Media Literacy
What is Media Literacy?
Media literacy is the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and act using all forms of communication. (National Association for Media Literacy)
Why is being media literate important?
Media literacy empowers us to be critical thinkers, effective communicators, and active citizens. Being literate in a media age requires critical thinking skills that empower us as we make decisions, whether in the classroom, the living room, the workplace, the boardroom, or the voting booth. (NAMLE)
What is included in the term "media"?
Media includes digital media, computers, video games, radio, television, mobile media, print, and any other communication technologies.
- National Association for Media Literacy EducationThe National Association for Media Literacy Education is a national organization dedicated to media literacy education. The NAMLE vision is to see media literacy be highly valued by all and widely practiced as an essential life skill for the 21st Century.
- Media Literacy Weekusually held in late October or early November
Bias
Bias: A prejudice or leaning that may aim to influence judgments in an unfair manner; slant; prejudice.
Confirmation Bias
- the inclination to interpret information selectively so that it reinforces a preestablished set of beliefs.
- a belief in which someone only accepts fact that corroborate his or her preexisting subjective opinions about something. Any fact or opinion that contradict this belief is ignore, dismissed as false, or twisted to fit a pre-ascribed agenda.
- Discover Your BiasBias starts with you. Learn about your own bias and how it compares with others. Tools provided by AllSides to rate your own bias. compare your leanings with the rest of America, and much more.
- A Quick Puzzle to Test Your Problem SolvingThis puzzle by The New York Times exposes a particular kind of confirmation bias.
Implicit Bias
- Unconscious forms of prejudice or negative attitudes about someone or something.
- Can be directed toward a range of subjects, including groups of people, products, area, or concepts.
- The person exhibiting implicit bias is unaware of this partiality and likely would deny having this proclivity if challenged.
- Project ImplicitProject Implicit is a non-profit organization and international collaboration between researchers who are interested in implicit social cognition - thoughts and feelings outside of conscious awareness and control. The goal of the organization is to educate the public about hidden biases.
Media Bias
- Objectivity SpectrumLesson taken from the open textbook, "Social and Political Dimensions of Information Literacy: Readings and Research Skills", by Todd Heldt
How to Spot Fake News
