MEDIA LITERACY

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MEDIA LITERACY

• www.actf.com.au
• Lee Burton Education Manager

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• A national non-profit organisation, funded by the
  government, committed to providing Australian
  children 0-18 with entertaining media made
  especially for them, which makes an enduring
  contribution to their cultural and educational
  experience.
• ACTF programs have screened in over 100 countries
  and have won over 100 local and international
  awards.

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The Online Learning Centre at www.actf.com.au

• Over 300 searchable lesson plans and black-line
  masters in all subjects from P-10
• Senior resources
• Resources to encourage reluctant readers
• Teaching kits Live Action, Animation, Books On
  TV TV Tie Ins
• Values Education Units for ACTF multi media kits

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ACTF Resources and the ELS

• COMMUNICATING
• Being Literate
• Being Arts Literate
• PERSONAL FUTURES
• Building maintaining identity relationships
• Maintaining wellbeing
• Being ethical

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Media Literacy

• is the ability to access, understand, analyse,
  evaluate and create media messages on television,
  films, print media, the Internet and other
  technologies.
• Access Knowing how to search for and find
  relevant information, whether online or on a
  library shelf.
• Understand Knowing how to decode and make sense
  of the way information is presented, whether
  reading text or "reading" the multimedia content
  of a webpage.
• Analyze Examining the content to ascertain
  purpose, point of view, validity and reliability.
• Evaluate Determining the value of the content
  for yourself and for others.
• Create Producing your own media messages, from
  letters to signs to videos to web pages.

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• MEDIA LITERACY 101
• In this simple image, there is meaning in how the
  text has been placed in the frame, the ACTF logo
  is placed behind the text and the way the
  graphics have been drawn.
• What is the audience for this TV program and what
  images are used to signal them?
• What happens when the words Lift Off are removed
• from this context?

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Who Constructed it and Why?

• Representation Created by the media,
• depictions, ways of showing people,
• groups or ideas. The media use carefully
• constructed representations to get a
• particular message across to their
• audience.
• The Poster for Hollys Heroes
• The ACTFs latest TV series.
• Deconstructing the image
• Why and how was it produced?
• What are posters used for?
• What cues are given for the story?
• Audience?
• When produced?
• Genre?

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Five Things Everyone Should Know About Media

• All media messages are constructions
• Each person interprets messages differently
• Media have commercial interests
• Media have values
• Each medium has its own language and style
• Understanding these concepts can help students
• become active and critical thinkers about media
• develop criteria for making decisions about media
  use
• find and identify quality media resources
• talk about what media they are consuming and why
• empower them to be creators not just consumers of
  media

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Reading a Media Item 4 important concepts that
are imbedded in every reading of a media message.
Who constructed it and why?
How did they put it together?
Audience Literacy/ Critical values
What is it about?
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The 4 Inter-related Dimensions of Media Lliteracy

• Cognitive how are the messages produced, what
  are their symbols?
• Emotional what cues are used to trigger our
  emotions?
• Aesthetic how are they made? How do we
  appreciate and analyse the messages?
• Moral what are the values underlying the
  messages?

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How We Read a Media Text

• Signs A representation of a system of meaning -
  TV, film, photograph, webpage, video game, an
  actor, a setting, a colour, a facial expression.
• A scene from Yolngu Boy demonstrating the
  importance of setting as sign.

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How We Read a Media Text

• Codes The organisation of signs into systems of
  meaning.1. Technical framing composition,
  camera angles, editing etc...
• 2. Symbolic stereotypes, objects, setting, text,
  body language etc

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• A still from
• Australian Rules.
• What technical and symbolic codes are used in
  this scene?

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How We Read a Media Text

• Conventions
• The accepted processes for
• production of media.e.g. media genres, software
  
• types, title sequences, trailers,
• media formats etc
• The Noah Saskia poster.
• What conventions are used here?

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Levels of Media Literacy 6-8

• Learn how the media is constructed and how we
  interpret its messages
• Narrative structure- script to screen, book to
  screen
• e.g. Round the Twist, My Brother Jack
• Formats Genres
• Symbolism- EG. Logos, colour etc
• Stereotypes
• Media values
• Production Representation

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Levels of Media Literacy 9-12

• Different audiences, Representation
• Bias and propaganda news, advertising,
  documentary
• History of media forms and politics of the media
• Film as Text
• Issues e.g. Media representation of war My
  Brother Jack to current coverage of Iraq. Compare
  with other fiction and factual texts.
• Production Representation how does a web page
  differ from a film or newspaper?

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How Do We Go About Teaching Media Literacy?

• Teach students to decode
• Signs - Codes - Conventions using the 4
  dimensions
• Cognitive Emotional Aesthetic Moral
• Discuss
• How are the messages produced, what are their
  symbols?
• What cues are used to trigger our emotions?
• How are they made? How do we appreciate and
  analyze the messages?
• What are the values underlying the messages?

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Developing Media Literacy Skills

• Learn THROUGH mediause an understanding of the
  medium to develop greater insights into self and
  world
• Learn ABOUT mediadevelop the analytical and
  practical skills required to study media
  products, techniques, audiences and industries
• Learn IN medialearn how to make media products

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