Lesson 1 : Introduction to MIL Technology (Digital) Literacy

 The ability to use digital technology, communication

Communication - the act or process of using words, tools or networks to locate, evaluate, use, and create
sounds, signs, or behaviors to express or exchange information.
information or to express your ideas, thoughts, feelings, etc.,
to someone else. (http://www.merriam-webster.com)

 the exchange of information and the expression

of feeling that can result in understanding
(http://dictionary.cambridge.org)
 communication can be verbal and non-verbal.

WHAT ARE THE TWO BASIC TYPES OF COMMUNICATIONS?

 NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION
• Signs
• Symbols
• Colors
• Gestures
• body language
• facial expressions

 VERBAL COMMUNICATION
• Oral
• Written

Define the terms:

Media - Communication Tools,
- means of communication
information – data, knowledge derived from study,
experience, or instruction, signals or symbols

- knowledge of specific events or situations

Literacy – ability to read and write

PROCESS OF COMMUNICATION VALUE OF BEING MEDIA AND INFORMATION LITERATE

Lasswell’s Communication Model (1948) INDIVIDUAL

Media and Information Literacy

In Which  MIL consist of the knowledge, the attitudes and the
Who Says What
Channel sum of the skills needed to know when and what
COMMU information is needed; where and how to obtain that
MESSAGE
NICATOR MEDIUM information; how to evaluate it critically and
organize it once it is found; and how to use it in an
ethical way.

MEDIA HABITS, LIFESTYLES AND PREFERENCES

With what
To Whom effect? Habits
 unconscious pattern of behavior acquired through
RECEIVER EFFECT repetition

Preferences
 The selecting of someone or something over another
or others. In simpler terms, these are what you like.
Media Literacy
Lifestyle
 The ability to read, analyze, evaluate and produce
communication in a variety of media forms.  A way of life or living of a person or group.
Information Literacy
 The ability to recognize when information is needed
and to locate, evaluate, effectively use and
communicate information in its various formats.

Lesson 2: The Evolution of Traditional to New Media
TRADITIONAL MEDIA
 Media experience is limited
 One-directional
 Sense receptor used are very specific (i.e print media
– sense of sight, radio – sense of hearing, TV and
Film – sight and hearing)
NEW MEDIA
 Media experience is more interactive
 Audiences are involved and can send feedback
simultaneously.
 Integrates all the aspects of old media.
THE EVOLUTION OF TRADITIONAL TO NEW MEDIA
a. Pre Historic Age – since technology had yet to
develop, prehistoric people relied on face to face
interactions, primarily through their auditory senses,
as a method of communication. It is characterized as
an oral society dependent on speech and word-of-
mouth.
 PETROGLYPHS – are carvings or engravings in
rocks or caves while pictographs are sketches
and paintings that usually depict nature.
 MEGALITHIC ART- involves the process of
arranging or stacking together artistically the
stones or big rocks for a certain purpose.
b. Industrial Age – a point in the history from the 18th
to the 19th centuries, marked by the transition in
manufacturing processes. Printing was the first
mechanization of handcrafts through an analytical
sequence of step-by-step processes.
 Printing
 telegraph
c. Electronic Age – A period characterized by the
dominance of the electric media, such as radio, film,
telephone, computer, and television.
d. New Media – the Cambridge dictionary defines new
media as the “products and services that provide
information or entertainment using computers or
the internet.” Unlike traditional media (print, radio,
and television), new media are digitally produced as
interactive, and requires at least a two way
communication. (Refer to Media and Information
Literacy in the 21st Century pp. 14-17)
FUNCTIONS OF COMMUNICATION AND MEDIA
1. Inform citizens of what is happening (monitoring
function)
2. Educate the audience (meaning and significance of
facts)
3. Provide a platform for public discourse (public
opinion and expression of dissent)
• PUBLIC OPINION- views prevalent among the
general public
• DISSENT- strong difference of opinion;
disagreement esp. About official decisions
4. “watchdog” role of journalism
 A watchdog is a person or organization that makes
sure that companies, governments, etc., are not
doing anything illegal or wrong
5. Channel for advocacy for political viewpoints
Lesson 3: Types of Media
a. Print media – oldest form of media
Ex. Magazines,newspaper,books
b. Broadcast media – commonly associated with two
forms : Radio and Television.
- Broadcasting is form of mass communication
that utilizes radio and television to transmit
messages programs via airspace(frequency).
c. New media- product and services that provides
information or entertainment using computers or
the internet which cooperated with digital media.
- Video Games are also consider a media
d. Film/ Cinema – Books adaptation and true to life
stories and documentaries.
MEDIA CONVERGENCE
It is the phenomenon that connects different forms of media
together. Media convergence is the result of the internet and
of media content digitization, rounding up the “three Cs” in
media – computing, communication, and content- into one.
MASS MEDIA - refer to channels of communication that
involve transmitting information in some way, shape or form
to large numbers of people.
MEDIA EFFECTS - are the intended or unintended
consequences of what the mass media does.
MASS MEDIA EFFECTS
Reciprocal Effect - When a person or event gets media
attention, it influences the way the person acts or the way
the event functions.
 Media coverage often increases self-consciousness,
which affects our actions.
Boomerang Effect - refers to media-induced change that is
counter to the desired change
Cultivation Theory - states that media exposure, specifically
to television, shapes our social reality by giving us a distorted
view on the amount of violence and risk in the world
Agenda-setting-theory - process whereby the mass media
determine what we think and worry about
 public reacts not to actual events but to the
pictures in our head, created by media
Propaganda Model of Media Control (Herman & Chomsky )
- The model tries to understand how the population is
manipulated, and how the social, economic, political
attitudes are fashioned in the minds of people through
propaganda.

Lesson 4: Media Literacy: Critical Thinking
What is media literacy?
• ability to decode, analyze, evaluate and produce
communication in a variety of forms
• provides a framework to access, analyze, evaluate
and create messages in a variety of forms - from print
to video to the Internet
What is important to understand is that media literacy is not
about "protecting" kids from unwanted messages. Although
some groups urge families to just turn the TV off, the fact is,
media are so ingrained in our cultural milieu that even if you
turn off the set, you still cannot escape today's media culture.
Media no longer just influence our culture. They ARE our
culture.
Media literacy, therefore, is about helping students become
competent, critical and literate in all media forms so that they
control the interpretation of what they see or hear rather than
letting the interpretation control them.
To become media literate is not to memorize facts or statistics
about the media, but rather to learn to raise the right questions
about what you are watching, reading or listening to
Without this fundamental ability, an individual cannot have
full dignity as a human person or exercise citizenship in a
democratic society where to be a citizen is to both understand
and contribute to the debates of the time.
What is Critical thinking?
 Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined
process of actively and skillfully
conceptualizing, applying, analyzing,
synthesizing, and/or evaluating information
gathered from, or generated by, observation,
experience, reflection, reasoning, or
communication, as a guide to belief and action (
Scriven and Paul, 1987)
 Critical thinking is thinking about your thinking
while you're thinking in order to make your
thinking better (Paul, 1992)
 critical thinking requires you to use your ability
to reason. It is about being an active learner
rather than a passive recipient of information.
What is FALLACY?
 fallacy is, very generally, an error in reasoning.
This differs from a factual error, which is simply
being wrong about the facts.
 To be more specific, a fallacy is an "argument"
in which the premises given for the conclusion
do not provide the needed degree of support.
EXAMPLE OF THIS FALLACY OF THINKING
AD HOMINEM – Attacking your opponent’s character or
personal traits instead of engaging with their argument.
 attacks can take the form of overtly attacking
somebody, or more subtly casting doubt on their
character or personal attributes as a way to
discredit their argument.
Example: After Sally presents an eloquent and compelling
case for a more equitable taxation system, Sam asks the
audience whether we should believe anything from a woman
who isn't married, was once arrested, and smells a bit weird.
STRAWMAN - Exaggerating, misrepresenting, or just
completely fabricating someone's argument, it's much easier
to present your own position as being reasonable, but this
kind of dishonesty serves to undermine honest rational
debate.
Example: After Will said that we should put more money into
health and education, Warren responded by saying that he
was surprised that Will hates our country so much that he
wants to leave it defenseless by cutting military spending.
LOADED QUESTION – Asking a question that has an
assumption built into it so that it can’t be answered without
appearing guilty.
 effective at derailing rational debates because of
their inflammatory nature - the recipient of the
loaded question is compelled to defend
themselves and may appear flustered or on the
back foot.
Example: Grace and Helen were both romantically interested
in Brad. One day, with Brad sitting within earshot, Grace
asked in an inquisitive tone whether Helen was having any
problems with a drug habit.
BEGGING THE QUESTION – A circular argument in
which conclusion is included in the premise.
 This logically incoherent argument often arises in
situations where people have an assumption that is
very ingrained, and therefore taken in their minds as
a given. Circular reasoning is bad mostly because
it's not very good.
Example: This granola bar is the healthiest thing you can eat
because it's made with all natural ingredientsYou presented
two alternative states as the only possibilities, when in fact
more possibilities exist.
BLACK – OR – WHITE – two alternatives states are
presented as the only possibilities, when in fact more
possibilities exist.
 Also known as the false dilemma, this insidious tactic
has the appearance of forming a logical
argument, but under closer scrutiny it becomes
evident that there are more possibilities than the
either/or choice that is presented. Binary, black-
or-white thinking doesn't allow for the many
different variables, conditions, and contexts in
which there would exist more than just the two
possibilities put forth. It frames the argument
misleadingly and obscures rational, honest
debate.
Example: Whilst rallying support for his plan to
fundamentally undermine citizens' rights, the Supreme Leader
told the people they were either on his side, or they were on
the side of the enemy.
SLIPPERY SLOPE – Asserting that if we allow A to
happen, then Z will consequently happen too, therefore A
should not happen.
  The problem with this reasoning is that it avoids
engaging with the issue at hand, and instead
shifts attention to extreme hypotheticals. Because
no proof is presented to show that such extreme
hypotheticals will in fact occur, this fallacy has
the form of an appeal to emotion fallacy by
leveraging fear. In effect the argument at hand is
unfairly tainted by unsubstantiated conjecture.
Example: Colin Closet asserts that if we allow same-sex
couples to marry, then the next thing we know we'll be
allowing people to marry their parents, their cars and even
monkeys.
BURDEN OF PROOF – Saying that the burden of proof lies
not with the person making claims, but with someone else to
disapprove.
 The inability, or disinclination, to disprove a
claim does not render that claim valid, nor give it
any credence whatsoever. However it is
important to note that we can never be certain of
anything, and so we must assign value to any
claim based on the available evidence, and to
dismiss something on the basis that it hasn't been
proven beyond all doubt is also
fallacious reasoning.
Example: Bertrand declares that a teapot is, at this very
moment, in orbit around the Sun between the Earth and Mars,
and that because no one can prove him wrong, his claim is
therefore a valid one.
COMPOSITION /DIVISION – Assuming that what’s true
about one part of something has to be applied to all, parts of
it.
 Often when something is true for the part it does
also apply to the whole, or vice versa, but the
crucial difference is whether there exists good
evidence to show that this is the case. Because
we observe consistencies in things, our thinking
can become biased so that we presume
consistency to exist where it does not.
Example: Daniel was a precocious child and had a liking for
logic. He reasoned that atoms are invisible, and that he was
made of atoms and therefore invisible too. Unfortunately,
despite his thinking skills, he lost the game of hide and goes
seek.
BANDWAGON – Appealing to popularity or the fact that
many people do something as an attempted form of
validation.
 The flaw in this argument is that the popularity
of an idea has absolutely no bearing on its
validity.
If it did, then the Earth would have made itself flat for most
of history to accommodate this popular belief.
Example: Shamus pointed a drunken finger at Sean and asked
him to explain how so many people could believe in
leprechauns if they're only a silly old superstition. Sean,
however, had had a few too many Guinness himself and fell
off his chair.
APPEALS TO EMOTION - Manipulating an emotional
response in place of a valid or compelling argument.
 include appeals to fear, envy, hatred, pity, pride,
and more. It's important to note that sometimes a
logically coherent argument may inspire emotion
or have an emotional aspect, but the problem and
fallacy occurs when emotion is used instead of a
logical argument, or to obscure the fact that no
compelling rational reason exists for one's
position.
Example: Luke didn't want to eat his sheep's brains with
chopped liver and brussel sprouts, but his father told him to
think about the poor, starving children in a third world
country who weren't fortunate enough to have any food at all.
Lesson 5: Information Literacy
What is information literacy?
 The ability to recognize when information is
needed and to locate, evaluate, effectively use
and communicate information in its various
formats.
knowledge
information
data
Hierarchy of Knowledge, Information, Data
Data- refers to unstructured facts and figures.
Ex. A text within a book.
Information- data organized with relevance and
purpose, made meaningful by a person.
Ex. Your consumption of text as the information.
Knowledge- refers to the human understanding of a
subject matter.
Ex. The storage of this information within your
memory as knowledge.
5 Components of Information Literacy
1. Identify- determine exactly what the information
problem is and the specific information needed
for the problem.
2. Find- make decisions and select sources
appropriate to the defined task.
3. Evaluate- Restruck or repack information into
new or different formats to meet the
requirements of the task. They must be able to
read, view, listen or interact with the information
and decide what is valuable for their particular
situation.
4. Apply- decide on a strategy and carry it out.
5. Acknowledge- evaluation how effectively and
efficiently the information problem-solving
process was conducted.
Lesson 6 : Media and Information Source
Types of Information Sources
1. Primary Source (raw; valid; reliable)
- Is an original, not interpreted, or “first-hand”
material of information, created by the
persons directly involved in activity or an
event.
Ex. Speech, autobiographic, personal letters,
photos, diaries, interview.
2. Secondary Source
- Provides an information obtained through a
number of primary sources, and has
undergone editing or interpretation.
- Providing different perspective for the
readers.
Ex. Biography, scholarly books, articles,
encyclopedia, research articles, dictionaries,
histories, commentaries, magazines, newspaper
articles.
3. Tertiary Source
- Consist of summaries and collections of both
primary and secondary sources.
- Are not always considered to be acceptable
materials for academic researches as they
only provide overviews of the original ref.
Ex. Some textbook, encyclopedias and other
materials.
Formats of Information Sources
1. Print- books, periodicals, newspapers,
magazines, photographs, reports, journals,
dictionaries, encyclopedias, government
documents, records.
2. Non-Print- audio, video, audio-video files, digital
document other materials in digital formats,
usually saved in computers, CD, DVD, other
storage devices.
Where to Find Information Sources
 Library
 Internet
 Indigenous Media
Evaluating Information
1. What/who is the source of information?
2. What is the medium used?
3. What is its purpose?
4. How is the information made?
MEDIA AND INFORMATION LANGUAGES
- Media language is the way in which the meaning
of a media text is conveyed to the audience.
Different types of media languages:
1. Visual language – Television and film. What is
on the screen has been chosen specifically to
generate a series of effects and meanings.
Specific camera angles ad movements are chosen
to tell the story and meaning of that scene.
2. Aural language – diegetic / non-diegetic sound.
Sound can help create a scene and construct the
environment, atmosphere and mood. The aural
language of a media text can also help us to
define the genre of a piece.
3. Written Language – print-based media, also in
text such as captions for photographs. The
language chosen generates meaning.
4. Verbal language – used in media such as
television,radio and film. How the language is
delivered and its context used are important
factors in the way meaning is generated for the
audience.
5. Non-verbal language – this is in terms of body
language, gestures and actions.
Media language can be further characterized as codes
and conventions.
- This is how the media communicate to the
audience.
Codes and conventions are used together in any study
of genre.
Codes are systems of sign that are put together to
create arbitrary meaning.
There are three types of codes: technical, symbolic and
written.
Technical Codes - ways in which equipment is used to
tell the story (camera techniques, framing, depth of
fields, lighting and exposure, etc.)
Technical Codes Camera Techniques
Symbolic Codes- show what is beneath the surface of
what we see (objects, setting, body language, clothing,
color, etc. )
Example:
Gun = crime,dead,action
Setting= black and white happen on the past
Nakayuko= surrender
Jacket = cold
Red and black = bad

Written Codes - use of language style and textual layout

(headlines, captions, speech bubbles, language style,
etc. )

 Convention – a habit or a long accepted way of

doing things relatively on the style or content.
- the generally accepted ways of doing something

 Media Representations - One way to analyze

media representation is through denotation and
connotation.