Who uses media literacy, and what are the three views of it?
The term ‘media literacy’ is now commonly used by educators, policymakers, regulators and media producers. The three main views available are;
Competence - you are media literate or media illiterate
Social Practice - how we read and make media
Entitlement - to protect us from potential danger associated with new media particular
What cultural developments are there due to technological change, and what are the effects of them?
There have been many cultural developments such as social networking sites, YouTube, TV on demand, MP3, video games and virtual worlds and it is argued that it is because of cultural parts of these that it produces new ways in which we can communicate and participate which were not available before web 2.0.
Why do people demonise young people?
Mainly because of there familiarity and supreme knowledge of text language, digital television and video games. It is often suggested that some people are jealous of the youth because it is a natural part of the ageing process that people believe that TV, films, music and culture were a lot ‘better’ when they were teenagers.
What are the series of concerns about the way modern culture is saturated by media and entertainment? (include both arguments)
One of the main concerns is that due to anxieties of losing control of what people are doing, where they are and how we are communicating. Also some are concerned that the youth of today are missing out on enriching culture experiences such as novels, plays, news and art. However others believe that because of media and entertainment we are becoming more intelligent, and that no one should be worried. There is a strong sense of motivational energy within gamers and vast participatory with blogging.
As you move on from AS to A2, what media skills are you going to develop?
As I move on to the A2 advanced portfolio I will be able to make a distinct difference between just making and using media as well as becoming more media literate. I will be able to create media material that will observe a set of conventions and has informed, research based mode of address for my audience.
What are the benefits of this?
I will be able to theorise my own media creativity and a range of existing media texts and using academic ideas such as postmodernism, democracy, representation and discourse. I will be able to understand how literacy is being ‘reframed’ by the digital culture. I will also gain high levels of media literacy that offers me an intellectual, academic and informed understanding.
What two beliefs are there about literacy in the UK currently?
The government share a believe that literacy is linked to a social change and see that see literacy as a way out of social control as empowering within a critical sense, while others see the obligation of literacy as a form of social control, or at least as an aspect of social cohesion.
What do OFCOM believe media literacy is beneficial for?
They believe that it is a tool for creating more responsible media consumers as an alternative to censorship. The idea here is that media literate consumers can self regulate themselves with media which means the chances of people being affected by violent video games and urban rap music is reduced as the audience would have developed their skills to decode what they are hearing/seeing/reading/playing.
What has the word literacy been created into due to human activity?
It has been bolted onto every area of human activity. So we get emotional literacy, computer literacy, physical literacy and functional literacy.
What does a meme do and give an example?
A meme is a word used for describing a rapid undertake and the spread of an particular idea that is presented through written text, image etc. An example is the satirical remix video Read My Lips/Blair Love Song, posted on YouTube that was viewed by a mass audience and was then crucially disseminated across a range of more traditional media.
What does democracy mean?
The political orientation of those who favour government by people or by their elected representatives.
A political system in which the supreme power body lies in a body of citizens who can elect people to represent them.
What does postmodernism mean?
A genre of art and literature and especially architecture in reaction against principles and practises of established modernism.
What does censorship mean?
Counterintelligence achieved by banning or deleting information of value to the enemy.
Deleting parts of publications or correspondence or theatrical performances.
What does commodity mean?
A commodity is some good for which there is a demand , but which is supplied without qualitative differentiation across a market. It is fungible, for example the same no matter who produces it. Examples are petroleum, notebooks milk and copper.
A any good or service that is produced by human labour and offered as a product for general sale on the market.
What does meme mean?
A cultural unit that is passed from one person to another by non genetic means.
A term that describes the rapid undertake and spread a particular idea through image, text etc.
What does OFCOM stand for?
Office of communications
What does Sonia Livingstone say about modern media?
She says modern media world can be illegible, hard to understand and very hard to trust compared to analogue culture. So we need to work much harder as a society to develop literacy capabilities.
How is web 2.0 described?
Web 2.0 is used as a platform for people to make their own media, to share with the world and thus represent themselves. Media 2.0 is then, is more about people and less about ‘the media’ in isolation.
What do Gilmore and Gaunlett argue about over 2.0?
They both argue that web 2.0 enables ordinary people to participate in politics and news by producing there own accounts of real events and commenting immediately on ‘official’ journalism.
What is fandom?
Is when fans of anything support it. Most fandom is to do with Television and film. It is a term used to refer to a subculture of composed fans characterized by feeling of sympathy with others who share a common interest. Traditionally fandom consists of fan fiction, fan art, role play and polls.
What has broadband internet enabled fans to achieve?
Broadband allows fans to accelerate there interpretations and re imaginings of media products. There are Harry Potter fans sharing fan literature online, to the many commentary edits of The Sopranos finale that you can find online, media producers now have to accept that fan can now upload their own versions of material within hours of the official broadcast.
What does Gauntlett argue about media and identity?
The media play role in the construction of identity, but not that big a role in relation to other aspects of social experience, and its is this finding that has lead Gauntlett to suggest that media studies has been to interested in just the media especially the notion of the self contained media texts.
What are the theories and strategies based on literacy as a social and political practice have been raised? In particular Freires interpretation.
Freire describes how many people are excluded from literacy just because of the simple fact that they can not read or write, therefore there are many things they can not participate in. According to Freire the exclusion from literacy will make things hard for that person to develop a critical view of the world they live in, which therefore leads to the suggestion that someone missing literacy in their life is oppressed and even controlled. Therefore literacy can be placed in the middle of the stage in the desire to promote social justice, to make the world a better place.
What is James Gee’s idea on literacy? And give an example.
His idea is that several literacy’s need to be operated by people to make a successful society. A higher level of is achieved by those who understand how to different literacy’s and different times. This skill is what Gee calls ‘meta-understanding’. It is a really simple idea he says. For example if you listen to a football commentary on the radio if you immediately respond or understand to terms such as ‘keeping it tight’ and ‘loosing the shape’ or you wont. So at the end of this you are either included in or excluded by the discourse of football.
What is remix culture, and what does it do?
Many people work on remix culture, where the media texts are being constantly reworked and exchanged by consumers who instantly become producers.
What has literacy traditionally be associated with?
Reading and writing, and has usually been discussed in relation to deficit people who are literate or not.
What is viral marketing?
Are marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networking sites to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives such as product sales through self-replicating viral processes etc.
Why are people finding it difficult to trust the world wide web?
In general a site that is used and viewed by thousands is most trusted, for example Wikipedia and YouTube. As the internet becomes more and more popular, society changes, and views on topic widen the simple and easy access to making your own web page becomes available which causes bias and opposites arguments and statements leading to consumer confusion. Also some people don’t trust the internet because of sites that can be unsafe in terms of viruses and cookies, as well as inappropriate content. People are even now finding it hard to trust TV because of rigged votes and awards. Overall the trust of media content is a major problem and people will lack literacy in this regard.
