MEDIA AND INFORMATION

LITERACY
CHAPTER I
The World of Media
and Information Literacy
 Learning Objectives
To map out the history of the emergence of media both in
the global and local arena, including the transition from
indigenous forms of communication to new media
To differentiate interpersonal communication from mass
communication
To discuss the theories on the relationship of media and
society
To explain the meaning of media literacy, information
literacy, and technology literacy
To design a community activity that will illustrate to the
immediate members of a community the importance of
media and information literacy
 Key Terms
Communication – is the directed and purposeful exchange of information
and messages between people or groups of people by speaking, writing,
gestures, and signs.
Messages – refer to any form of communication (information, feelings, and
ideas) passed or transmitted using a channel. Turow (2007) goes further by
saying that it is a collection of symbols that appear purposefully organized
(meaningful) to those sending or receiving them.
Interpersonal Communication – refers to the communication between two
persons, whether they are verbal or non-verbal.
Mass Communication – is the term commonly used to refer to
communication systems that are configured to create, produce, and
disseminate media texts to mass audiences. Traditional forms of mass
communication consist of newspaper, radio, television, and film. It is also
understood that in mass communication, there is no immediate feedback
between the source and the receiver.
 LESSON 1
Communication: From Interpersonal
to Mass Communication
Communication

It refers to people or groups of people

imparting or exchanging messages through
speaking, writing, gestures, or even using
other symbolic forms by utilizing a variety
of channels for sending and receiving.
Messages

“a collection of symbols that appear

purposefully organized (meaningful) to
those sending or receiving them”
Types of Communication
• Interpersonal Communication
 Communication that involves two to three
individuals interacting through the use of their
voices and bodies

• Mediated Interpersonal Communication

 Communication that is mediated through the use
of devices such as pen, telephone, or computer
 Communication wherein technology stands in
between the parties communicating and
becomes the channel by which the message is
sent or received
Types of Communication
• Small Group Communication
 Discourse between three or more persons

• Organizational Communication
 Communication in a working environment

• Public Communication
 Involves one person communicating to a large
number of people
Eight Elements That Constitute the
Creation of a Message
1. Source: The source is where the message came
from which can be a person or an organization.
2. Encoding: The process by which a message is
translated so it can be transmitted and
communicated to another party. It is how you
compose your sentence as you communicate.
3. Transmitting: The actual act of sending the
message. It can either be through the person’s
vocal cords and facial muscles complemented with
hand gestures, if we mean the act of speaking. It
could also be the posting of an administrative letter
on the bulletin board so everybody can see.
Eight Elements That Constitute the
Creation of a Message
4. Channels: Technologies are the lines that enable
the act of sending or transmitting, which can be the
telephone, the Internet for voice operated
applications, the radio and television, or the print
media to communicate more complex messages.
5. Decoding: The transmitted impulses are converted
to signs as the brain perceives and processes it.
The reverse of encoding, decoding is the process by
which the receiver translates the source’s thoughts
and ideas so they can have meaning.
Eight Elements That Constitute the
Creation of a Message
6. Receiver: The receiver is the one who gets the
message that was transmitted through the
channels. Like the source or sender, the receiver
can be an individual or an organization.
7. Feedback: Feedback is the response generated by
the message that was sent to the receiver, which
can either be immediate or delayed.
8. Noise Interference: Most of the times, there is
something that interferes the transmittal process.
This interference is known as noise, which may be
treated both literally and figuratively.
LESSON 2
From Writings on the Wall to Signals
Traveling in the Airwaves:
A Historical Overview of
Communications
From Papyrus to Paper
 Around 100 AD, Christian invented the codex, a
document which can be rightfully referred to as the
prototype of a book.
 By the 15th century, the technology was already
paper.
 Also in the 15th century, Johann Gutenberg (1394–
1460) invented the printing technology that would
eventually be called the movable type machine.
 The Gutenberg printing process launched what could
be considered the first medium truly designed for the
masses.
Nation-States and the Rise of
Newspapers
 After the 17th century, the first newspaper was
reportedly produced in England (although it was
restricted because of the apprehension by the ruling
monarchs).
 By 1700, the idea of a free press, independent from
the control of the government, emerged as a strong
rhetoric against authoritarian states.
 Around this time, it is also important to note the rise
of an adversarial press, defined as a press that had
the ability to conduct dialogue and even argue with
the government.
Nation-States and the Rise of
Newspapers
 The development of the steam engine gave rise to
the steam-powered cylinder press, which
dramatically lowered the cost of newspapers. Such
advances in the technologies of scale and the rise of
the working class transformed the newspaper into a
truly mass medium.
 In the Philippines, the rise of the newspaper came
about in the first decades of the 19th century. In
December 1, 1846, La Esperanza, the first daily
newspaper, was published in the country.
Nation-States and the Rise of
Newspapers
 Today, the newspaper as a medium has evolved with
the rise of the Internet and digital technology. While
the broadsheet and tabloid formats still exist, news
agencies have turned to the web as another platform
for newspaper publications and have generated a
new business model for the newspaper industry.
From Static to Moving Images
Several inventions intersected and gave rise to film as a mass
medium:
 George Eastman invented the lm and built a
company that would be known as Kodak.
 Thomas Edison and his assistant, William Dickson,
turned the use of the photographic film, (now in a
strip) into a material that can be moved in front of a
lens at a constant speed to result into several
photographs, each one different from the other one
because of a slight change in the movement of the
subject. When that strip was developed and viewed
by the naked eye, it gave the illusion of a moving
object.
From Static to Moving Images
 Frenchmen Louis and Augusto Lumière further
developed the technology of film projectors.
 Edison would still improve the technology developed
by the Lumière brothers with large screen projecting.
 By 1896, the Edison vitascope was on a public debut
in New York, where it showed a film entitled Rough
Sea at Dover by Robert Paul.
 By 1907, the word “television” was already used in a
magazine called the Scientific American.
 By 1928, the first telecast of a television program
took place, transmitting from the experimental studio
of General Electric in New York City.
From Static to Moving Images
 By 1930, the Radio Corporation of America introduced
electronic scanning, a much improved technology
from the mechanical scanning introduced earlier.
 By 1939, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt became
the first president to appear on the tube.
 In Europe, the Nazi authorities in Germany operated the
world’s first regular television service, using it as a
platform for propaganda.
 Commercial television came into being in the United
States only in 1946.
From Static to Moving Images
 In the Philippines, an American engineer, James
Lindenberg, began assembling transmitters in Bolinao,
Pangasinan in 1946. He was not fully successful with
his attempt to establish a television station but soon he
was able to team up with Antonio Quirino, and together,
they would establish the Alto Broadcasting System
where he would serve as the general manager. Their
first official telecast was in October 23, 1953.
The Rise of New Media
 The invention of the transistor radio in 1948 signaled
the development of semi-conductor devices,
considered the foundation of modern electronics, as
it led to the invention of integrated circuits, a
technology that will be critical in the development of
the computer.
 By 1953, IBM has already shipped its first electronic
computers called 701 in the industry. It sold 19
machines to research laboratories, aircraft
companies, and the federal government.
The Rise of New Media
 By 1969, the ARPANET was created and considered
as the predecessor of the internet. It was a large
area-wide network created by the US military,
specifically the US Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency (ARPA) to serve as a ground for
networking technologies that will link the military to
various federal agencies, even the universities.
 In 1971, the transition from ARPANET to Internet
commenced to serve more purposes other than
catering to the military. The first innovation was the
TCP/IP architecture as proposed by Stanford
University. It is considered the standard protocol by
which networks communicate.
The Rise of New Media
 By 1983, the Internet was universally adopted.
Commands for electronic mails were standardized,
thereby making it a lot easier for the layman to
navigate the increasingly complex world of the
Internet.
 The Internet enabled the development and the
unabated growth of the new media because it
democratized the platform for creating, producing,
and disseminating information.
Timeline of Internet in the
Philippines
 In 1986, the first local Bulletin Board System (BBS)
was used in the Philippines. BBS is a computer
system running a software that allows users to
connect and exchange messages and information
using a terminal program.
 By 1987, inter-BBS connectivity was enabled through
the Philippine FidoNet exchange. One bulletin board
system in Metro Manila was now able to connect to
other bulletin board systems in the same area.
 By the early years of the 90s, email gateways and
services broadened, courtesy of some multinational
corporations operating in the Philippines.
Timeline of Internet in the
Philippines
 By 1993, the government would figure as a major
player, mostly of the role discharged by the
Department of Science and Technology (DOST).
With the support from the Industrial Research
Foundation (IRF), the PhilNet project was launched,
consisting of representatives from various
universities such as the University of the Philippines–
Diliman, University of the Philippines–Los Baños, De
La Salle University, and Ateneo de Manila University.
They would team up with Dr. Rudy Villarica who
would represent the Industrial Research Foundation.
Timeline of Internet in the
Philippines
 By July 1993, with full funding from the DOST, the PhilNet
project scaled up. Students from the participating universities
were able to connect to another gateway at the Victoria
University of Australia.
 By November 1993, an additional grant of ₱12.5M enabled
the purchase of equipment and lease of communication lines.
 By March 29, 1994, the Philippines was formally connected
to the Internet, using the PLDT network center in Makati City.
 On the same day, the First International E-mail Conference
was being held at the University of San Carlos in Cebu. Dr.
John Brule, a professor emeritus from Syracuse University,
announced “We’re in!” as the PhilNet connection successful
linked up with the global Internet.
LESSON 3
Communication Vis-á-Vis
Mass Communication
Issue
Texting is a form of mediated interpersonal
communication assisted by the technology
provided by cellphones.

However, as attested by the EDSA II

phenomenon, cellphone technology was
significantly used to topple a government.

So, now, is texting really a form of mediated

interpersonal communication or it is
actually a mass communication?
Mass Communication

“comprise the institutions and techniques

by which specialized groups employ
technological devices (press, radio, films,
etc.) to disseminate symbolic content to
large, heterogenous, and widely dispersed
audiences”
Issue
Texting is a form of mediated interpersonal
communication assisted by the technology
provided by cellphones.

However, as attested by the EDSA II

phenomenon, cellphone technology was
significantly used to topple a government.

So, now, is texting really a form of mediated

interpersonal communication or it is
actually a mass communication?
Defining Features of
Mass Communication
• Technological devices

• Magnitude and scope of its audiences

 Interpersonal communication, inasmuch as it is mediated by

technology, appears to be limited in each reach; mass
communication, however, is able to reach huge audiences at
the same time.

 Mediated interpersonal communication too appears like

messages created by individuals or perhaps teams, while
mass communication is created by huge, mostly powerful and
extensive organizations.
Example
Scenario 1: Sandy comes to your house to tell you that plans of massing
up at the EDSA shrine are now in place, and many like-minded
organizations are supporting this move. He visits to your house so you can
have a face-to-face communication, which is interpersonal communication.

Scenario 2: Suppose he is unable to drop by your house and instead,

sends you a text message; this is mediated interpersonal conversation.
Since he is a leader of an organization, his associates find it appropriate to
record in video camera a short spiel where he makes an appeal to his
friends from all over the city to come and join the rally at EDSA. The video
message lands in your e-mail. This is a ne example of mediated
organizational communication.

Scenario 3: He is invited to a talk show, so he can inform the public of his

call to a rally at the EDSA Shrine. Here is where you encounter his appeal
that is persuasive enough to get you and your friends to pick up your bags
and head to the EDSA Shrine.
Implication of Having Scenario 3
To get Sandy as guest entailed a series of processes. A production
meeting for the week’s episodes generated a series of actions that
allowed network executives to determine the priority issues of the
day. They have probably thought that the call for a president’s
ouster is imminent, and that the coalition representing this call is
broad enough and deserves to be heard by the viewing public.
Sandy is contacted by the network executives, and is adequately
oriented on the nature of the program and the questions that may
be asked by the panelists. It is also likely that Sandy was provided
some tips on how to convey his message and how to avoid certain
words that may seem politically incendiary to the Board of Censors
or even to the advertisers. In a way, these institutions that are
external to the broadcast network have stakes in the programs that
are aired.
Discussion Learnings
 The involvement of huge and expansive organizations
is central to the idea of mass communication.
 Mass communication is carried out by organizations
which are part of a bigger assembly or network of
institutions that form an industry.
 Like the manufacture of products in a factory
assembly line, organizations produce media in an
industrialized setting, involving a remarkable size of
workers with specialized knowledge, machinery,
technology, and channels for the distribution and
dissemination of knowledge.
LESSON 4
Approaches to the Relationship
Between Media and Society
Media and Social Control
• Mass Society Approach
 An approach which sees society as an integrated whole, with
structures and institutions holding power and authority and
exerting control over society.
 The term “mass” suggests more than the common sense notion
of large groups of people; instead, it implied that the creation of
media was now directed toward an undifferentiated audience,
and that the traditional categories used in segregating audiences
(e.g., gender, class, location, and even race) are dispensed with.
 The media is seen as a powerful agent in establishing social
control in societies characterized by the dominance of industries,
growing urban centers, alienation of citizens from their social
institutions, and lack of strong citizen organizations.
Media and Social Control
• Base-superstructure Model
 Media institutions are part of the superstructure, along with other
social and cultural institutions. The base, on the other hand, is
made up of economic institutions and economic relationships
which determine the nature and behavior of the superstructure.
 In a capitalist society, the economic ownership of media
institutions dictates whose interests media will serve.
 It can explain a great deal about how media ownership in
Philippine society is controlled by the few who are also holding
the ownership of other more important industries.
 Media generate ideas that serve the interests of the economic
and political elite, thereby reinforcing and reproducing the
relationships that prove the dominance of capitalism and the
exploitation of the masses.
Media and Social Integration
• Functionalism
 It sees society like an organism that has parts, institutions for that
matter, each discharging a function but are linked to an integrated
whole, much like the interdependent parts of an organism. Media
as an institution is one of a society’s many parts, discrete in its
function but linked to other institutions so it can provide society
the integration, cohesion, and stability it needs to survive and
thrive.
Media and Social Integration
• Social Contructionalism
 It posits the notion that individuals have the capacity to act on
their own will to reproduce institutions. As members of a social
unit, they are considered social actors, continuously interacting
with others, throwing in their stakes and interests, constructing
the lived realities, and influencing the construction of social
institutions.
 “(It) refers to the processes by which events, persons, values and
ideas are first defined or interpreted in a certain way and given
value and priority, largely by mass media, leading to the
(personal) construction of larger pictures of reality.”
Media and the Rise of an
Information Society
• Information Society
 It was allied to the notion of information economy characterized
by the emergence of a thinking class, and the rising number and
significance of information-based work, mostly arising from the
developments in computer technology.
 It is also characterized by increasing global connectivity
facilitated by the Internet wherein anyone can access data,
information, and a broad array of knowledge products and use it
to advance both personal and collective goals; anyone can create
a website and upload media in various forms and formats. These
technological breakthroughs inform the idea that we are living in
an information society where the creation, production,
dissemination, and even manipulation of information is a
dominant economic, political, and even cultural activity.
LESSON 5
Media and Information Literacy
as Citizen Engagement
Media Literacy’s Five Key Questions

1. Who created this message?

2. What creative techniques were used to attract my
attention?
3. How might different people appreciate and
understand these messages?
4. What lifestyles, value systems, perspectives, and
points-of-view are represented in this message?
Conversely, what is omitted?
5. Why is this message being sent?
What Is Media Literacy?
“It is the ability to access, analyze, and respond
to a range of media.”
*range of media ‒ includes print, moving images, and other hybrid forms such as
multimedia texts
*access ‒ denotes the knowledge of where to find these forms of media
‒ should include the technical competence to navigate around technology
and easily adjust to the technological advancements that happen every now and
then
*analysis ‒ includes thinking reflectively and critically on what has been read,
seen, or experienced, and its implications to oneself and to one’s community
‒ also includes the assessment of the reliability of the material, its
sources, and if it is presenting facts, the
reliability of the sources
*response ‒ includes the ability to experience and explore the pleasures of the
media text, and how these are realized through the language of the media
‒ also includes an evaluation of how, as perennial media audiences,
these media texts shape our insights, perspectives, and identities
What Is Media Literacy?
 Most media literacy educators will agree that media
literacy should teach learners how to have access to
the media, acquire the critical tools to understand the
media, as well as create and express themselves
using the media.

 Media literacy embraces everything ‒ from having the

knowledge needed to use old and new media
technology to having a critical relationship to media
content in a time when the media constitutes one of
the most powerful forces in society.
Origins of the Word “Media”
The original means of mass communication were print—
magazines, journals, and newspapers—and their
collective name was already in place: publications.
Soon after, radio and television were added to the mix,
however, the term “publications” would not stretch to
fit. Needing a term that would encompass all these
means of communication, writers borrowed the term
“media” from advertising people, and used it since then
to accommodate these means of communication and
even the newer ones, such as the Internet.
Empowerment and Media Literacy

Media literacy education is all about cultivating power

inside you. In other words, its purpose is to cultivate the
power inside you, so you do not become mere passive
recipients of media and information texts, but active
users, consumers, and even active producers of media
and information texts instead.
What Is Information Literacy?
 It is the set of abilities requiring individuals to
recognize when information is needed, and how to
locate, evaluate, and use it effectively.

 “It constitutes the abilities to recognize when

information is needed and to locate, evaluate,
effectively use, and communicate information in its
various formats.”
On Information Age
 Information Age is a knowledge-based society surrounded by
cutting-edge technology that makes every aspect of our lives
faster and easier.
 Its onset is associated with the dramatic changes that the
digital industry has created.
 The Internet arose in 1969, but it was in 1989 when a fully
developed World Wide Web arose and turned it into the global
platform for knowledge sharing, communication, and archiving.
 A parallel development was the rise of a knowledge economy
characterized by production and consumption of products that
were generated from intellectual capital.
 Other developments that coincided with the information age is
the revitalized role of libraries in the production of knowledge.
What Is the Internet?

It is a vast chain of computer networks in which anyone

who has access to a computer with Internet connection
can publish their documents. All of these networks are
linked together via digital technology. Thus, the it allows
transmission of a variety of file types, both written and
non-written multimedia.
Who Puts Information on the
Internet?
 Sources of Information
• Popular Publications: Most of what rules in the print and non-print
media are popular publications with the general public as its target
audience. They serve to both inform and entertain the general public.
We turn to popular publications to have a pulse of popular opinion, or
to get entertained, or to simply gain information regarding a popular
subject.
• Scholarly Publications: These are well-researched articles found
mostly in academic journals and published for the specialists of a
specific field. The language is very technical because it is geared
toward the consumption of specialists, scholars, and those seeking
research-based information on a particular area of knowledge such as
the social sciences, the natural sciences, and the arts and humanities.
• Trade Publications: These are also highly specialized materials
meant for the players and specialists of a specific industry. They
combine popular appeal and specialized knowledge because it also
needs to attract the non-specialists who are the potential consumers
or users of a particular product.
Formats of Information
LESSON 6
Media and Information Literacy
Education
 Advantages of Being Media and
Information Literate
• You will have the ability to examine—even scrutinize—
content of media and information messages closely and
see how their meanings are significant or otherwise to your
life as a person, and to your community as well.
• You will gain an understanding of the structures that govern
the creation and dissemination of media and information
messages.
• You will also gain an understanding of how political forces
shape the creation and dissemination of media and
information messages.
 Advantages of Being Media and
Information Literate
• You will learn how to sift information, discern what is both
useful and useless to your lives.
• You will value the word ethics and its implications to the
society.
What Is Responsible Digital
Citizenship

It can be defined as the set of appropriate social

norms and behavior with regard to the use of
the Internet.
Some Useful Discussions on Ideal
Situations and Issues on
Responsible Digital Citizenship
On Digital Access

The ideal situation is that all have full electronic participation

in society. However, this is not the case, as poverty and
social exclusion, among others, limit the access of a
significant fraction in Philippine society. Low bandwidth and
expensive Internet rates are just some of the constraining
elements. Responsible digital citizenship should advocate
for the increased access of all citizens to information
technologies.
Some Useful Discussions on Ideal
Situations and Issues on
Responsible Digital Citizenship
On Digital Communication

This involves the electronic exchange of information through

various platforms and channels. Information technology has
hastened and facilitated exchange of information. What
needs to be addressed is the responsible use of
communication platforms, including a consideration of how
information exchanges will benefit communities and, of
course, society at large.
Some Useful Discussions on Ideal
Situations and Issues on
Responsible Digital Citizenship
On Digital Commerce
This involves the sale and purchase of goods and services
using digital platforms in the Internet and mobile phones. This
is a growing branch of the economy so much so that even the
Bureau of Internal Revenue is still not yet decided on how to
monitor these individuals and entities doing retail businesses
online. However, it must also be noted that the unregulated
nature of transactions in the Internet has also given rise to
transactions that are in conflict with both local and international
laws. Responsible digital citizenship also entails contributing to
the responsible and legal use of the Internet for economic
activities.
Some Useful Discussions on Ideal
Situations and Issues on
Responsible Digital Citizenship
On Digital Etiquette

This is about the commonly regarded as appropriate and

respectful behavior when using information technologies.
Etiquette covers the proper use of language, especially in an
environment that relies much on the written word, as well as
invoking the virtue of empathy which is the ability to the
feelings of others inasmuch as we would like our feelings to
be considered. This area should also be concerned with the
relationships we build with fellow digital citizens—one
occasioned by humility, fairness, and open-mindedness.
Some Useful Discussions on Ideal
Situations and Issues on
Responsible Digital Citizenship
On Digital Law
This covers the legal environment that informs and guides the
users about the ethical and productive use of technology,
defined as abiding with the laws of society. In the Philippines,
we can refer to the Magna Carta for Internet Freedom which
is a crowd-sourced document. It was the product of intense
advocacy on the ground and legislative lobbying after
significant sectors of society reacted to the constraining or say
undemocratic provisions of the then Republic Act. No. 10175,
otherwise known as “An Act Defining Cybercrime, Providing for
the Prevention, Investigation, Suppression, and the Imposition
of Penalties therefore and for Other Purposes.”
Some Useful Discussions on Ideal
Situations and Issues on
Responsible Digital Citizenship
On Digital Wellness
This covers the protection of users from what could be
potentially deleterious to their physical, physiological, and
even psychological well-being. Eye safety, repetitive stress
syndrome, and sound ergonomic practices are just some of
the things that are compromised when we deal with
technological devices. Digital citizenship includes the
promotion of the well-being of technology users and the
prevention of technological innovations that will potentially
compromise the health of its users.
Some Useful Discussions on Ideal
Situations and Issues on
Responsible Digital Citizenship
On Digital Security
This area covers the entire gamut of safety precautions that
information technologies invoke—from virus protection, to
data protection. As technologies grow and evolve into
something more complex, the need for security systems
become even more compelling.