Hobbs explores the history of the media industry's involvement in the media literacy movement by comparing curriculum resources produced by the National Association of Broadcasters in 1962 and Google in 20111.

1. The Role of the Media Industry in
Advancing Digital & Media Literacy
Renee Hobbs
Harrington School of Communication and Media
University of Rhode Island USA
What Society Needs from Media in an
Age of Digital Communication
October 3 – 5, 2013 – Oxford UK

3. Rhetoric
Print Literacy
Visual Literacy
Information Literacy
Media Literacy
Computer Literacy
Critical Literacy
News Literacy
Digital Literacy
Historical Context

4. Protection - Empowerment:
A Two-Sided Coin

5. Protection

6. Empowerment

7. PASTA AD Analysis
British Film Institute (1991)
Learning to Critically
Analyze Media
Focus on Asking
Questions
Using a Conceptual
Framework

8. Messages are
Representations

9. Messages are
Representations
Messages Use Different
Codes and Conventions

10. Messages are
Representations
People Interpret
Messages Differently
Messages Use Different
Codes and Conventions

11. Messages are
Representations
People Interpret
Messages Differently
Messages Use Different
Codes and Conventions
Messages Have
Economic &
Political Power

12. Messages are
Representations
Messages Influence our
Attitudes and Behaviors
People Interpret
Messages Differently
Messages Use Different
Codes and Conventions
Messages Have
Economic &
Political Power

13. One Expansive Conceptualization
to Unite Them All
Key
Concepts

14. ACCESS
ANALYZEE
CREATE ACT
REFLECT
ACCESS
expanding the concept of literacy

15. Digital & Media Literacy Competencies
Access, Use and Share
 Keyboard and mouse skills
 Be familiar with hardware, storage and file
management practices
 Understand hyperlinking & digital space
 Gain competence with software applications
 Use social media, mobile, peripheral & cloud
computing tools
 Identify information needs
 Use effective search and find strategies
 Troubleshoot and problem-solve
 Learn how to learn
 Listening skills
 Reading comprehension

16. Digital & Media Literacy Competencies
Analyze & Evaluate
 Understand how symbols work: the
concept of representation
 Identify the author, genre, purpose and
point of view of a message
 Compare and contrast sources
 Evaluate credibility and quality
 Understand one’s own biases
and world view
 Recognize power relationships that shape
how information and ideas circulate in
culture
 Understand the economic context of
information and entertainment production
 Examine the political and social
ramifications of inequalities in information
flows

17. Digital & Media Literacy Competencies
Create & Collaborate
 Recognize the need for communication and
self-expression
 Identify your own purpose, target
audience, medium & genre
 Brainstorm and generate ideas
 Compose creatively
 Play and interact
 Edit and revise
 Use appropriate distribution, promotion &
marketing channels
 Receive audience feedback
 Work collaboratively
 Comment, curate and remix

18. Digital & Media Literacy Competencies
Reflect
 Understand how differences in values and
life experience shape people’s media use
and message interpretation
 Appreciate risks and potential harms of
digital media
 Apply ethical judgment and
social responsibility to
communication situations
 Understand how concepts of ‘private’ and
‘public’ are reshaped by digital media
 Appreciate and respect legal rights and
responsibilities (copyright, intellectual
freedom, etc)

19. Digital & Media Literacy Competencies
Take Action
 Acknowledge the power of
communication to maintain the status
quo or change the world
 Participate in communities of shared
interest to advance an issue
 Be a change agent in the family &
workplace
 Participate in democratic self-
governance
 Speak up when you
encounter injustice
 Respect the law and work to change
unjust laws
 Use the power of communication and
information to make a difference in the
world

20. ACCESS
ANALYZEE
CREATE ACT
REFLECT
ACCESS
expanding the concept of literacy

21. 7 Great Debates in Media Literacy
1. Should media literacy education aim to protect children
and youth from negative media influences?
2. Should media production be an essential feature of media
literacy education?
3. Should media literacy focus on popular culture texts?
4. Should media literacy have an explicit political &
ideological agenda?
5. Should media literacy be focused on K-12 formal learning
environments?
6. Should media literacy be a specialist subject or integrated
across the curriclum?
7. Should media literacy be financially supported by media
institutions?
Hobbs, 1998

22. History of Industry Involvement in
Media Literacy
• Understanding New Media (NAEB, 1960)
• Television Information Office (NAB, 1962)
• Visual Learning (Kodak, 1969)
• Creating Critical Viewers (ABC, 1991)
• Know TV (Learning Channel, 1994)
• Assignment: Media Literacy (Discovery Channel, 1998)
• Taking Charge of Your TV (NCTA, 2001)
• Messages & Meanings (NAA Foundation, 2001)
• Adobe Youth Voices (Adobe, 2006)
• Google Digital Literacy & Citizenship (Google, 2011)

23. Television in Today’s Society, 1962
• 13 scripts / lecture notes
• Worksheets / quizzes / slides / reading list / recommendations for
supplmental 16mm films
• Pedagogy: Presentation by local expert; Q & A session;
supplemental readings and films
• Targeting young adult and adult learners as “educated and
thoughtful people”
• Multiple points of view from inside and outside the industry
• Acknowledges the pleasure people experience with television as a
leisure activity
• Reflection on unintended consequences of advertising-supported
economic model
• Little emphasis on the impact of television on family life, social
relationship or citizenship

24. Google Digital Literacy & Citizenship

25. Google Digital Literacy & Citizenship
• Created in partnership with iKeepSafe
• 3 videos / lesson plans
• Target audience: Grades 6 – 8 (ages 11 – 13)
• Pedagogy: presentation by teacher; view and discuss videos;
scenario activities and games.
• Goals: Increase knowledge of tools offered by Google/YouTube to
detect inaccuracies and protect oneself from inappropriate content.
• Provides little background information about the Internet
• Tone conveys sense of urgency to follow the “do’s and don’ts”
• Positions multiple points of view available online as a “problem”
that needs to be solved

26. Then & Now
1962 NAB
EMPOWERMENT
Focus on knowledge
Multiple points of view
Positive tone
2011 GOOGLE
PROTECTION
Focus on advice
Google’s point of view
Tone of warning
Pedagogy: lecture/activity plus discussion
No focus on critical analysis | No media production

27. Stakeholders in Digital and Media Literacy
BUSINESS
ACTIVIST
GOVERNMENT
LIBRARY
EDUCATION
CREATIVE

29. Renee Hobbs
Professor and Founding Director
Harrington School of Communication and Media
University of Rhode Island USA
Web: www.mediaeducationlab.com
Webi: www.harrington.uri.edu
Email: hobbs@uri.edu
Twitter: reneehobbs