EVENTS: First European Media Literacy Forum

The First European Media Literacy Forum will be held on May 27 and 28, 2014 at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. This conference is funded by the European Commission and UNESCO into the Media LiteracyAction, and co-organized by the EMEDUS  Project and the Gabinete de Comunicación y Educación (UAB), within the frame of the Global Alliance for Partnerships on Mediaand Information Literacy (GAPMIL). The Forum will bring together governments, audio-visual authorities, institutions, experts, teachers, media professionals, industry, researchers, NGOs, and foundations with the aim of promoting media and information literacy in Europe, discussing MIL policies at a European level and fostering cooperation and initiatives at national and European levels.

The main objective of the forum is to contribute to the establishment of a reinforced European media literacy policy oriented towards theinclusion of Media Education in European school curricula. In addition, it also aims at promoting the development of media literacyinitiatives in the field of non- formal and informal education as well as paying special attention to disadvantaged groups.  

This conference will foster debate and cooperation among institutions, experts, industry professionals, schools and the media as well as among political and regulatory authorities with the purpose of promoting media literacy. 

The event will also encourage the creation of diverse collaborative platforms such as the European Chapter of the Global Alliance Partners in Media and Information Literacy (GAPMIL), the European Media and Film Literacy Observatory, and other initiatives.

Link to the programme.

Source

OPEN CALL: Evens Foundation grants for European media literacy projects 2014

How to involve parents in the media education of children?

The Evens Foundation aims to stimulate efforts to increase media literacy in Europe – mainly by raising critical awareness of the media and by encouraging media creativity. Both of these contribute to the development of highly aware, active and responsible citizens. The Foundation subscribes to the European Commission’s view of media literacy as “an extremely important factor for active citizenship in today's information society, as literacy was at the beginning of the twentieth century”. The Foundation continues to support a selection of European projects that contribute to raising the media literacy level of European citizens.

After the great success of its publication ‘Media Literacy in Europe: 12 good practices that will inspire you’, the Foundation decided to publish a second media literacy magazine in 2015. Again, we will highlight 12 good European practices that can inspire others with their work, but this time we will exclusively focus on projects that actively include parents (and grandparents) in their media educational activities.

more info here

Register Now! UNESCO’s Online Media and Information Literacy Course for Youth

UNESCO, in partnership with Athabasca University and in cooperation with the UNESCO-UNAOC University Network on Media and Information Literacy and Intercultural Dialogue, launches online course on media and information literacy (MIL).

This entry-level online course will provide youth with basic media and information competencies to become critical citizens and agents of change. The course is designed to enable youth to:

• Understand why media and other information providers are important to development and democratic societies;
• Recognise a need for information and to locate, access, organise and carefully evaluate information and the content of media and other information providers;
• Use and share information based on moral principles or accepted standards of social behaviour;
• Interact with media and other information providers to freely express themselves, share their culture and learn about other cultures, promote gender equality, and participate in democratic and development activities.

(...)

Applicants should be youth (females and males between the ages 15-25). Participants who successfully complete the course will receive a certificate from Athabasca University.

In order to successfully complete this course participants will need regular access to a computer and Internet access to download documents, listen to podcasts and view online videos.

To apply, please click here. Application must be completed by 19 February 2014. There are no associated fees to participants who wish to do this course.

more info here

ARTICLES: Improving Children's Literature in Digital Spaces

We all know that the increasing number of new publishing platforms are challenging the traditional models of publishing. There is a growing interest and enthusiasm for the capacity of anyone to publish and create, but is there equal interest on the impact of quality or value of these texts to the reader? Currently, publishing in digital spaces emphasizes producers, rather than consumers. This unbalanced focus has the potential to impact children's reading experiences in negative, as well as positive ways, and is already having a significant impact on the world of children's literature.

The Problem -- Diversity of Quality
In our own exploration of children's ebooks and digital stories we have identified a wide variety of quality, not just in design, but also in key areas of spelling, grammar and punctuation. Traditional gateways through which stories and literature for children have been produced are no longer applied to all texts, especially digital ones. An app developer can write an original story, design some images and upload it to the Android or iOS App Stores, only needing to meet specific technical design requirements. There are no requirements in this process for editors or proofreaders to help shape and craft a story and an overall book that meets the interests and learning needs of children. While anyone can write a children's book, it takes a team with a level of expertise to help create a quality story for children.

full article from the Huffington Post

EVENTS / WORKSHOPS: Media Literacy-New tool for Education

Media Literacy-New tool for Education

Theme: History of the Culture from Stone Age to Medieval
Venue: Serbia
Time: 3rd to 10th of May 2011 (8 days)
Participants: High School Students (14 to 19 years old) and
Teachers interested to implement media literacy and media education in curriculum

International Intercultural Multimedia Education Technology (IIMET)
Media Educators of the Media Education Centre (Belgrade, Serbia) and High Mowing School, Boston, USA with 25 students from Serbia and USA will have International Filmmaking project: Travel, Source for Cultural Research. With equipment for filming, animation, radio and multimedia presentation we are going to discovery 7000 years of History!
International Teams will work on different presentations:
· Short film
· Documentary
· TV report
· Radio report
· Animation
· Multimedia presentation

All materials we will produce during our traveling Film Camp will be special tool for future education!

More: www.mediaeducationcentre.eu

Media Education Centre

WEBSITES: NAMLE - National Associaton for Media Literacy Education

Media literacy: The ability to ACCESS, ANALYZE, EVALUATE, and COMMUNICATE information in a variety of forms-is interdisciplinary by nature.

Media literacy represents a necessary, inevitable, and realistic response to the complex, ever-changing electronic environment and communication cornucopia that surround us.

To become a successful student, responsible citizen, productive worker, or competent and conscientious consumer, individuals need to develop expertise with the increasingly sophisticated information and entertainment media that address us on a multi-sensory level, affecting the way we think, feel, and behave.

Today’s information and entertainment technologies communicate to us through a powerful combination of words, images, and sounds. As such, we need to develop a wider set of literacy skills helping us to both comprehend the messages we receive and effectively utilize these tools to design and distribute our own messages. 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.

Finally, while media literacy does raise critical questions about the impact of media and technology, it is not an anti-media movement. Rather, it represents a coalition of concerned individuals and organizations, including educators, faith-based groups, health care-providers, and citizen and consumer groups, who seek a more enlightened way of understanding our media environment.

Over the years, many definitions and visions of media literacy have been created to reflect different points of view, different approaches and goals, and different audiences. Through the postings in various sections of the NAMLE web site, we will try to present many of these definitions along with their sources. We welcome input from visitors to the web site.

Website

NEWS / IT: UNICEF's online campaign to demand education for kids (INDIA)

New Delhi: UNICEF on Tuesday launched an online campaign to mobilise the Indian society to speak up for illiterate children and to spread awareness that one can demand elementary education under the Right to Education (RTE) Act.

The campaign, called 'Awaaz Do' or 'Speak Up', aims to have at least 500,000 people sign up by Jan 24, which is observed as the Girl Child Day.

'India is home to a growing urban population that can be mobilised into demanding that the goals set forth in the RTE become reality,' United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) India Representative Karin Hulshof said in a statement.

full article

AWARDS / CALL FOR ENTRIES: Award "City for Children" 2011 on the topic of "Media Education"

The application period of the European Award of Excellence "City of Children" 2011 on the topic of "Media Education" started on September 1st 2010.

All major European cities are invited to enter the international competition and apply with their best practice projects in the area of media education and media competence of children and young people.

The call for submission and the application form are now available online.

For further information on the call for submission, selection criteria and application procedure, please follow this link.

Project website

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EVENTS: Media Literacy Conference 2010 UK

The Media Literacy Conference 2010 will be a major gathering for all teachers, teacher trainers, researchers, policymakers and media professionals interested in teaching and learning about the media. It is jointly organised by the Media Education Association and the Centre for the Study of Children, Youth and Media at the Institute of Education, London, in partnership with Ofcom.

Bringing together practitioners at all levels of the 3-19 education system with researchers in the fields of education, literacy and media technologies, the conference will provide a unique opportunity to share information, evidence and ideas about media teaching and learning at different age-levels. There will be an academic strand of papers and debate, and a ‘Continuing Professional Development’ strand of workshops, as well as major keynote speakers and discussion panels. An exhibition of resources, hardware and software from educational publishers, media industries and other service providers will provide information on new ways to support learning and teaching about the media.

The conference website contains details of the wide range of workshops and more are being posted every week. Workshops already confirmed include:

• How to teach about ‘talent TV’
• Making a radio programme using Audacity software
• Ways of using archive film to teach history
• Creating an Alternate Reality Game
• Learning the language of film through basic filmmaking
• “rating” schools’ success in providing film education 5
• Teaching about “web 2.0” at A level
• How to get classroom research published

conference website

PUBLICATIONS: Mapping Media Education Policies in the World: Visions, Programmes and Challenges

"Mapping Media Education Policies in the World" discusses a policy-based approach to media education, considering it from three inter-related dimensions: its national, regional, and global contexts; its value to citizens and civic participation; and the importance of the role of collaboration among governments, civil society, and the private sector in the process of elaborating education for media literacy. It is published by: the United Nations - Alliance of Civilizations; the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); European Commission; and Grupo Comunicar.

The foreword to this document provides this definition of media literacy: "'Media literacy' may be defined as the ability to access the media, to understand and evaluate critically their contents and to create communications in a variety of contexts."

more info

NEWS / WEBSITES: International Media Literacy Research Forum launches website

The International Media Literacy Research Forum (IMLRF) has launched its new website, providing an online hub for policymakers, practitioners, regulators and researchers to communicate, share ideas and promote their media literacy work.

As the promotion of media literacy moves up the policy agenda there is a growing need to understand and share learning at a global level. Media literacy researchers often receive an audience for their work only in their own country, and the Forum provides a platform to improve understanding of the emerging issues, promote innovative methodologies and facilitate dialogue between researchers, policy makers, practitioners and regulators worldwide.

For more information on the IMLRF, to join the Forum or use the site, visit the IMLRF website.

Source

NEWS / PUBLICATIONS: Ofcom Media Literacy e-bulletin 12/2009

Ofcom Media Literacy Bulletin Issue 28 - December 2009 issue

As we approach the end of the year, it gives us an opportunity to look back on a busy 12 months for everybody involved in media literacy. It has been an incredibly productive year, and even as 2009 draws to a close this activity shows no sign of abating.

In the last month alone we have seen the publication of Professor David Buckingham's report into the impact of the commercial world on children's wellbeing, as well as the launch of the UKCCIS child internet safety strategy.

You can read more about these significant developments in this issue of the bulletin, along with other news items and details of forthcoming campaigns and newly-published research. There's also our Nations round-up and dates for your diary, which we hope you find useful.

All that's left for us to do is to wish you the very best for the festive season and best wishes for what promises to be an equally busy 2010.

The Media Literacy Team at Ofcom.

full bulletin in PDF

NEWS: Ofcom Media Literacy e-Bulletin Nov 2009

Media Literacy e-Bulletin

This month’s Media Literacy e-Bulletin features news on the Get Safe Online Summit and NIACE’s conference on digital participation. It also includes information on anti-bullying resources and safety advice for online shoppers. The media literacy e-Bulletin can be found here: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/advice/media_literacy/medlitpub/bulletins/issue27/

PUBLICATIONS: Ofcom Media Literacy e-bulletin Oct 2009

Download the October issue

PUBLICATIONS: OFCOM Media Literacy Bulletin Issue 25

The latest Media Literacy Bulletin (Issue 25) from OFCOM is online at:

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/advice/media_literacy/medlitpub/bulletins/issue25/

Media Literacy

The European Commission (EC) said on August 20 2009 that Europeans young and old could miss out on the benefits of today's high-tech information society unless more is done to make them "media literate" enough to access, analyse and evaluate images, sounds and texts and use traditional and new media to communicate and create media content.

The Commission said that European Union countries and the media industry need to increase awareness of the many media messages people encounter, be they advertisements, movies or online content.

Information Society and Media Commissioner Viviane Reding said: "Interacting with the media now means a lot more than writing to a newspaper. Media, especially new digital technologies, involve more Europeans in a world of sharing, interaction and creation. Consumers today can create their own content and make new works by transforming third party content.

More at: http://www.sofiaecho.com/2009/08/20/772502_european-commission-urges-new-media-literacy