This is a blog about my teaching, research and service with some occasional personal comments thrown in. These are my notes on a variety of topics. If you want to follow my blog posts on a specific topic, then see the Table of Contents in the right-hand column. While I try to work in the realm of facts, logic and moral absolutes, if there are any opinions expressed here, they are my own. -WilliamHartPhD
News Flash: False news reports are hindering the emergency response to Harvey
Fake news: “false information disguised as a legitimate news story, not reporting that people dislike for political reasons and label fake news” (PBS Newshour).
According to media literacy scholar, David Buckingham, a media literate person should ask a certain set of questions when “reading” a media text. He breaks up his questions into four areas: production, language, audience, and representation.
Within the area of production one would ask such questions as
"Who makes media texts?" and
"Who owns the companies?"
Within the area of language one would ask such questions such as
"How do media use different forms of language to convey ideas or meaning?'
"How is meaning conveyed through the combination or sequencing of images, sounds or words?" [Think semiotics]
Within the area of audience one would ask such questions as
"How are media aimed at particular audiences?”
"How do they try to appeal to them?"
Lastly, within Buckingham's area of representation one would ask such questions as
"What is included and what is excluded from the media world?"and
"Do media support particular views about the world?"
Media literacy is both a field of study and an education process. As a field of study, media literacy scholars and educators engaged movement for 40 years, initially sparked by a concern of the negative effective of media especially on children.
According to Potter (2010), “[t]here is a growing literature to help teachers who want to develop a course or even a single presentation on media literacy“ (p. 683). However, as Baker (2016) claims “[m]any educators know how to teach with media; unfortunately, not many know how to teach about the media.”.
Did you get media literacy training when in grade school and high school?
As an educational process, media literacy is composed of two key components, media texts and literacy. Media texts are TV programs, films, books, newspaper articles, video games, etc. (Buckingham, 2003). Literacy is, in general, the ability to read and write and thus within this context, more broadly, the ability to interpret and compose media texts. Media literacy has been defined as …
“a critical -thinking skill that enables audiences to decipher the information that they received through the channels of mass communications and empowers them to develop independent judgment about media content” Silverblatt & Eliceiri (1997, p. 48).
“the process of critically analyzing and learning to create one’s own messages in print, audio, video, and multimedia” Hobbs (1998, p. 16).
As the variety of definitions given suggest, there is some apparent disparity within the field on the definition of media literacy. Within the field of media literacy studies there has been a debate between the protectionist paradigm which sees media literacy as a way to protect against the negative effects of media, especially on children, by learning how to critically analyze media texts (Hobbs, 2011). The empowerment paradigm, on the other hand, promotes the idea of students learning how to produce their own media texts. Potter argues that this debate is a false dichotomy (2011). The paradigms are not mutually exclusive and are indeed complementary (Potter, 2011; Hoechsmann & Poyntz, 2012). As Buckingham noted in 2003, media literacy “aims to develop both critical understanding and active participation” (loc 178).
Paradigm: “such a cognitive framework shared by members of any discipline or group” (Dictionary.com). It is a way of thinking, a general perspective, that a group of researchers share.
Media literacy can be seen as applying a skeptical perspective to media.
So, let’s think in general about skepticism. In everyday life, when you hear the word skepticism what comes to mind? When somebody is labeled a skeptic, what does that mean? Ah, she's a skeptic.
Skepticism can be seen as way of thinking or an approach to a claims.
Claim: “an assertion of the truth of something, typically one that is disputed or in doubt” (Oxford Dictionary).
Have some claims that you doubt? Why do you doubt them?
Based on your viewing of the video below, is Amazing Randi a critical thinker and true skeptic? What is it that he does that makes him a critical thinker? What are his relevant skills and attitudes?
What is the claim he is talking about in the video? What is his approach to the claim? Is he skeptical? What does that mean?
What is Skepticism?
Michael Shermer, the editor Skeptic magazine, writes in his magazine that:
"Some people believe that skepticism is rejection of new ideas, or worse, they confuse "skeptic" with "cynic" and think that skeptics are a bunch of grumpy curmudgeons unwilling to accept any claim that challenges the status quo. This is wrong. Skepticism is a provisional approach to claims. It is the application of reason to any and all ideas--no sacred cows allowed. In other words, skepticism is a method, not a position."
Shermer and the Baloney Detection Kit
Skepticism and the baloney detection kit can be and should be applied in many situation in life, especially when somebody makes a claim that is important to you. If we apply skepticism and the baloney detection kit to media, then we are talking media literacy.
The baloney detection kit is a set of questions that one should ask when facing an important claim. In Shermer’s kit he has 10 questions. For our purposes will focus on just four and see how they especially apply to media. Part of the kit (4 of 10)
Have the claims been verified by somebody else?
Does this fit with the way the world works?
Has anyone tried to disprove the claim?
Where does the preponderance of evidence point?
Shermer - Baloney Detection Kit video [see from 2:50 to 7:07]
“Disciplined inquiry...studying something in a planned manner and reporting it so that others can replicate the process” (Frey et al.)
Keywords: planned, reporting and replicate
What do they mean in this context?
Research, as discussed here, is more than "research" done at the library. Instead of reading through books and online materials for answers that some other researcher has found, you conduct original research on your own to find the answer. That is, you conduct an experiment or a survey or a textual analysis or some other research method to find the answer. Some one is not telling you an answer in a book or report, you are finding the answer to your research question on your own.
Two types of research:
Scholarly
conducted to promote public access to new knowledge
usually conducted by a professor at a university
Proprietary
conducted for a specific audience, results not shared
usually conducted by a researcher at a company
Why are results not shared in proprietary research?
Could you give examples of each of the two types?
Which of the two types of research would you be more likely to do in the future?
How does this discussion of research relate to the earlier discussion of science? Are the doing research as defined above?
How's this definition of research relate to the MythBusters clip shown earlier?
Use the previous posts on theory and research and the video below to answer this question.
How is doing research like being a detective?
Theory: an explanation of how something works based on evidence.
Based on evidence? Well, a good theory is based on evidence. How does one evaluate a theory? Where does supporting evidence fit in the evaluation process?
Back to research and detectives.
Research: "“Disciplined inquiry...studying something in a planned manner and reporting it so that others can replicate the process” (Frey et al.).
Also note that a researcher does research to test and build theories.
What roles do theory and evidence play in this comparison?
Below Tyson speaks of science and scientific literacy.
What is scientific literacy? Is it important?
My Tyson Mashup
1. Stephen Colbert Interview of Tyson (start at 6:15 and get to at least, 25:30, if you can)
2. Tyson at a science festival
3. Audio clip of Tyson speaking at the Science Pub in Portland, Oregon, 2009 (play clip from about 4:00-11:20).
A formal definition of scientific literacy: "scientific literacy is the knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts and processes required for personal decision making, participation in civic and cultural affairs, and economic productivity" (National Academy of Sciences report).
What does Neil DeGrasse Tyson add to the definition?
You may not plan to be a scientist, but should you be science literate? How do you become science literate?
Note to be science literate also means to be knowledgeable of the general concept of theory and and knowledge of specific theories, especially those relevant to a person chosen area of study.
