The New Copyright Legislation Proposals – A Help or a Hindrance?
At the beginning of June 2018, European lawmakers rejected a proposal by the European Parliaments Committee on Legal Affairs (known as JURI) to begin negotiations to update copyright laws for the digital age. The Parliament will now review once again in September. While the debate surrounding copyright continues to unfold, let’s take a moment to look at the main arguments in this controversial debate. The right of communication to the public under Article 3(1) of the Information Society Directive has been subject to many reviews and over time it has become increasingly complex but hugely [...]
Media Literacy Tools for Senior Citizens
The following article was written by Mrs. Deena Newaz, Program Officer of World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE). Deena manages the Learners’ Voice Program at the World Innovation Summit for Education. Prior to working at WISE she was a participant on the WISE Learners’ Voice program. She has previously worked at the Ministry of Education in Qatar, the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy, Georgetown University, and Qatar Foundation. Deena graduated from Georgetown University with double honors in Culture and Politics with a focus on gendered violence during wartime. She is passionate about exploring and [...]
Fake news and critical literacy in the digital age: sharing responsibility and addressing challenges
How can we tackle the ongoing challenge of so-called ‘fake news’? Gianfranco Polizzi, PhD Researcher in the Department of Media at Communications at LSE, argues that we all have a responsibility to learn critical literacy to help us better to evaluate information, both on- and offline, and here sets out the responsibilities held by the different actors involved. This post was first published on the London School of Economics' Media Policy Project Blog on May 21, 2018. Social inclusion and democratic participation rely on opportunities to access, express and share information as citizens. The extent to [...]
Digital citizenship needs to be a group effort
The following article was written by Sarah Stoeckl, senior project manager in the ISTE Standards Department. She worked as a writing and literature teacher before becoming an administrator, writer and project wrangler. A student shares his email password with a friend, who shares it with another friend, who sends an inappropriate picture to everyone in the students’ contacts list. It was a joke! But that doesn’t mean there won’t be repercussions. Who failed to teach these kids password safety and email etiquette? Another student wants to fund a film project that combines digital art with music. [...]
Happy GDPR Day!
The GDPR has come into force across Europe today, and with it come sweeping changes to the way the personal data of individuals is processed, retained and used. The most obvious indication of its impact is a bulk of messages from every mailing list, store card, chat room and internet service you signed up for ever. Like many others, I’m considering it a mass unsubscribe from a heap of services I no longer use. The emails are consigned to the trash folder with only second thought being, “when did I sign up for that…?” As [...]
Where do we draw the line?
With the recent Cambridge Analytica revelations, will we finally draw the line on Facebook's invasions of privacy, especially when it has acted as a platform of mis- and dis-information for so long? In the last three hours on my Facebook newsfeed, I have witnessed: Two people boasting about illegal activity on community pages; A petition to end an animal welfare issue that has been illegal for 9 years; A misogynistic joke straight out of the 1950s. It wasn’t funny then, either; An overtly racist meme (adding idiocy to insult, it said burka when it [...]
MyStory: Media, Migrants & Refugees
The #MyStory: Media, Migrants & Refugees project was an initiative to raise awareness, promote discussion and assist journalists, migrants and refugees and the organisations working with them, to contribute to improve the media narratives of displaced peoples in a fair way. The project (577396-CITIZ-1-2016-1-BE-CITIZ-CIV) was funded with the support of the European Union under the Programme "Europe for Citizens" Within the project we organised ten events in seven different countries. Our debates have been very well received including at the highest level at the European Parliament. Many quality videos have been produced and they are [...]
Media Literacy – Levelling the Playing Field for People Living with Disability
Approximately 44 million Europeans are reported as living with a disability. This can often prevent them from taking a full part in society and economy, whether by way of education, employment and society more generally. These disabilities can take the form of a physical impairment or a mental illness or disorder which hinders basic function. It is difficult to live a full and active life when there are barriers to taking part in it. If it is difficult simply to get out of bed and leave the house, if public transport doesn’t make allowance for [...]
EAVI in the Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition Conference
Coding is a digital skill, decoding a media literacy skill. Media education is the process to become media literate.
Visual literacy: 5 key questions
When we think about information, we might assume it will come in a written or audio format. But what about the information we get from visual imagery?
