Module 1:

Intro to Media & Information Literacy

At the end of this module, I can:

1. Describe communication and the concepts related to it.
2. Describe how communication is affected by media and
information.
3. Identify the similarities and differences of media literacy,
information literacy, and technology literacy.
4. Editorialize the value of being a media and information
literate individual.
5. Relate critical thinking with media and information
literacy in the production, consumption and transfer of
-Claude Shannon & Warren Weaver revised
media, and information products by the society.
6. Identify the characteristics of responsible users and model which incorporates the concept of noise
competent producers of media and information. that refers to anything that interferes with the
7. Share media habits, lifestyles, and preferences to other message.
people.

Ask yourself what the ff. words mean to you:

 Communication
 Media
 Information -Bruce Westley and Malcolm Maclean Jr. instead
 Technology of having a sender merely relaying message,
 Literacy you have a communicator who relays his or her
account of a selection of events or views/voices
Defining Communication in society.

Littlejohn and Foss (2008)

“one of those everyday activities that is intertwined
with all of human life so completely that we sometimes
overlook its pervasiveness, importance, and complexity”

Communication
-is from the Latin term commứnicaré—“to share” or “to
divide out”.
-another Latin word communis—“working together”.

Bulan and de Leon (2002) -George Gerbner where “someone perceives an

“without speech or oral communication, societies could
not attain levels of civilization; communities could not
organize into living and working groups, mark and
ritualize practices and traditions, debate and decide
difficult issues, and transform society for its good.”
Explaining the Communication
Process through Models
Here are some models discussed in the book of Denis
McQuail (2005) in his book McQuail’s Mass
Communication Theory:
1. Transmission Models.
-Horold Laswell’s representation of
communication as an attempt to answer the
question “Who says what to whom, through
what medium, and with what effect?”
event and reacts in a situation through some
means to make available materials in some
form and context conveying content of some
consequence.”
2. Ritual or expressive model.
- In this model, communication happens due to the
need to share understanding and emotions. Ex. When
you use certain symbolism or euphemism to indirectly
refer to certain things, but you are sure that your
audience still understands what you are trying to say.
3. Publicity model.
- This model explains that communication involves
audiences as “spectators rather than participants or
information receivers (McQuail, 2005)”.
- Attention is important. It measures of how successful
the communication has transpired.
4. Reception model.
- Communication as an open process, which means
that messages sent and received are open to various
interpretations based on context and culture of the

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 receiver. In other words, there might be various
meanings to a single statement that is communicated.
- Wilbur Schramm’s Model (Depiction of Cyclical
Communication) – the sender and receiver has
alternating roles in the loop.
A communicator who produces and sends the
message is called an “encoder” and the one
who receives and interprets is the “decoder”.
- David Berlo’s Model – accounted for factors
that affect how communicators are influenced
when they send and receive a message.
These factors include the following:
 Communication skills
 Knowledge
 Attitude
 Sociocultural System
- The reception models show that it is not just about
saying the message but also considering how the
message may be received because of factors that may
influence reception.
Models help you understand how things
are because of how they illustrate
relationships of components.
Media and Information: The
Means and the Ends in
Communication
Media and information are two distinct elements that
are intrinsically interconnected with the concept of
communication.
Information is one of the reasons why communication is
done, and this information can be shared through
media.
To inform is one of the functions of communication and
made possible through media.
A Closer Look at Media and Information
Diff. definitions of media:
-the main ways that large numbers of
people receive information and
entertainment, that is television, radio,
newspapers, and the Internet.
(Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries)
M
-refers to the print medium of E
communication, which includes all
newspapers, periodicals, magazines,
journals, and publications and all
D
advertising therein, and billboards,
neon signs and the like, and the
broadcast medium of communication,
I
which includes radio and television
broadcasting in all their aspects and all A
other cinematogrphic or radio
promotions and advertising.
(Presidential Decree No.1018 (1976))
Categories of Media
Category Examples
Text, audio, video, graphics,
Modality
animation
Format Digital or analog
Electromagnetic or radio waves,
Way of transmitting
light waves
TV, radio, print, Internet,
Mass media form
telephone, or mobile
-Media modality refers to the nature of message,
whether it is relayed using text, audio video, graphics,
animation, or a combination of any of these things.
-Media format is the way the data is arranged.
-The data or message may be transmitted through radio
waves (for audio) and light waves for other modalities.
-The mass media form refers to the particular media
technology to which the message is transmitted.
All the definitions of media suggest that it is conduit for
transmitting something called information.
The UNESCO Media and Information Literacy
Curriculum for Teachers regard information – as a
“broad term that can cover data knowledge derived
from study, experience, or instruction, signals or
symbols.”
When you use media, information is referred to as the
“knowledge of specific events or situations that has
been gathered or received by communication,
intelligence, or news reports.”
The world you live in is fast paced, thus,
change is inevitable. Communication,
media, and information are ubiquitous
and related, and your ability to discern
them increases your likelihood to succeed
in your personal and professional lives.
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Media, Information, and
Technology Literacy:
Laying the Groundwork
Literacy = skill
As the “ability to identify, understand, interpret, create,
communicate, and compute, using printed and written
materials associated with varying context.” – UNESCO
When you are literate, you are expected to
be intellectually critical in interpreting the
things that you see and experience around
you. You are able to decode and have a
deeper understanding of how they work.
Being literate also means empowering you to
be able to affect change to yourself and to
others.
Definition of Media Literacy, Information Literacy, and
Technology Literacy
 This involves understanding and using
mass media in either an assertive or
non-assertive way, including an
informed and critical understanding of
media, what techniques they employ
and their effects.
Media  The ability to read, analyse, evaluate
Literacy and produce communication in a
variety of media forms, e.g. television,
print, radio, computers, etc.
 Another understanding of the term is
the ability to decode, analyse, evaluate,
and produce communication in a
variety of forms.
 Refers to the ability to recognize when
information is needed and to locate,
Information
evaluate, effectively use, and
Literacy
communicate information in its various
formats.
 This is the ability to use digital
technology, communication tools or
networks to locate, evaluate, use, and
create information.
 It also refers to the ability to
understand and use information in
multiple formats from a wide range of
Technology sources when it is presented via
(Digital) computers and to a person’s ability to
Literacy perform tasks effectively in a digital
environment.
 Digital literacy includes the ability to
read and interpret media, to reproduce
data and images through digital
manipulation, and to evaluate and
apply new knowledge gained from
digital environments.
The Danger of Desensitization
There is a need to be media and information
literate to counteract “the physiological and
psychological tendency (automaticity) towards the
many information that are encountered every now and
then.”
Automaticity, or automatic response, is “a state where
our minds operate without any conscious effort from
us.” – Desensitization takes place because they already
seem so natural.
“The programmed and predictable response
(normalization) toward the information that limits your
opportunity to recognize and maximize the gains of that
message” is something that media and information
literacy can address.
Normalization is when “the mass media continually
reinforce certain behavioral patterns of exposure until
they become automatic habits.”
If you are a media and information literate individual if
you are able to do the following:
 Pose worthwhile questions
 Evaluate the adequacy of an argument
 Recognize facts, inferences, and opinion and
use each appropriately
 Deal with quandaries and ill-formed problems
that have no fixed or unique solutions
 Give and receive criticism constructively
 Agree or disagree in degrees measured against
the merits of the issue and audience
 Extend a line of thought beyond the range of
first impressions
 Articulate a complex position without adding to
its complexity
Media and information literacy is considered a
lifelong skill and practice, thus, an individual needs
to be adept in to make informed decisions.
Becoming literate is your fundamental human
right. You are able to express yourself in a way
that may improve your life and the lives of those
around you.
What It Takes to Be Media and
Information Literate
Two factors that can influence you to become a media
and information literate individual:
1) Clarifying your goals and motivations for
seeking information—the greater your need,
the more effort you exert to become selective
of the information at your disposal.
2) Acquiring more skills in discerning, appreciating,
and filtering information—involves being media
savvy and better acquainted with information
sources.
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Typology of Media Literacy
STAGE CHARACTERISTICS
 Learning that there are human
beings and other physical things
apart from one’s self; these things
look different and serve different
functions
Acquiring
 Learning the meaning of facial
Fundamentals
expressions and natural sounds
 Recognizing shapes, form, size, color,
movement, and spatial relations
 Recognizing rudimentary concept of
time-regular patterns
 Recognizing speech sounds and
attach meaning to them
 Being able to reproduce speech
sounds
Language  Orienting to visual and audio media
Acquisition  Making emotional and behaviour
responses to music and sounds
 Recognizing certain characters in
visual media and follow their
movement
 Developing understanding of
differences between:
- Fiction vs. nonfiction
- Ads vs. entertainment
Narrative
- Real vs. make-believe
Acquisition
 Understanding how to connect plot
elements
- By time sequencing
- By motive-action-consequence
 Discounting claims made in ads
 Sharpening differences between
likes and dislikes for shows,
Developing
characters, and actions
Skepticism
 Making fun of certain characters
even though those characters are
not presented as foils in their shows
 Strongly motivated to seek out
information on certain topics
 Developing a detailed set of
information on particular topics
Intensive
(sports, politics, etc.)
Development
 Has high awareness of utility of
information and quick facility in
processing information judged to be
useful
 Seeking out different forms of
content and narratives
Experiential
 Focusing on searching for surprises
Exploring
and new emotional, moral, and
aesthetic reactions
 Accepting message on their own
terms, then evaluating them within
that sphere
 Developing very broad and detailed
Critical
understanding of the historical,
Appreciation
economic, political, and artistic,
contexts of message systems
 Ability to make subtle comparisons
and contrasts among many different
message elements simultaneously
 Ability to construct a summary
judgment about the overall strengths
and weaknesses of a message
 Taking a moral stand that certain
messages are more constructive for
society than others; this is a
multidimensional perspective based
on thorough analyses of the media
Social landscape
Responsibility  Recognizing that one’s own
individual decisions affect society—
no matter how minutely
 Recognizing that there some actions
an individual can take to make a
constructive impact on society
Critical Thinking: An Important
Component of MIL
Critical thinking –ability to evaluate the kind of
information you access and share.
Media and information literate
individuals are also critical thinkers
because of the need to be more discerning
of the necessary information as well as its
sources.
Reflect Upon
1. Which among those models do you think
describes your communication habits or
patterns the most? Why do you say so? Share to
the class a most recent example that illustrates
your point.
2. What specific instances in your life do you find being
media and information literate most relevant and
important? Why do you say so?
3. On what stage in the typology of media literacy do
you think you are at the moment? Why?
4. What questions do you think you need to ask
yourself about any media message?
5. How is being media and information literate helpful
in your future life?
6. Have you experiences automaticity and
normalization? Share your experience(s) to the class.
7. Based on your experience, what characterizes a
responsible user and competent producer of media
and information?
8. Think about your routine when you get home from
school. What is the very first thing you do? Is this
activity media-related or media-dependent? Tell the
class about your media habits, lifestyles, and
preferences.
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