From the course: Working and Collaborating Online

Develop media literacy

From the course: Working and Collaborating Online

Develop media literacy

“

- [Instructor] There are several types of media that many of us come across on a daily basis. These include traditional media like newspapers, magazines, books, TV, and radio, but also relatively newer forms of media, like email, web articles, social media posts, and a lot more. We're constantly being inundated by media that wants our attention. It's easy to become overwhelmed by the flow of information, if we don't develop the skills to navigate our way through the ocean of information that surrounds us everyday and learn to evaluate information with a critical eye. Each year companies spend large sums of money on internet advertising, to the point where the line between information and advertisements becomes blurred. Other media can be filled with the attitudes and opinions of others, while other forms of media hide their message under the surface of what we see and hear. So it's important to develop media literacy in order to avoid just passively accepting all messages and instead learn to think carefully and critically about the media we consume. Here are five basic questions you can ask when you encounter new information and once you determine its accuracy and reliability. Question one, who created the message? Knowing who created the message, may give you some insight in their purposes for doing so. Was it to sell you something, to promote something or was it to genuinely share information? It's difficult to have a completely unbiased perspective, but it's important to determine if the bias outweighs or influences the information and asking who created the message can help give you the distance to see the information being presented more clearly. Question two, what techniques are being used to capture your attention? Is information being presented in a colorful video with happy music? Is it being delivered in ominous tones with sensationalist phrasing? The way the message is being presented can have a big influence on how you perceive that information. Question three, how might different people interpret this message? We all consume information a little differently, and it's important to step outside our own perspective to explore multiple viewpoints. Some information you come across may not take into account the perspective and experience of others. Question four is what's being left out of the message? What points of view lifestyles or values are being expressed in or alternately left out of the message? When making a message, the author makes choices about what to keep in and what to leave out. And these choices can reflect the author's values and attitudes. Are certain perspectives being deliberately left out of the message to influence your opinion? And question five, why is this message being sent? The purpose of this question is to examine the motivation of sending the message in the first place. It goes beyond the idea that media is just there to entertain and inform and asks who benefits from this message? These five questions are not the only questions you can and should ask when evaluating media, but they can provide the necessary foundation to start thinking critically about the media we engage with every day.

Contents