Perspectives on Media Literacy, Digital Literacy and Information Literacy

The cultural landscape poses different challenges for teachers. Beyond developing reading and writing skills, it is necessary to emerge in the digital culture and master the different codes of different languages. In this context, media education studies discuss the educational possibilities of interpreting, problematizing, and producing different kinds of texts in critical and creative ways, through the use of all means, languages and technologies available. Considering that media cannot be excluded from literacy programs, it is essential to reflect on the definition of “literate” today. These reflections examine the resignification of concepts like literacy, media literacy, digital literacy and information literacy. DOI: 10.4018/jdldc.2010100102 International Journal of Digital Literacy and Digital Competence, 1(4), 10-15, October-December 2010 11 Copyright © 2010, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. ent literacies demanded by the different media involve specific abilities of analysis, evaluation and reflection, and imply an understanding of the social economic and institutional context of the communication, to understand how it affects the experiences and uses of the media and their interpretations on micro and macro levels. Since different media have distinct narrative structures and elements, the production of meanings is based on the abilities to operate with the codes of different languages and their instruments, such as photographic cameras, video cameras, computers, cell phones, etc. From this perspective, media literacy involves the capacity to decipher, appreciate, criticize and compose, but also requires a broad understanding of the historic, economic and social context in which these texts are produced, distributed and used by audiences, as Silverstone (2005) emphasizes. To assure this form of appropriation, the learning of the medias should be dynamic and involve reflexive approaches combined with critical analyses, creative productions and critical consumption. Working for quite some time with the concept of media literacy, Hobbs (1994) defines it as “the ability to access, analyze, evaluate and produce communication in a variety of forms” (Aufderheide apud Rivoltella, 2005, p. 69). This definition is also found in the works of Livingstone (2003) and Rivoltella (2005), who understand that it involves an ability to read, write, speak, listen, and see critically and create messages using the broadest range of technologies. Media literacy is “literacy for the information era,” according to Hobbs (1994, p.2) for whom it means essentially learning to formulate questions about what one sees, observes and reads. To do so, it is possible to use the most varied types of messages and products: television drama, newspapers, films, news programs, documentaries, mini-series, advertising, photography, video-clips, online services, etc. The essential focus of this media literacy approach is anchored in the presumptions of Masterman, which Hobbs appropriates by synthesizing his fundamental ideas: all messages are constructed; messages are representations of reality; messages have proposals related to social, political and economic, ethical, and aesthetic contexts; individuals construct meanings for the messages that they receive; each media, form and genre of communication have specific characteristics. The focuses of media literacy correspond to a demand for greater semantic amplitude of the concept of literacy, and for Hobbs (2003) concern the possibility of knowing how to: • access messages: read with a good level of understanding; recognize and understand different types of languages; develop strategies to look for information in different sources; select relevant information, process and analyze it; use various technological tools; • analyze messages: develop a reflexive and critical reception; analyze the form, structure and construction of meanings; know how to use categories, concepts and ideas; interpret messages based on basic concepts such as intentions, audiences, points of view, formats, genres, arguments, themes, languages, contexts; compare and contrast information; identify fact from opinion; differentiate cause and effect; • evaluate messages: relate to the experience itself by evaluating its quality, veracity and relevance; interpret it according to the origin of the sources; respond and debate the message according to content and complexity; analyze the message according to its production context; evaluate the form and content of the message; • create and/or communicate messages: learn to write, speak, and create texts and images, for a variety of purposes and audiences; use ideas and express them clearly; use different types of language; select codes and resources that allow the message to reach its objectives; understand the grammar and syntax of the various media and of communication technologies to know how to use them in the construction of messages and in post-production. 4 more pages are available in the full version of this document, which may be purchased using the "Add to Cart" button on the product's webpage: www.igi-global.com/article/perspectives-media-literacydigital-literacy/49686?camid=4v1 This title is available in InfoSci-Journals, InfoSci-Journal Disciplines Library Science, Information Studies, and Education. 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