Conference Director, Symposium on the Historical Roots of Media Literacy, Providence, RI (September 2013)
The history of media literacy is the story of efforts to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to respond to changing media environments in order to participate and claim power in societies where media and technology play increasingly important roles in education, family life, social relations, public health, politics, economics, the arts and sciences, and popular culture.
This symposium convened leaders from four decades of media literacy to discuss the field’s historical frameworks and to engage the next generation of researchers and practitioners in exploring how the past informs the present and future of the field. A highlight of the program was the announcement of the gift of the Elizabeth Thoman archive of her phenomenally rich archive of the devemopement of media literacy in the United States of America.
Guest Editor, Journal of Media Literacy Education Special Issue: History of Media Literacy (July 2014)
Why is it important for us to consider the history of media literacy? Beyond forging connections of the past to the present, exploring the history of the field can deepen intellectual curiosity and understanding for those who work in media literacy education, ignite interest in others, and drive investigation into understanding the relationships of the facets and fundamentals of media literacy from past to present and into the future. The theme of leadership emerges from questions such as: How do people build programs? How does information get disseminated? What were the challenges? Who were the learners? Who were the teachers? What were the tools? The discussions borne from these themes lead to questions about the influence of changes in society and technology over time to media literacy education. Just as our individual experiences shape and define our personal identities, a community’s past and present shape how the field sees itself today and shapes a vision for the future.
Evelyn (Bordac), S. (2014). Introduction to Media Literacy History. Journal of Media Literacy Education, 6(2), 1 -2.
View the entire issue
IFLA Conference Poster: Lining up the guideposts: Integrating media and information literacy frameworks for first year university students.
In an age of global discourse driven by technology, users of information are also creators of information. They receive information produced informally and formally, and produce from an early age. This worldwide conversation is both immediate and powerful, and calls for responsible engagement.
At the Brown University Library, we identified a need to address the information and media literacy skills of our incoming first year students.
We sought to design a curriculum which would provide asynchronous, multi-modal instruction across numerous learning environments. Building on the Association of College and Research Libraries Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, our intention was to more fully address the needs and realities of our community. We synthesized six global, national, and local frameworks relating to information needs and use into common instructional goals designed to support the needs of our learners.
In an academic library we seek to prepare our students for participation as global users and consumers of information, a path beginning in primary and secondary school and continuing in higher education. Based on our pilot testing, our integrated framework suggests a support for the development of critical literacy skills and may serve as a adaptable model for other institutions.
Evelyn (Bordac), S. and Cournoyer, C. (2012). Lining up the guideposts: Integrating media and information literacy frameworks for first year university students. IFLA World Congress, Helsinki, Finland.
View in the Brown Digital Repository
