the ability to locate, evaluate, and communicate
information on various digital platforms.

the term "digital literacy" is not new: Lanham (1995), in one of the earliest
examples of a functional definition of the term described the "digital literate
person" as being skilled at deciphering and understanding the meanings of
images, sounds, and the subtle uses of words so that he/she could match the
medium of communication to the kind of information being presented and to
whom the intended audience.

two years later, Paul Glister (1997) formally defined digital literacy as "the
ability to understand and use information in multiple formats from a wide range
of sources when it is presented via computer.
 Bawden (2008) collated the skills and competencies
comprising digital literacy from contemporary scholars on
the matter into four groups:
1. Underpinnings - This refers to those skills and competencies that ''support'' or
''enable'' everything else within digital literacy, namely: traditional literacy and
computer/ ICT literacy (i.e., the ability to use computers in everyday life).

2. Background Knowledge - This largely refers to knowing where information on a

particular subject or topic can be found, how information is kept, and how it is
disseminated -- a skill taken for granted back in the day when information almost
exclusively resided in the form or printed text.
 Bawden (2008) collated the skills and competencies
comprising digital literacy from contemporary scholars on
the matter into four groups:
3. Central Competencies - These are the skills and competencies that
a majority of scholars agree on as being core to digital literacy today,
namely:

• Reading and understanding digital and non-digital formats

• Creating and communicating digital information
• Evaluation of information
• Knowledge assembly
• Information literacy and
• Media literacy
Bawden (2008) collated the skills and competencies
comprising digital literacy from contemporary
scholars on the matter into four groups:
4. Attitudes and Perspectives - Bawden (2008) suggests that it is these attitudes
and perspective that link digital literacy today with traditional literacy, saying "it is
not enough to have skills and competencies, they must be grounded in some moral
framework," specially

• Independent learning - the initiative and ability to learn whatever is needed for a
person's specific situation

• Moral / social literacy - an understanding of correct, acceptable, and sensible

behavior in a digital environment.
 INFORMATION LITERACY WITHIN DIGITAL
LITERACY

Eshet-Alkalai(2004) draws attention to Information Literacy as

a critical component of Digital Literacy as ''the cognitive skills
that consumers use to evaluate information in an educated and
effective manner.
 Did You
SOCIO-EMOTIONAL
LITERACY WITHIN
Know?
DIGITAL LITERACY this socio-emotional literacy requires users
to be “very critical, analytical, and mature”
implying a kind of richness of experience
that the literate transfers from real life to
their dealings online.
 DIGITAL NATIVES
The term “digital native” was coined by marc
Prensky in 2001. Prensky argued that digital
natives think and learn differently from digital
immigrants because they have always been
surrounded by technology.
Digital natives are people who have grown up in
the digital age, surrounded by digital technology
from a young age.
CHALLENGES TO DIGITAL
LITERACY EDUCATION

Unequal access to technology and digital resources

Lack of digital skills and knowledge
Information overload

Cyberbullying and other online safety risks

 WHAT IS TRANSMEDIA LITERACY
Transmedia literacy is the ability to understand, analyze, evaluate, and create media
content across multiple platforms.

Transmedia literacy education teaches students how to:

UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF MEDIA

ANALYZE AND EVALUATE MEDIA CONTENT

CREATE THEIR OWN MEDIA CONTENT

THINK CRITICALLY ABOUT THE MESSAGES THEY

ENCOUNTER IN THE MEDIA
THANK YOU!