Media Literacy: A civic imperative ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Paul Mihailidis, PhDThe Engagement Lab @ Emerson

CollegeSalzburg Academy on Media and

Global Change

Media literacy, at times, can seem complicated.It involves:

interesting field mapping…

[broad] definitions….

“the ability to access, analyze, evaluate and produce both print and

electronic media” (Aspen Report 1993)

“Media literacy is the ability to ACCESS, ANALYZE, EVALUATE, CREATE, and ACT

using all forms of communication.” (NAMLE)

The role of communication and media in the process of development should not be underestimated, nor the function of media as instruments for the citizen’s active participation in society. Political and educational systems need to recognize their obligations to promote in their citizens a critical understanding of the phenomena of communication.

(UNESCO, 1982).

And [lots of] core concepts…

Center for Media Literacy

NAMLE

Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture

VoiceAgenc

yPower

LEZEM: a platform that seeks to actively engage the youth of Lebanon in the country’s civil life through art and engagement.

the ways people use new media in the first years of an emerging communication regime can influence the way those media end up being used and misused for decades to come. – Rheingold, Net Smart

“If we want to maximize the benefits and minimize the harms of connection, we have to take responsibility for shaping the tools we use to encounter the world” (Ethan Zuckerman, ReWire, 2013, 40).

Critical Engagement with Media

Critical Engagement with Society

Media Literacy is formative for the development and sustainability of

Civic Media

"the technologies, designs, and practices that produce and reproduce the sense of being in the world with others toward common good. (Gordon and Mihailidis, 2016, p. 2).”