M E D I A A N D I N F O R M AT I O N

LITERACY
 READI N G 1:
COPYRI GHT, FA I R
USE, AN D
PLAG I A RI SM
 Copyright and Fair
Use
In order to be guided about what could and could
not be used, one needs to look at creations
belonging in the public domain. Defined as “the
end of the copyright period for a work, at which
point the public may begin to access it for free,”
materials have to be checked if they are owned
by someone before using it for several purposes.
 Copyright is defined as “a set of rights
granted to the author or creator of a work, to
restrict others! Ability to copy, redistribute,
and reshape the content. Rights are frequently
owned by the companies who sponsor the
work rather than the creators themselves and
can be bought and sold on the market.”
Before using anything, make sure that you are
respecting the copyright owner of the creative
work.
 In the definition of copyright, it is stated that “the
copyright owner could be someone other than creator.”
This happens when a creator decides to sell what we call
the intellectual property rights (IP) of their works to other
people, such as big corporations that could pay them big
money for the right When the corporations own these
rights, they will now have the official and legal license to
do anything with the creation; they could duplicate,
distribute, play, perform, or use portions of that creation in
the work. Whenever they earn a profit from these works,
they are not obliged to give royalties to the original creator
because they already own the copyright.
If it cannot be avoided, there are ways to use media
materials in a copyright-safe way without paying
royalties. Cite your sources and put the links (if it
came from the Internet), title of the work, author of
the work and the date it was made or published (or
the date when you retrieved it) when citing a work
you did not create. This is one way of avoiding
plagiarism and at the same time using a portion of
copyrighted work for your schoolwork. This is
possible because there are certain limitations
copyright owners afford certain people for various
If it is for educational purposes only and not for
profit, educators could be guided by the fair use
principle of the US Copyright Law, which is
defined as “a legal doctrine that says portions of
copyrighted materials may be used without
permission of the copyright owner provided the
use is fair and reasonable. Does not substantially
impair the value of the materials, and does not
curtail the profits reasonably expected by the
owner.”
 Media advocates and communication
rights activists have debated over the
value of copyright and the freedom of
creative work. While some argue that
creations are free to be used by others,
some understand the need to protect
people’s creations to earn a living.
One extreme example of this debate
focuses on the development and use of
computer software to be used by all.
Known as the FOSS or Free and Open
Source Software movement, this
American-led initiative was reacting to
the way corporations like Microsoft or
Apple are creating software and selling
them for huge profits.
 In the spirit of the FOSS movement,
software developers are even
encouraged to create better versions or
create their own versions of such
software. Since this process is free, it is The middle ground of
called “copyleft” by people who want to such debates is the
challenge copyright laws. Copyleft is existence of the nonprofit
defined as “the right to freely use, organization called
modify, copy, and share software, works Creative Commons (CC)
of art. Etc. on the condition that these which encourages creators
rights be granted to all subsequent users to work within the
or owners. copyright law but also
promotes certain freedom.
 According to their mission statement, “Creative
Commons develops, supports, and stewards legal
and technical infrastructure that maximizes digital
creativity, sharing, and innovation.” This mission is
reflected in their vision which states that, “Our
vision is nothing less than realizing the full
potential of the Internet-universal access to research
and education, full participation in culture to drive a
new era of development, growth, and productivity.”
 Plagiarism
Plagiarism is defined as "the act of
stealing from others their thoughts or
their writings and claiming them as
one's own." We usually hear or come
across plagiarism cases involving
copied texts from books, newspapers,
or academic articles, but it is getting
prevalent in images as well.
 The original definition of plagiarism covered the written
word. It is quite easy to copy a written work pass it off as
your own. Students of the digital age have been caught
several times for submitting and unoriginal essay
compositions made up of copy-pasted paragraphs from
various sources on the Internet. College graduates who
were discovered to have plagiarized thesis works were
stripped of their bachelor’s degree diploma as a result, even
after they have graduated. There is really nothing good that
comes out of stealing other people’s works.
 One famous case of this type of
plagiarism happened in the US
involving a well-known wedding
photographer and educator. This
professional photographer was
accused of posting photos and images
on his website that were lifted from
other sources.
The country is not spared from this type of scandal.
In 2013, a graduate student was caught plagiarizing
a photo which eventually won the top prize in a
foreign embassy-sponsored photo contest.
However, netizens were quick to point out that the
winning photograph is a stolen and manipulated
photographs of a European photographer based in
South America. After further investigations, it was
revealed that the student also plagiarized several
photographs before this incident and passed them as
his own in various photography contests,
:READING 2
NETIQUETTE
 Just because ICTs have made things easier for
people does not mean we have to throw common
courtesy away. There are still basic rules that
govern propriety when being online. This is now
termed as “netiquette” (short for Internet
etiquette) or one’s behavior when conducting
himself or herself online.

There are various ways of exercising proper

netiquette as a 21st-century citizen. Here are some
of the most commonsensical ones;
 Introduce yourself
Be patient. properly.

Acknowledge and Answer engage

reply. courteously.

Be careful in posting
incriminating photos or Do not over-
videos of yourself share personal
online stuff.
• Introduce yourself properly.
When e-mailing people, sending SMS for the first
time, or messaging them through mobile apps,
make sure that you introduce yourself properly,
state your intention for contacting the person, and
use kind words.

• Be patient.
Do not demand for an instant reply to your e-mail,
text, social media post/comment, or instant
messages.
• Acknowledge and reply.
When someone sends you an e-mail or a
text message and you cannot immediately
reply back, send them a quick note to
acknowledge their effort, and say that you
have received their message but will have to
reply at a later time.
• Answer or engage courteously.
You contacted a person for something and
they denied your request, do not flame or
troll them with unkind words.
• Do not over-share personal stuff.
While it is very tempting to post your
thoughts on Twitter, Snapchat, or Facebook
every two minutes, please do not.

• Be careful in posting incriminating

photos or videos of yourself online.
Remember that once you post it on the
Internet, it does not go away instantly, even if
you delete it.
 10 Golden Rule
1. Remember the human.
2. Adhere to the same standards of
behavior online that you follow
in real life.
3. Know where you are in
cyberspace.
4. Respect other people’s time and
bandwidth.
5. Make yourself look good
6. Share expert knowledge.
7. Help keep flame wars under
control.
8. Respect other people’s privacy.
9. Don’t abuse your power.
10. Be forgiving of other people’s
mistake.
 READING 3:
DIGITAL DIVIDE,
ADDICTION, AND
BULLYING
 Digital Divide
According to a 2003 Asia-Pacific regional study, media consumers
in the urban and rural areas of a country could highly benefit from
information and communication technology (ICT) by receiving the
following factors:
*Enhanced access to information and communication across large
distances
improved access to governmental and quasi-governmental
resources and services;
*new credit and financial services available through information
kiosks;
*new opportunities to design, manufacture, and market their
products through ICT- technological systems.
*More and better education through computers; and
*superior medical advice, diagnosis, or knowledge in their own
region.
 In the Philippines, we have seen how the
enhanced access to information and
communication helps us in connecting with
each other, even at the unequal distribution of
infrastructural development throughout the
archipelago. ICTs are also bridging the gap
between Filipinos based in the country and
those who work abroad as overseas Filipino
workers.
Digital divide is defined as “the socioeconomic
disparity between those who do and those who
do not have access to digital technology and
media, such as the Internet. The disparity or the
huge inequality concerning ICT access exists in
a larger and smaller scale, and cuts across
several social issues.

The larger scale involves richer countries

having more dominance and control over the
ICT facilitated all over the world.
In terms of media access, we have seen this
large-scale divide in the form of global
media dominating local cultures. Corporate-
owned local media also contributes to this
divide by sourcing foreign content. Feeding
it to the local channels more than the local
content. The capitalist structures of
wanting to make profit perpetuate this
larger scale divide among nations.
 The smaller scale of the digital divide
includes the personal level, including you
and your surroundings. The study states
that it might be more accurate to point
out that “digital divide occurs between
individuals rather than between countries
or whole societies, between the computer
literate and the computer illiterate,
between the information rich and the
information poor, whatever their
nationality or neighborhood.”
 Addiction
Merriam –Webster defines addiction as “a strong
inclination to do, use, or indulge in something
repeatedly.” “Too much of it may present more
harm than good. As with everything else, media
consumption must be done in moderation. It
must be noted that frequent consumption of
social media is not automatically an addiction.
Addiction to social media is exhibited in
compulsive and excessive use which includes
the uncontrollable desire to social media.
Addiction to social media is exhibited in
compulsive and excessive use which
includes the uncontrollable desire to
social media. Excessive consumption of
media may interfere with one’s daily life
and pose problems on his or her physical,
mental, and emotional health.

Hou et al. (2019) conducted a study on

the relations of social media addiction to
one’s academic performance and mental
health.
Self-view and interpersonal relationships are
also affected by social media usage (Jaoude.
Nayl Pignatiello 2020). Although there is no
standard definition or metric for social media
addiction, sever studies have shown its
prevalence among the youth.
When you find yourself spending too much
time on social media, feeling an uncontrollable
urge go online, or experiencing negative effects
of excessive use, it may help to go on a social
media detach which means staying offline or
abstaining from using social media for a period
of time.
 Bullying
Cyberbullying is the general term
used to refer to negative behavior
commonly done online by people To
remind you, a bully is defined by the
dictionary as “a blustering,
quarrelsome, overbearing person who
habitually badgers and intimidates
smaller or weaker people.” Thus, to
cyberbully is “to bully online sending
or posting mean messages, usually
 Thanks to the social networks, our level of social
participation has also increased, giving instant feedback
or posting commentaries about various social sues of the
day. However, coupled with the state of anonymity,
negative feedback also gets formed in these cyberspaces.
And this is the bad thing in social media-the lack of
respect, which is amplified by anonymity. Thus, certain
troublesome behavior ensues in the various forms of
cyberbullying.
According to UNICEF (2019), cyber violence is still
prevalent among 13- to 17-year-old Filipinos based on a
2016 survey of 2,303 respondents from different
backgrounds. Results showed that 43.8% of the
respondents had experienced cyber violence, stating that
one-third of the results were verbal abuse online.
READING 4:
VIRTUAL
SELF
 People sign up and create various
accounts in a single platform for various
reasons: Professionals o two Facebook
accounts where they could separate their
personal contacts from their professional
work contacts. The same is true for
teachers who open Facebook accounts for
their students so they have way of
communicating online.
 Virtual self refers to an individual’s Internet
identity. Although social media is a great venue
f individuals to express themselves, it also
gives them a place to create a new persona.
Anyone can create multiple accounts on social
media networking sites, participate
anonymously or behind a username, or curate
their feeds based on their ideal selves.
However, when people take advantage of this
social media feature, it may lead to the
following identity theft and identity fraud.
 Identity Theft
Unlawful people again find the anonymity of
the Internet as an opportunity to fool others.
This is why we have to be aware of people
who steal and use other people’s profile
information, such as personal information or
credit card or details. Thieves pose as their
victim for economical gain, to destroy hire
her reputation, or to solicit money or other
things from that person’s contacts
 Identity Fraud
Sometimes, there are so-called identity
fakers who pose as another person to fool
people. The most common fakers usually
steal money from people who fall for their
bait or scam. Some people, meanwhile, fake
their identities for other reasons.
A popular case involved an American college
football athlete who was victimized by a houn in 2012.
He met a girl online who became his virtual girlfriend.
They never met in person, but they had an emotional
relationship. He even felt grief-stricken when this
supposed girlfriend died of a terminal disease. But it
was also discovered that the girlfriend’s identity was
not real, and the girlfriend’s persona was made up by
someone posing as another person using Facebook,
Twitter. And Instagram accounts. The controversial
hoax made the headlines in the American entertainment
media world in 2013.
THANK YOU