Introduction to Media and

Information Literacy
(MEIL 2122)
A.What is Communication?
B.Why do we communicate?
C.How do we communicate?
Communication
• “communicare” Latin word which means “to share” or “to divide out”
• The act or process of using words, sounds, signs, or behaviors to
express or exchange 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 (cont.)
• “One of those everyday activities that is intertwined with all human
life so completely that we sometimes overlook its pervasiveness,
importance, and complexity.” Littlejohn and Foss (2008)

• “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.” Bulan
and De Leon (2002)
Basic Types of Communication
• Non- Verbal Communication
• Signs, Symbols, Colors, Gestures, Body Language, Facial expressions

• Verbal Communication
• Oral, Written
How is communication affected by media
and information?
The widespread of mass media in the
current age should not be
underestimated.
An average person spends around 68.8%
of his waking hours with media.
- Ball State University
Media
• Plural form of “medium”
• Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries
• The main ways that large numbers of people receive information and
entertainment, that is television, radio, newspapers, and the Internet

• UNESCO Media and Information Literacy Curriculum for Teachers

• Refers to the combination of physical objects used to communicate or mass
communication through physical objects such as radio, television, computers,
or film, etc.
Media (cont.)
• UNESCO Media and Information Literacy Curriculum for Teachers
(cont.)
• Also refers to any physical object used to communicate media messages
• Source of credible information in which contents are provided through an
editorial process determined by journalistic values and therefore editorial
accountability can be attributed to an organization or a legal person

• The Penguin Dictionary of Media Studies (2007)

• Means of distributing texts and messages to a large mass of people
• Carries a certain degree of intellectual baggage or currency with it
Media (cont.)
• David Buckingham (2003), director of the London University Center
for the Study of Children, Youth and Media (Callison & Tilley, 2006)
• Something we use when we want to communicate with people indirectly,
rather than in person or by face-to-face contact
• Provide channels through which representations and images of the word can
be communicated

• Encyclopedic Dictionary of Semiotics, Media, and Communications

(2000)
• Any means, agency, or instrument of communication
• The physical means by which a sign or text is encoded and through which it is
transmitted
Media (cont.)
• Presidential Decree No. 1018 (1976)
• Refers to the print medium of communication, which includes all newspapers,
periodicals, magazines, journals, and publications and all advertising therein,
and billboards, neon signs and the like, and the broadcast medium of
communication, which includes radio and television broadcasting in all their
aspects and all other cinematographic or radio promotions and advertising
Media (cont.)
• All the definitions of media suggest that it is a pipe for transmitting
something called information.
• Communication tools
Categories of Media
Category Examples
Modality Text, Audio, Video, Graphics, Animation
Format Digital or Analog
Way of Transmitting Electromagnetic or radio waves, light waves
Mass Media Form TV, radio, Print, Internet, Telephone, or
Mobile
Things we usually need media for…
According to Vivian (2009)
1. Personal Dependence
2. Information
3. Entertainment
4. Persuasion
Things we usually need media for…
According to Vivian (2009)
1. Personal Dependence
2. Information
3. Entertainment
4. Persuasion
Information
• Data, knowledge derived from study, experience, or instruction,
signals or symbols
• Knowledge of specific events or situations that has been gathered or
received by communication, intelligence, or news reports
Literacy
• Equivalent to a skill
• Defined by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) as the “ability to identify, understand,
interpret, create, communicate, and compute, using printed and
written materials associated with varying contexts”
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 things are and
how they work. Being literate also means
empowering you to be able to affect change
to yourself and to others.
Media Literacy
• UNESCO Media and Information Literacy Curriculum for Teachers
• This involves understanding and using mass media in either an assertive or
nonassertive way, including an informed and critical understanding of media,
what techniques they employ and their effects.
• The ability to read, analyze, evaluate 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, analyze, evaluate,
and produce communication in a variety of forms.
Media Literacy (cont.)
• Possession of knowledge to be competent in assessing messages
carried by mass media
• A movement, which is designed to help to understand, to produce,
and negotiate meanings in a culture of images, words and sounds
(Aufderheide, 1992)
• The ability to access the media and media contents and to create
communications in a variety of contexts. (The European Commission,
2007)
• Focal point is mass media
• Shapes opinions, beliefs and decisions
Media Literacy (cont.)
• Qualities of Media
• Constructed and construct reality
• Commercial implications;
• Ideological and political
• Form and content are related in each medium, each which has a unique
aesthetic, codes, and convention;
• Receivers negotiate meaning in media
Factors to consider in media literacy
1. Factual Foundation
2. Media Dynamics
3. Media Effects
4. Media Issues
Information Literacy
• UNESCO Media and Information Literacy Curriculum for Teachers
• Refers to the ability to recognize when information is needed and to locate,
evaluate, effectively use, and communicate information in its various formats.
• Able to recognize what information, out of a huge pool, is necessary
• It enables you to identify, locate, evaluate, and use information to
solve a particular problem. (ALA, 1989)
• Focuses basically on information in print (books, journals,
newspapers, and including all forms of media and records such as
films, web pages, videos and all sorts of electronic information as well
as oral information
Information Literacy (cont.)
• Concerned with more plain issues than media literacy
• Focuses on “objectivity and rational information and to a great extent
on the research value of finding the ‘truth’ in documents” (Lau,2013)
• Concerned with the impact on education, science, economy and
health sectors.
• Ability to recognize when information is needed to locate, evaluate,
effectively use and communicate information in its various formats
Technology (Digital)Literacy
• University of Illinois
• This is the ability to use digital technology, communication tools or network 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 sources when it is presented via computers and
to a person’s ability to perform tasks effectively in a digital environment
• Digital Literacy includes the ability to read and interpret media, to produce
data and images through digital manipulation, and to evaluate and apply new
knowledge gained from digital environments
Technology (Digital)Literacy (cont.)
• The ability to ongoingly adapt to, understand, evaluate, and make use
of the continually emerging innovations in information technology so
as not to be prisoner of prior tools and resources and to make
intelligent decisions about the adoption of new ones
Distinct technologies used nowadays
1. Printing Technology – (1440s) books, magazines, and newspapers
2. Chemical Technology – Photography and films
3. Electronic Technology – sound recording, radio and television