Finally, a more fundamental challenge to Media Literacy Education is one of purpose. As Chris & Potter (1998) put it, “Is media literacy best understood as a means of inoculating children against the potential harms of the media or as a means of enhancing their appreciation of the literary merits of the media?” Digital Literacy
In the first chapter of this book, we read how Gee, Hull, and Lankshear (1996) noted how literacy always has something to do with reading a text with understanding, and that there are many kinds of texts, and each one requires a specific set of skills to understand and make meaning out of them. Digital Literacy (also called e-literacy, cyber literacy, and even information literacy by some authors) is no different although now the “text” can actually be images, sound, video, music, or a combination thereof. Digital Literacy can be defined as the ability to locate, evaluate, create, and communicate information on various digital platforms. Put more broadly, it is the technical, cognitive, and sociological skills needed to perform tasks and solve CHAPTER 5 Media and Cyber or Digital Literacies |
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