Description

• Persuasion and reasoning.
• Media literacy and digital citizenship.
• Decoding media messages.
• Recognizing fake news.
• Algorithms and social media.
• Media literacy advocacy.

Interview with: Michelle Ciulla Lipkin, Executive Director, National Association for Media Literacy Education; Tim Borchers, Ph.D., Vice President for Academic Affairs, Peru State College

Resources: Media Literacy, by James Potter (book);

How Fantasy Becomes Reality, by Karen Dill (book);

Persuasion in the Media Age, by Timothy Borchers (book);

NAMLE.net, website for the National Association for Media Literacy Education + affiliated media organizations;

medialiteracynow.org, website for Media Literacy Now, current media literacy legislation by state;

factcheck.org, A project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center;

Freepress.net, getting citizens involved in media decisions;

Snopes.com, a fact checking website;

Eff.org, nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation, defending digital privacy, free speech, and innovation;

TED.com, TED Talks about algorithms and social media;

Key Questions to ask when analyzing media messages:

Audience & Authorship-

• Who paid for this?
• Who made this message?
• Why was this made?
• Who is the target audience and how do you know?
• Who might benefit from this message?
• Who might be harmed by it?
• Why might this message matter to me?
• What kinds of actions might I take in response to this message?

Messages & Meanings-

• What is this about and what makes you think that?
• What ideas, values, information and/or points of view are overt? Implied?
• What is left out of this message that might be important to know?
• What messaging techniques are used?
• Why were those techniques used?
• How do they communicate the message?
• How might different people understand the message differently?

Representations & Reality-

• When was this made?
• Where or how was it shared with the public?
• Is this fact, opinion, or something else?
• How credible is this and what makes you think that?
• What are the sources of information, ideas, or assertions?