MODULE 1

INTRODUCTION TO MEDIA AND INFORMATION LITERACY

The world that you know of today is slowly getting smaller and smaller as newer
media and communication technologies come into being. Communication becomes sophisticated
and complex as different media forms hybridize and converge.
Communication is from the Latin term communicare, which means “to share” or “to divide
out.” It may also be thought to originate from another Latin word communis, which roughly means
“working together.” With communicating, we make use of different channels/ medium so as to convey
and/or exchange information

Communication is broadly defined as the imparting and exchanging of information or new

Media refers to various channels of communication between a person or persons and their
intended audience. Television, radio, newspapers and the internet are different types of Media.
One of the oldest forms of media is print.

MEDIA- It refers to various channels of communication between a person or persons and their
intended audience. The physical objects used to communicate with or the mass communication
through physical objects such as radio, television, computers, film, etc. It also refers to any
physical object used to communicate messages

In order to communicate, we use different mediums of communication to carry out the message
we want to convey. There are various outlets that we can use in order to deliver our message.
Few of the examples are listed below

INFORMATION -A broad term that covers processed data, knowledge derived from study,
experience, instruction, signals or symbols
Literacy- The ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate and compute, using
printed and written materials associated with varying contexts.

Media refers to various channels of communication between a person or persons and

their intended audience. Television, radio, newspapers and the internet are different types of
Media.
What is Media Literacy?

 William James Potter (2004), a Canadian communication educator, defines Media

Literacy as a set of perspectives that people use actively to expose themselves to mass
media and interpret the meaning of the messages they encounter. Differences of
perspectives might affect how people look at a particular message. These perspectives,
according to Potter, are built from knowledge structures) or sets of organized information
in your memory). To build memory your knowledge structures, you need tools (skills),
raw materials (information from the media and from the real world), and willingness
(personal focus) to gain knowledge.
 New Mexico-based Literacy project (MLP) defines Media Literacy as “ability to access,
analyze, evaluate, and create media”. From this, it can be concluded that the aim of media
literacy is to build active, rather than passive, consumers of media.

Information Literacy was defined as “the use of all the pedagogical and educational tools
that are appropriate to ensure that every person navigating on the digital networks can be
informed and can inform about himself or herself. It implies, on the other hand, to be able
to find data, sort them out and evaluate them and, to produce data and publish them.

Technology Literacy as technology advances, people are provided with more tools that
they can use to find and create information. Since the digital age is characterized by the
way we process information and communication through computer technology.

Computer Literacy covers “the set of skills, attitudes and knowledge necessary to
understand and operate the basic functions of information and communications
technologies, including devices and tools such as personal computers, laptops, cellphones,
ipods and so forth.”

HABIT, LIFESTYLE AND PREFERENCES

Part of integrating values to your learning towards becoming a literate in media

and information is an inventory of your media habit, lifestyle and preferences. This means
that you will assess your personal schedule and list down your common online activities
and quantify it as to the number of hours you have spent engaged for the specific activity.
The table below shows an example of a common response.

Table 5. Example of a Weekly Inventory of Media Habit, Lifestyle and Preferences

 Lesson 2: MEDIA THEN AND NOW: THE EVOLUTION OF
TRADITIONAL TO NEW MEDIA

BRIEF HISTORY OF MEDIA

The term ‘media’ came into use only in the 1920s to denote the structures of
such communication, media history takes account of the period at least from the
advent of the handpress in the fifteenth century, and some interpretations include the
scriptoria, oral traditions, and wall paintings of medieval times, delving occasionally
into ancient and prehistory as well. The numerous approaches to media history share
an interest in understanding the impact such structures have had on societies around
the globe, the particular forms they have taken, and the dynamics of historical
change.

The Evolution of Media

 Pre-Industrial Age (Before 1700s) During pre-industrial age, about 4.5

million years ago, the early hominids discovered fire, developed paper
from plants, and built weapons. The prehistoric inhabitants used stone
tools and metals as part of their daily activities like hunting and
gathering. They also used crude stone tools to create things considered
rock art. These prehistoric arts such as petroglyphs and pictographs
were considered the earliest forms of traditional media.

 Industrial Age (1700s - 1930s) The industrial age occurs during the
industrial revolution in Great Britain. This period brought in economic
and societal changes, such as the substitution of handy tools with
machines like the power loom and the steam engine. The
transformation of the manufacturing industry, and commercial
enterprise for mass production of various products occurred. Also, long-
 distance communication became possible via telegraph, a system used
for transmitting messages.

 Electronic Age (1930s - 1980s) The electronic age started when people
utilized the power of electricity that made electronic devices like
transistor radio and television work. The creation of the transistor
piloted the rise of the electronic age. The power of transistors was used
in radio, electronic circuits, and early computers. In this period, people
made use of air access to communication.

 Information Age (1980s - 2000s) The information age is a period also

known as the digital age. This period signified the use of the worldwide
web through an internet connection. Communication became faster and
easier with the use of social networks or social media platforms such as
Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, Twitter, among others. The rapid
technological advancement and innovation with the use of
microelectronics lead to the development of laptops, netbooks, mobile
phones, and wearable technology.

ACCORDING TO MCLUHAN MANTRA ABOUT THE EVOLUTION OF MEDIA

Marshall McLuhan, who is famous for the phrase “the medium is the message”
and is the proponent of the media theory on technological determinism, believed that
society is driven by changes in media and communication technology. McLuhan (2007)
explained that society adapts to advances in technology, thus, changing cultural,
political, and even historical aspects of that society. Take for instance the case of a
mobile phone. To explain how this set-up works, McLuhan subdivided the history into
four epochs or ages.

1. Tribal Age
2. Age of Literacy
3. Print Age
4. Electronic Age

Tribal Age the first period was characterized by the prevalence of oral communication.
Since technology had yet to develop, prehistoric people relied on face-to-face
interactions, primarily through their auditory senses, as a method of communication.
The primary medium of communication was speech, an oral culture which McLuhan
describes as being structured by a “dominant auditory sense of life.” The Tribal Age is
characterized as an oral society dependent on speech and word of mouth, who lives in
a world of “acoustic space,” as compared to the rational or pictorial space of the
literate man.
  Pre-Industrial Age (Before 1700s) During pre-industrial age, about 4.5 million
years ago, the early hominids discovered fire, developed paper from plants,
and built weapons The prehistoric inhabitants used stone tools and metals as
part of their daily activities like hunting and gathering. They also used crude
stone tools to create things considered rock art. These prehistoric arts such as
petroglyphs and pictographs were considered the earliest forms of traditional
media

Literacy Age- McLuhan describes the introduction of phonetics as a bombshell,

“installing sight at the head of the hierarchy of senses.” where the sense of sight was
dominant. If the tribal age was highly acoustic, the literate age was highly visual. This
is because of the invention of the alphabet, allowing humans to learn to read. This
development allowed people to communicate and share information privately. From a
dominant auditory sense, the tribal people learned to write and express themselves
through hieroglyphs, such as in the early writing forms of the Egyptian, Babylonian,
Mayan, and Chinese cultures, later on through the alphabets. They were able to share
information without the need to stay within their groups. They also had freedom to
leave the tribe and be exposed to other cultures, groups, and people.

Print Age- The third period, as McLuhan detailed, is the Print Age, which was
highlighted by the invention of the Gutenberg press or movable type in the 15 th

century. In the Western world, although the alphabet made writing possible, it took
time before the print became a prominent form in communication, primarily due to
the incapacity to have mass reproduction of the written works. Books and papers were
reproduced manually, making these forms of media restricted to the ruling class or
the elite members of the society. However, when Johannes Gutenberg invented the
printing press, books were reproduced by thousands. Which means mass- producing
written texts. Having more copies of these texts gave humans the liberty to read them
at their own pace and to share them to others. With a growing number of produced
and reproduced reading materials came the inevitable – the building of libraries and
other repositories.

Electronic Age- a period characterized by the dominance of the electric media, such as
telegraph, radio, film, telephone, computer, and television. The invention of telegraph
in 1830’s started an electronic revolution that diminished the role of the print media.
McLuhan argued that this electronic age “retribalized” people by restoring their
sensory balance. During McLuhan’s time, television was the newest form of media,
and he believed that it is “the most significant of the electric media” because it is
rampant, and the message a television brings delved into the central nervous system
of its viewer. Contrary to what many people believed

McLuhan said that television affects a person’s sense of touch deeper than his/her sight,
since the medium causes the viewers to look from within themselves to better understand
its message.
MILESTONE IN MEDIA EVOLUTION

1. Information Age- When the world entered into a new era of media experience
in the 21 century. Also known as the digital or new media age, this is a time
st

in human history where everything relied heavily on the use of computers to

run major industries. Information was utilized based on personalized needs
and motivations. Global communication and networking were enhanced.

2. Infrastructure Age- Digital technology and Internet become pervasive, thus,

pushing the world. Traditional Media- Are those forms in the earlier periods of
McLuhan’s media map. They are traditional because of the specific characteristics
that they have and functionalities that they offer. According to McQuail (2005),

3. Traditional media is one-directional. The media experience is limited and the

sense receptors used are very specific (i.e., print media requires sense of sight,
radio requires sense of hearing, and television and film requires both).

What is New about New Media?

1. Interpersonal communication media

Example would be the telephone, mobile phone, and e-mail where “content is
private and perishable and relationship established and reinforced may be more
important than the information conveyed”

2. Interactive play media

Video and computer-based games, plus virtual reality devices compose this
category.

3. Information search media

The Internet and World Wide Web become repositories or sources of vast
collection of information that can be accessed real-time despite geographical location.
Broadcast teletext and radio data services are also examples. Information retrieval is
no longer limited to personal computers because third functionality has been extended
to smart phones and tablets. Other means of information storage and retrieval include
the personal video recorder, CD-ROM, compact disc, and DVD.

4. Collective participatory media

This refers to the use of the Internet for “sharing and exchanging
information, ideas, and experiences and developing active (computer-mediated)
personal relationships (McQuail, 2010).”
Key characteristics of new media, according to McQuail, include interactivity, social
presence (or sociability), media richness, autonomy, playfulness, privacy, and
personalization. New media use expanded opportunities for self-expression especially
among the youth through Web logs, online forums, Web discussion board, social
media, and messaging applications.
The new media generation considers itself globally networked made possible by the
Internet. But as much as there is greater virtual participation by this generation, the
members of this group have grown to be more isolated and extremely expressive of
their thoughts. Observe your social media account for such manifestations.

Functions of Communication and Media

 Inform citizens of what is happening around them (also called monitoring function);
 Educate the audience as to the meaning and significance of the “facts”,

 Provide a platform for public political discourse, facilitating the formation of

“public opinion” and feeding that opinion back to the public from whence it
came, [including] the provision of space for the expression of dissent;
 Give publicity to governmental and political institutions (known as the
“watchdog” role of journalism); and
 Serve as a channel for the advocacy of political viewpoints

Lesson 3: INFORMATION LITERACY

Information Literacy is a set of abilities that enables an individual to recognize when

information is needed; and locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed
information. Alexandria Declaration adopted by the High Level Colloquium on
Information Literacy and lifelong learning in November 2005 defines Information
Literacy as means to “empower people in all walks of life to seek, evaluate, use and
create information effectively to achieve their personal, social, occupational and
educational goals.” (Horton, 2007).

Information literate individual can do the following:

 Determine the extent of information needed

 Access the needed information efficiently and effectively
 Evaluate information and its sources critically
 Incorporate selected information into his/her knowledge base
 Use information to accomplish a specific purpose
 Understand the economic, legal and social issues surrounding access and use of
information
 Access information ethically and legally

INFORMATION vs. DATA vs. KNOWLEDGE

Information defines as
knowledge that a person’s gets about
someone or something. It can be
intelligence, news, data, or facts. It is a
broad term derived from study,
experiences, or instruction. Data refer to
unstructured facts and figures that create
the least impact on the receiver. Data
become information when they are
contextualized, categorized, calculated,
and condensed. On the other hand,
Knowledge refers to the human
understanding of a subject matter
derived from experience, learning and
thinking. For example, the text within
this book are data; your consumption of
text as the information; and the storage
of this information within your memory
as knowledge. Information therefore,
is data organized with relevance and
purpose, made meaningful by a person.
Words, news, and numbers are data that
become information when people
associate something to it makes it useful
to them.

Information Ethics- The branch of ethics that focuses on the relationship between the
creation, organization, dissemination and use of information and the ethical standards
and moral codes governing human conduct in the society.

TYPOLOGY OF INFORMATION (www.lib.edu)

1. Factual vs. Analytical
 Factual Information- is based on evidences and findings provided by reliable
sources. These sources include texts such as books, encyclopedias, periodicals,
or technical reports by agencies and institution.
 Analytical Information- the analysis or interpretation of facts by individuals
usually an expert on the subject.
Examples: feature article, commentaries or reviews

2. Subjective vs. Objective

 Subjective Information- when you consult an expert opinion such as those
found in the editorial section of a newspaper or Web log entries of prolific
writers. It is important to evaluate the validity of claims in subjective
information because a valid argument is more often than not a successful
argument.
 Objective Information- the information is unbiased and does not lead you to
judge the information in a certain way.
Examples: scientific papers, news reports

3. Current vs. Historical

  Current- up-to-date or recent information. It is not necessarily followed that
the more current the information, the more reliable and useful it is.
 Historical- it provides insights and comparison of events.

The requirement for the use of current or historical information depends on the
discipline that makes use of them.

4. Scholarly (Academic/ Professional/Technical) vs. Popular

 Scholarly Information- comes from academic sources. It is the product of the
author’s expertise and study on the subject matter.
 Popular Information- appeals to general interest and is usually found in
general circulation materials such as magazines, coffee table books or offline
feature articles.

Scholarly Resources Popular Resources

Written or reviewed by  Written by publication’s staff

experts in the discipline writers
Authors

Written for researchers or  Written for general public or lay

practitioners in particular person
Audience
discipline
Professional society or
Publisher  Commercial publisher
organization or university
 Review of an event or research
In- depth analysis of topic or
project, highlighting key
report of original research
Content points
Use technical language which
 Understandable by a lay person
may not be understood by a
Language lay person
 Often use slick paper and more
color
Appearanc Illustrations includes graphs  Many advertisements and graphics
e and tables  Articles are usually very short
Articles are usually long

Almost always includes a  Rarely include a list of sources

References
list of sources consulted consulted

5. Stable vs. Unstable

Information may be stable or unstable. Stability becomes a consideration especially
when the information you have is published digitally over the internet. It is often
difficult to know how long a certain website or page will last.

ETHICAL USE OF INFORMATION

Below are the concepts that one must be familiar with in practicing ethical use of
information.

1. Privacy was defined as the “state of being alone or being away from public
attention.” In this age where information is easily accessible through internet,
the concept of privacy is often questioned. Almost any information is within
public reach. Even information tagged as private in a digital medium, such as
email, a social networking personal message, or even a file saved in a hard
disk, can still be accessed by a technology expert who has the ability to get
through digital securities. This is why different life-running scandals happen,
such as sex videos and wiretapped phone conversations.
2. Accuracy as defined in Merriam Webster dictionary it was the degree of
conformity of a measure to a standard or a true value. Accuracy relates to the
correctness of the information source to the details of the information, dates,
places, persons involved and other details are essential data in testing the
accuracy of an information source.
3. Plagiarism according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, to plagiarize is to “use
the words or ideas of another person as if they were your own words or ideas.”
It can be regarded as an act of fraud that involves stealing someone else’s
work.