Media Literacy

Melinda Johnson

LIS 386L.3

Dr. Loriene Roy

Media Literacy: Introduction

Exposure to large amounts of data through newspapers, magazines, television, film and the Internet is a daily occurrence. In order to make sense of all these media messages, people need to become media literate (ML). The Canadian Ministry of Education defines media literacy as “the ability to critically understand, question and evaluate how media work and produce meaning, how they are organized, how they mediate and construct reality, and how they impact our lives. ML may include the ability to create media products.” 1

This pathfinder directs pre-service teachers at the Northwest Indian College (NWIC) in Lummi, Washington to media literacy resources. All the selected resources are freely available on the Internet. I selected resources that provide a broad coverage of both media literacy information such as media violence and censorship as well as teaching tools such as lesson plans and learning activities. In order to guarantee current information, the pathfinder contains only sites updated since January 2000. An online version of this pathfinder is available from http://www.gslis.utexas.edu/~vlibrary/pathfinders/Johnson.

This pathfinder cites resources that provide background information on media literacy such as history, definitions, issues, organizations, and projects as well as tools for education professionals teaching media literacy. The resources in this pathfinder will answer questions such as: Where can I find general information about media literacy? What are some media literacy organizations? What are some examples of media literacy projects? Where can I find media literacy resources for the classroom?

I began my search on the Internet with the Google search engine. I tried several search phrases such as “media literacy”, “media education”, “media studies” and “information literacy”. Media literacy provided the best results and by linking to several of those sites, I found a multitude of resources from various organizations and universities. I also searched in the Yahoo! directory with the search phrase “media literacy” and found a Yahoo! category on media literacy with annotated links that provided easy browsing. At this point, I continued to search using the above search phrases but found that the phrase “media literacy” obtained the greatest results.

Although I found an abundance of resources with Google and Yahoo!, I also searched web guides such as Britannica.com, Internet Public Library (IPL), and AskERIC. These well-organized sites provide the value-added service of evaluating and describing the resources. Finally, I began to search specifically for resources that offered free full-text articles online. Although many of the media literacy resources already obtained provided some articles, I wanted to supply sites that could be searched for current articles and news. First, I checked out the online ERIC database that provided several abstracts but no full text articles, therefore that resource was not included in this pathfinder. Next, I browsed through the list of educational journals at the University of Texas Library website and found several that were free. After reviewing them, I found a couple of full-text journals that I have included in the pathfinder. Then, I searched in the Internet Public Library’s “Magazines and Serials” section and the “Reference Center”, section. I found the resource FindArticles.com that provides free full-text articles online.

Media Literacy: Annotated Bibliography

Style Manual

Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. 6^th ed. Revised by John Grossman and Alice Bennett. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996.

1.Baker, Frank and N. Peter Johnson. Media Literacy Clearinghouse. Online. Available from http://med.sc.edu:1081/; Internet; accessed 13 February 2001.

The University of South Carolina operates this site providing an exhaustive list of links divided into broad categories such as media literacy, television, newspapers, advertising and propaganda. Each category includes links to articles, lesson plans, and media literacy organizations. This is a good starting point for researching media literacy.

2.Brittanica.com Inc. Britannica.com. Online. Available from http://www.britannica.com; Internet; accessed 13 February 2001.

Britannica.com contains four databases: the complete Encyclopedia Britannica, full-text articles from over 70 magazines, Books in Print, and annotated rated websites. All four databases can be searched at once by entering search terms in the search box at the top of the website. Searching with the terms “media literacy” and “media education” provided numerous articles and annotated websites.

3.Center for Advanced Technology in Education. Media Literacy Online Project. Online. Available from http://interact.uoregon.edu/MediaLit/HomePage; Internet; accessed 15 February 2001.

The Center for Advanced Technology in Education located at the University of Oregon’s College of Education has created a comprehensive, well-organized site that provides a search engine for searching as well as an exhaustive list of links organized into categories. One of the sections includes lesson plans, guides, instructional material, websites, and discussion groups. Other sections focus on research articles, links to online journals, and media literacy issues. This should be the first stop in looking for information on media literacy due to both its variety and abundance of material.

4.Center for Media Literacy. Center for Media Literacy. Online. Available from http://www.medialit.org; Internet; accessed on 16 February 2001.

The Center for Media Literacy is an organization dedicated “to bring media literacy education to every child, every school and every home in North America” (CML, 2001). The CML develops and distributes education materials to teachers and parents as well as designs and conducts workshops, seminars and national conferences. Although many of their projects are at cost, they provide valuable resources on their site especially in the “learn” and “links” sections.

5.Editorial Projects in Education, Inc. Education Week on the Web. Online. Available from http://www.edweek.org/; Internet; accessed 15 February 2001.

This nonprofit organization’s primary mission is to “help raise the level of awareness and understanding among professionals and the public of important issues in American education.” (EdWeek, 2001) The site provides coverage on news and issues from preschool to 12^th grade through categories such as Daily News, and Hot Topics. In addition, it provides the full-text articles of the current and past issues of Teacher Magazine and Education Week.

6.Educational Resources Information Center. AskERIC. Online. Available from http://ericir.syr.edu/; Internet; accessed 15 February 2001.

The AskERIC website includes a question & answer service, archives, a resource collection, and lesson plans. This well-organized site can be searched by the search engine or browsed by category. Under the category, “media literacy” AskERIC provides numerous annotations to articles, organizations and discussion groups.

7.Educational Resources Information Center. ERIC Digests. Online. Available from http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/index/; Internet; accessed 15 February 2001.

This database provides access to the 2,300 digests published by ERIC. These short educational related reports are created for teachers and other practitioners. Patrons can easily access the digests by either browsing or searching. The search phrase “media literacy” provided several digests.

8.Google. Google. Online. Available at www.google.com; Internet; accessed 13 February 2001.

Google is a search engine that ranks the search results by how often that website has been linked from other websites, providing a high degree of accuracy in the results. Search with the search phrases, “media literacy” and “media education”.

9.International Reading Association. Reading Online. Online. Available from http://www.readingonline.org/; Internet; accessed 15 February 2001.

Reading Online is a peer-reviewed journal that focuses on literacy and research for students aged 5 to 18. Patrons can access information on this site through the subject tabs on the left side of the site or by searching with the search engine. Although, the “Articles” section provides access to current articles, the most relevant information can be found in the “New Literacies” section with current articles and archived full text articles. The Online Communities” section offers a place to discuss and share ideas about literacy. Readers can join the listserv, ROL Communities, as well as access the listserv archives.

10.LookSmart and Gale Group. FindArticles.com. Online. Available from http://www.findarticles.com/PI/index.jhtml; Internet; accessed 16 February 2001.

FindArticles.com provides access to full-text articles from over 300 magazines and journals, dating back to 1998. (Looksmart, 2001) The searcher has the option of searching the entire database or by limiting to a specific subject or journal. The journal list can be browsed. By searching with the phrase, “media literacy” the site returned 58 articles. Although some of the articles were not relevant, there were also some excellent articles.

11.Media Awareness Network. Media Awareness Network. Online. Available from

http://www.media-awareness.ca/eng/; Internet; accessed 16 February 2001.

This nonprofit organization provides curriculum-related media and Web literacy teaching materials for schools as well as media awareness resources for community organizations. Although Canadian based and oriented, this site provides extensive media literacy resources useful for any nationality including lesson plans, student handouts, reports, articles, media issues, and current news.

12.The Media History Project, Inc. The Media History Project. Online. Available from http://www.mediahistory.com/index.html; Internet; accessed 16 February 2001.

The Media History Project is an excellent site created by media historians and scholars to chronicle the history of media from hieroglyphs to the digital age. The site includes a Timeline from 45,000 BCE to the present as well as an extensive collection of Internet links organized by categories such as technology types, advertising history and journalism history. In addition, the site provides links to journals and listservs. This site compliments any study of the media by chronicling the subject from the earliest times to the present.

13.Media Literacy Project. Media Literacy Project. Online. Available from http://www.babson.edu/medialiteracyproject/index.html; Internet; accessed 16 February 2001.

Project at Babson College and Clark University, which “seeks to strengthen young people’s ability to ask questions about what they watch, see and read by developing media literacy curriculum materials and developing teacher education programs.” (MLP, 2001) Although part of the website covers the local programs and workshops, a large part of the site contains resources for everyone especially in the “curriculum materials” and “research articles” sections. This site illustrates a local project for bringing media literacy into the schools and community.

14.National Institute on Media and the Family. National Institute on Media and the Family. Online. Available from http://www.mediaandthefamily.org/; Internet; accessed 16 February 2001.

The National Institute on Media and the Family is a non-profit, non-partisan, and non-sectarian organization. Its mission is “to maximize the benefits and minimize the harm of media on children and families through research, education, and information ” (Institute, 2001). Although some of the resources are fee-based, the majority of the Institute’s website provides a variety of free online resources. Especially useful is the “Research Library” section with fact sheets and an extensive list of annotated websites for additional resources.

15.National Parent-Teacher Association. Children First. Online. Available from http://www.pta.org/index.stm; Internet; accessed 16 February 2001.

For over 100 years, the PTA has promoted education, health and safety of children and families. (PTA, 2001) Within their health and safety program section, the PTA has established a section called “media literacy, critical viewing and online library”. Although geared toward parents many of the resources could be useful to teachers, for example the evaluating TV violence worksheet and the resource list for media literacy.

16.Public Broadcasting Stations. PBS TeacherSource. Online. Available from http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/; Internet; accessed 16 February 2001.

This site provides an extensive collection of educational resources with lesson plans, teacher guides and student activities. The media literacy section, which provides a directory to related sites and studies, lesson plans, and activity ideas, can be found by searching with the phrase “media literacy”.

17.School of Information, University of Michigan. Internet Public Library. Online. Available at www.ipl.org; Internet; accessed 15 February 2001.

The Internet Public Library (IPL), which began in 1995 as a project at the School of Information, has expanded today with grant funding and corporate sponsorship. The IPL staff locates, evaluate, organize, and describe all of the resources on the site. Especially useful are the “magazines and serials” section and the “reference ” section, which is organized by subject.

18.Southern New Mexico Media Literacy Coalition. Media-L. Online. Available from http://interact.uoregon.edu/MediaLit/FA/MLlistserv/Media-L.html; Internet; accessed 14 February 2001.

Listserv devoted to media literacy subjects, activities, research and teaching. Media-L is open to anyone interested in media literacy projects or issues. This URL provides information about the list as well as directions on how to subscribe. This list provides an opportunity for professionals to exchange ideas and information about media literacy.

19.University of California, Riverside. VidKids Media Literacy Program. Online. Available from http://www.cmp.ucr.edu/exhibitions/cmp_ed_prog.html; Internet; accessed on 16 February 2001.

This outreach program began in 1992, by the UCR in order for students to learn the technical and creative aspects of video and related media. The goal is to teach media literacy through classroom activities designed for understanding TV and how it works. This site is a great example of media education at practice in schools. In addition, it provides instructions for several of the project’s activities for teachers to follow.

20.Yahoo! Inc. Yahoo! Online. Available at www.yahoo.com; Internet; accessed 13 February 2001.

The Yahoo! directory is organized into subject based categories and sub-categories. The site can be searched by entering a search term in its query box or by browsing the categories. For media literacy, the site can be searched with the phrase “media literacy” or by going to the category News Media > Industry Information > Media Literacy.

Media Literacy: Pathfinder

Exposure to large amounts of data through newspapers, magazines, television, film and the Internet is a daily occurrence. In order to make sense of all these media messages, people need to become media literate (ML). The Canadian Ministry of Education defines media literacy as, “the ability to critically understand, question and evaluate how media work and produce meaning, how they are organized, how they mediate and construct reality, and how they impact our lives. ML may include the ability to create media products.”2

This guide will assist students in obtaining general information on media literacy as well as specific information regarding media literacy organizations, electronic discussion groups, journal articles, media literacy projects, and classroom resources. An online version of this pathfinder is available at http://www.gslis.utexas.edu/~vlibrary/pathfinders/Johnson.

Where can I find general information about media literacy?

Center for Advanced Technology in Education. Media Literacy Online Project. Online. Available from http://interact.uoregon.edu/MediaLit/HomePage; Internet; accessed 15 February 2001.

Media Awareness Network. Media Awareness Network. Online. Available from http://www.media-awareness.ca/eng/; Internet; accessed 16 February 2001.

What are some media literacy organizations?

Center for Media Literacy. Center for Media Literacy. Online. Available from http://www.medialit.org; Internet; accessed on 16 February 2001.

National Institute on Media and the Family. National Institute on Media and the Family. Online. Available from http://www.mediaandthefamily.org/; Internet; accessed 16 February 2001.

Are there electronic discussion groups I can join?

Southern New Mexico Media Literacy Coalition. Media-L. Online. Available from http://interact.uoregon.edu/MediaLit/FA/MLlistserv/Media-L.html; Internet; accessed 14 February 2001.

International Reading Association. Reading Online. Online. Available from http://www.readingonline.org/; Internet; accessed 15 February 2001.

Where can I locate articles about media literacy?

The resources listed in the general information section above contain numerous articles on media literacy. In addition, the following resources can be searched:

International Reading Association. Reading Online. Online. Available from http://www.readingonline.org/; Internet; accessed 15 February 2001.

LookSmart and Gale Group. FindArticles.com. Online. Available from http://www.findarticles.com/PI/index.jhtml; Internet; accessed 16 February 2001.

What are some examples of media literacy projects?

University of California, Riverside. VidKids Media Literacy Program. Online. Available from http://www.cmp.ucr.edu/exhibitions/cmp_ed_prog.html; Internet; accessed on 16 February 2001.

Media Literacy Project. Media Literacy Project. Online. Available from http://www.babson.edu/medialiteracyproject/index.html; Internet; accessed 16 February 2001.

Where can I find media literacy resources for the classroom?

Many of the resources listed in the other categories in this pathfinder provide lesson plans etc. In addition, this site features extensive classroom resources.

Public Broadcasting Stations. PBS TeacherSource. Online. Available from http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/; Internet; accessed 16 February 2001.

If you need further assistance, please ask a librarian!

Created by Melinda Johnson for LIS 382L.3 taught by Dr. Loriene Roy, Spring 2001