What's Most Important about Media Literacy?
As I read Rheingold's article, I realized that all five areas are important. I thought long and hard about them. Looking back to teaching my students to research what they read on-line. It takes me back to the commercial for the FOR EYES OPTICAL. I always thought about the girl telling her friend that the goofy looking guy "she met on social media is from Paris" (he can't speak a lick of French). Then she says something to the effect of "what's on the internet is always true." We know that is not an accurate statement.
Let's discuss Rheingold's first area of media literacy, Attention. Students and young adult have learned so well to multi task, that sometimes they can fool you. It's not always so obvious that their attention is somewhere else, until we ask a question and then we know their focus was not on the teacher. It's the same with social media, they do not pay adequate attention to what they are reading and it affects how it is comprehended. It is so often that students misread their friends post and it causes a disagreement. This also happens with adults as well. I've seen where someone writes a post on Facebook, it may be a long creative paragraph based on some falsehood and at the end it will say something like "I just wanted to see who would read this to the end before responding". That has encouraged me to pay better attention when reading and read to the end before responding. Most people probably feel foolish for responding before reading.
Next, Rheingold discusses Participation. You need to be an active participant on social media in order for the conversation to continue. I have become less of a participant lately due to the things people share on Facebook. There seems to be less privacy on social media now. People share from the time they get up in the morning until they go to bed at night. Companies use social media to promote their product at a cheaper rate and it will effectively get out to more people at the same time.
Then, Rheingold discusses the importance of collaboration. He makes very valid points about collaborating through social media. Rheingold states that "when there are natural disasters that occur, individuals are able to collaborate and create ways of supporting people that are suffering due to the catastrophe. They find ways to get medical teams, medicine, food, water and clothing to far away places and sometimes near. Using social media and a pay pal account or providing a drop off place for items being collected are all ways where people can collaborate through social media. I use social media when asking individuals to support one of my social events that finance my community service projects. Collaborating through social media is a more efficient and less expensive way to get the job done. Yearly, my high school alumni from Dunbar Vocational High School uses social media to collaborate with all of the graduating classes to raise money for scholarships. Each class is asked to raise a certain amount of money to provide a scholarship for a student. This collaboration allows for a large number of students to receive a small scholarship to assist with books, transportation and/or any other need the student may have to attend college. We also use it to plan our all class picnic in Washington Park yearly. Alumni attend from all over the world. This morning, I saw the cutest collaboration of all, a Girl Scout with her father selling cookies on Facebook to Childish Gambino "Red Bone". She has sold over 1600 boxes of cookies. That's a great collaboration.
https://www.facebook.com/seymore.harrisonjr/videos/10155952318009003/
Also, Rheingold discusses Network Awareness. Things seen on the internet are not always true. Sometimes you need to try multiple sites. I usually check various mediums such as journals, wikipedia, and Chicago Public Library etc. I check various sites comparing what is printed. I am a member of The Order of the Eastern Stars. Often on Facebook and other social media sites, you may see very negative post and you can find very positive post. In order to find a your own truth, you need to look beyond Facebook or make a connection with someone on Facebook requesting information or when you can find some general information that is reliable about the organization. When you look them up on-line you may see various things, but you need to be able to evaluate or differentiate what is true and not true.
Finally, I guess being able to evaluate or differentiate the truth from a stretchy lie leads into Rheingold's last area Critical Consumption. You have to be aware of who and where you are receiving information from. You must think about what you read and analyze it. Take your time and think about what you are reading. Is this plausible? Can this really have happened? If you just take a minute to think about it, common sense will prevail as in the For Eyes Optical Commercial. Sometimes it is just good old common sense.
I do agree that all five of the area Howard Rheingold has provided are very important for ensuring media literacy.
Let's discuss Rheingold's first area of media literacy, Attention. Students and young adult have learned so well to multi task, that sometimes they can fool you. It's not always so obvious that their attention is somewhere else, until we ask a question and then we know their focus was not on the teacher. It's the same with social media, they do not pay adequate attention to what they are reading and it affects how it is comprehended. It is so often that students misread their friends post and it causes a disagreement. This also happens with adults as well. I've seen where someone writes a post on Facebook, it may be a long creative paragraph based on some falsehood and at the end it will say something like "I just wanted to see who would read this to the end before responding". That has encouraged me to pay better attention when reading and read to the end before responding. Most people probably feel foolish for responding before reading.
Next, Rheingold discusses Participation. You need to be an active participant on social media in order for the conversation to continue. I have become less of a participant lately due to the things people share on Facebook. There seems to be less privacy on social media now. People share from the time they get up in the morning until they go to bed at night. Companies use social media to promote their product at a cheaper rate and it will effectively get out to more people at the same time.
Then, Rheingold discusses the importance of collaboration. He makes very valid points about collaborating through social media. Rheingold states that "when there are natural disasters that occur, individuals are able to collaborate and create ways of supporting people that are suffering due to the catastrophe. They find ways to get medical teams, medicine, food, water and clothing to far away places and sometimes near. Using social media and a pay pal account or providing a drop off place for items being collected are all ways where people can collaborate through social media. I use social media when asking individuals to support one of my social events that finance my community service projects. Collaborating through social media is a more efficient and less expensive way to get the job done. Yearly, my high school alumni from Dunbar Vocational High School uses social media to collaborate with all of the graduating classes to raise money for scholarships. Each class is asked to raise a certain amount of money to provide a scholarship for a student. This collaboration allows for a large number of students to receive a small scholarship to assist with books, transportation and/or any other need the student may have to attend college. We also use it to plan our all class picnic in Washington Park yearly. Alumni attend from all over the world. This morning, I saw the cutest collaboration of all, a Girl Scout with her father selling cookies on Facebook to Childish Gambino "Red Bone". She has sold over 1600 boxes of cookies. That's a great collaboration.
https://www.facebook.com/seymore.harrisonjr/videos/10155952318009003/
Also, Rheingold discusses Network Awareness. Things seen on the internet are not always true. Sometimes you need to try multiple sites. I usually check various mediums such as journals, wikipedia, and Chicago Public Library etc. I check various sites comparing what is printed. I am a member of The Order of the Eastern Stars. Often on Facebook and other social media sites, you may see very negative post and you can find very positive post. In order to find a your own truth, you need to look beyond Facebook or make a connection with someone on Facebook requesting information or when you can find some general information that is reliable about the organization. When you look them up on-line you may see various things, but you need to be able to evaluate or differentiate what is true and not true.
Finally, I guess being able to evaluate or differentiate the truth from a stretchy lie leads into Rheingold's last area Critical Consumption. You have to be aware of who and where you are receiving information from. You must think about what you read and analyze it. Take your time and think about what you are reading. Is this plausible? Can this really have happened? If you just take a minute to think about it, common sense will prevail as in the For Eyes Optical Commercial. Sometimes it is just good old common sense.
I do agree that all five of the area Howard Rheingold has provided are very important for ensuring media literacy.
Thank you Carolyn.
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