UNITED NATIONSALLIANCE OF CIVILIZATIONS

WWW.UNAOC.ORG

Media & Information Literacy “Evaluating information sources requires skills and critical thinking.

Separating fact from opinion, evaluating text and image are teachable skills.

Media literacy instruction promotes media awareness and development of Internet literacy to combat misperceptions, prejudices and hate speech”

Report of the UNAOC High-level Group (2006)

UNAOC Media Literacy initiatives

I. An on-line clearinghouse

II. Supporting grass roots projects

III. Publications / Research

IV. UNESCO-UNAOC Chair

V. Youth media – PLURAL+

VI. Promoting creative apps/video games

UNITED NATIONS ALLIANCE OF CIVILIZATIONS

Media and Information Literacy www.mil.unaoc.org

“ if a man were permitted to make all the ballads, he need not care who should make the laws of a nation.“

Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun (1653 -1716)

value / power

“Value is an expression of power, three sources of power:

violence money trust

The most important for the sovereignty is the power over the thoughts that give rise to trust”

Manuel Castells, “Communication Power” (2009)

trust / opinon

Perception

Beliefs

Policy Opinion

Reinforcesstereotypes

Media

UNITED NATIONS ALLIANCE OF CIVILIZATIONS

Media and Information Literacy www.aocmedialiteracy.org

MEDIA AND INFORMATION

LITERACY:Creative, ethical, critical

thinking skills to break the vicious circle

Perception

Beliefs

Policy Opinion

ReinforcesStereotypes

Media

access/understanding

“Modern man believes that he has access to the meaning of the

events by the sole fact of having access to information (…) the tendency to believe that a quantitative increase of information will produce a qualitative mutation in the desire for knowledge, hides a

real evolution, that results in widening the dissimilarities between

those who are naturally inclined, or because their family environment, towards a desire for knowledge, and those who need an attentive educational system that engages and supports in them the desire

for knowledge.”

Philippe Breton, The Utopia of Communication (1992)

Information/Knowledge

Information

without context,

lacking critical analysis,

does not necessarily produces

knowledge.

Information1000110101010000010100010100010100010000101000101010100000000001111110100100001100001000100111110101011000000110001101010100000101000101000101000100001010001010101001000000011111101001000011000010001001111101010110000001111111000001011111100000101000110101010000010100010100010100010000101000101010100100000001111110100100001100001000100111110101011000000111111100000101000110101010000010100010100010100010000101000101010100100000001111110100100001100001000100111110101011000000111111100000101000110101010000010100010100010100010000101000101010100100000001111110100100001100001000100111110101011000000111111100000101000110101010000010100010100010100010000101000101010100000000010010011111101001000011000010001001111101010110000001100011010101000001010001010001010001000010100010101010010000000111111010010000110000100010011111010101100000011111110000010111111000001010001101010100000101000101000101000100001010001010101001000000011111101001000011000010001001111101010110000001111111000001010001101010100000101000101000101000100001010001010101001000000011111101001000011000010001001111101010110000001111111000001010001101010100000101000101000101000100001010001010101001000000011111101001000011000010001001111101010110000001111111000001011100

Knowledge100011010101000001010001010001010001000010100010101010000000000111111010010000110000100010011111010101100000011000110101010000010100010100010100010000101000101010100100000001111110100100001100001000100111110101011000000111111100000101111110000010100011010101000001010001010001010001000010100010101010010000000111111010010000110000100010011111010101100000011111110000010100011010101000001010001010001010001000010100010101010010000000111111010010000110000100010011111010101100000011111110000010100011010101000001010001010001010001000010100010101010010000000111111010010000110000100010011111010101100000011111110000010100011010101000001010001010001010001000010100010101010000000001001001111110100100001100001000100111110101011000000110001101010100000101000101000101000100001010001010101001000000011111101001000011000010001001111101010110000001111111000001011111100000101000110101010000010100010100010100010000101000101010100100000001111110100100001100001000100111110101011000000111111100000101000110101010000010100010100010100010000101000101010100100000001111110100100001100001000100111110101011000000111111100000101000110101010000010100010100010100010000101000101010100100000001111110100100001100001000100111110101011000000111111100000101110011101001000011000010001001111101010110000001111111000001011100

1858 TRANSATLANTIC TELEGRAPH

1871

2012

computer

The computer merely takes a finite amount of data and performs a finite number of operations upon them. Isaac Asimov

Intuition

inside/outside

A contemporary societal phenomenon is thedisappearance of the inner, reflective-in action, world

of the individual in favor of the outside projection, the messages we send to others.

From: “I think, therefore I am” (René Descartes)To: “I communicate, therefore I am” (Social Media)

THE MEDIUM

IS THE MESSAGE

UNESCO World Report:Investing in Cultural Diversity and

Intercultural Dialogue (2009)

“Media literacy can foster critical

capacities and promote multiple perspectives, thus protectingvulnerable cultures from what some experts have called the ‘colonization of minds’, such as when modes of consumption and ways of living from the ‘centre’ are uncritically

adopted by communities or cultures in the ‘periphery’”

Media and Information Literacy Curriculum for Teachers

Teachers are the gateway to literate societies. This model Media and Information Literacy (MIL) Curriculum for Teachers is intend as a tool that will provide educators of all background with the main competencies (knowledge, skills, and attitude) on MIL. It focuses on pedagogical approaches necessary to enable teacher to integrate MIL in their classrooms. By focusing on teachers, UNESCO and UNAOC hope to capitalize on the potential multiplier effect.

Media and Information Literacy Clearinghouse

• Over 250,000 unique visits since 2008.

• Multi-language resource.

The UNAOC-UNESCO MIL

clearinghouse is a Web 2.0

multilingual, user-generated, global

repository of information aiming at

facilitating fast access to available

MIL resources and relevant

information.

Visit: mil.unaoc.org

Direct support to:

II. Supporting grass roots projects

• A joint project of Cairo University and Barcelona Autonomous University for the development of MLE content in Arabic.

• The development of a Global Media Literacy Curriculum, in partnership with over 20 universities from around the world

Direct support to: Media Literacy for Global Understanding. A joint project of Temple University, Kuwait University and the Roberts Elementary School, Philadelphia.

Universal Forum of CulturesValparaiso, Chile.Television & Intercultural Dialogue

IIIa. Media Literacy Publication

A publication produced in collaboration with UNESCO, the European Union and Grupo Comunicar.

Eighteen Media Literacy experts from around the world provide in-depth analysis on specific media education projects and initiatives.

The book is being widely distributed and has become a source of information to experts, educators, researchers and policy makers across the planet.

IIIb. Media & Information Literacy Research Study

How did the world’s news media cover the “Ground Zero Mosque” controversy?Today, media provide up-to-date news essentially while events are occurring.  But although many people watch, listen or read breaking news, very few have the knowledge or take the time to assess how events are framed.  That means that sensationalized coverage of breaking events can have a disproportionate impact on how audiences understand key stories in the news.

IV. Media & Information Literacy UNESCO Global Chair

UNESCO UNITWIN UNAOC

on Media and Information Literacy and Intercultural Dialogue

The initial network of 8 universities include:• Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain• Universidade de Sao Paulo, Brazil• Temple University, Philadelphia, USA• Tsinghua University, Beijing, China• Cairo University, Egypt• West Indies University, Kingston, Jamaica• Queensland University, Australia• Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, Morocco

This UNITWIN-Chair will focus in developing research, curricula and in-the-field programs where MIL is used as a platform for intercultural dialogue and social cohesion, with local and global scope. link

PLURAL + Youth Video Festival

PLURAL+ a Youth Video Festival on migration, diversity and social inclusion.

Recognizing youth as powerful agents of social change in a world often characterized by intolerance, and cultural and religious divisions, PLURAL+ is aimed at involving youth in addressing the key issues in their community related to migrant integration, inclusiveness, identity, diversity, human rights and social cohesiveness.

The UNAOC is developing PLURAL + in partnership with the International Organization for Migration in collaboration with many international partners.

www.pluralplus.unaoc.org

The development of an app on INTERCULTURAL DIALOGUE

Organized in collaboration with MIT, Learning Games Network

and the support of, among others,

Doha Center for Media Freedom,

GlobalVoices online,

Fondazione Mondo Digitale

and ict for Peace Foundation

How can you contribute? How can you benefit?

We would like to encourage you to contact us regarding Media and Information Literacy, Journalism Education

and Youth Media initiatives from your country and region.

The UNAOC aims at further expanding these fields by energizing, supporting, as well as connecting existing initiatives and creating

truly global and multicultural networks and communities of knowledge.

Jordi Torrent / jordit@unops.orgwww.unaoc.org