©
2012
Definition
Media literacy is the ability
to access, analyze, evaluate, create
reflect upon, and take action
in all forms of
communication media
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The Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program
Digital and Media Literacy: A Plan of Action, Washington, DC: The Aspen Institute, November 2010, p. 18.
Access:
Make responsible choices using media and technology tools and
apply critical thinking skills to find and share appropriate, relevant
and reliable information to guide your knowledge, beliefs and actions.
Analyze: Know how to decode and make sense of information and
examine the content to ascertain purpose, point of view,
accuracy, and currency.
Evaluate: Determine value and quality of the content for yourself and
for others while considering potential effects of messages.
Create:
Produce your own messages with awareness of purpose,
audience, creative techniques, and potential effects −
web page, social network, video, images, blog, podcast, twitter, text,
IM, e-mail, flyer, interview, press release, memo, proposal, report, etc.
Reflect:
Apply social responsibility and ethical principles to your identity
and personal experience and to your communication behavior.
Act:
Take social action individually or collaboratively to share
knowledge and solve problems and to participate in one’s
community locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.
Adapted from The Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program,
Digital and Media Literacy: A Plan of Action, Washington, DC: The Aspen Institute, November 2010
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MEDIA LITERACY
6 Core Concepts
Media Consumers
6 Core Concepts

Media messages are "constructed"

Each medium has different characteristics and
uses unique “languages” to construct messages

Media messages are produced for particular purposes,
most often profit-driven

Media messages have embedded values and points of view

People understand the same message differently
based on individual skills, beliefs and experiences

Media messages can influence values, beliefs,
attitudes, behaviors and the democratic process
Adapted from The Center for Media Literacy, www.medialit.org
National Association for Media Literacy Education, www.namle.net
© 2009 Bobbie Eisenstock Ph..D.
www.BobbieEisenstock.com
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Media messages are "constructed"

Who created the media message and why?

Who wrote, edited, designed, produced
and distributed the message?
How credible is the source?
When was it created? How do you know?

What is the purpose of the message –
to entertain, inform, persuade or profit?
Who is the target audience –
how do you know?
Each medium has different characteristics and
uses unique “languages” to construct messages

How is the message communicated?
Which medium is used to send it?

What techniques or features
– codes & conventions – are used to get
the audience’s attention: headlines, photos,
music, sound effects, camera angles, celebrity
endorsements, colors, fonts, images, icons,
logos, lingo, slang, slogans, etc.
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Media messages are produced for
particular purposes, often profit-driven

What is the purpose of the message?

Who owns, profits from, and pays for the
media message?

To whom is our attention being sold?
Media messages have embedded
values and points of view

What is the point of view of the message?
What is implied but not said?

What values are expressed?

What lifestyles are represented?

What is included? What is left out
that might be important?
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People understand the same message
differently based on individual
skills, beliefs and experiences

How are messages received? What meaning does
the same message have for different people?

How do people of different ages, incomes,
genders, sexual orientations, education levels,
racial and ethnic backgrounds, cultural heritage,
political ideology, body sizes interpret the message?

What meaning do people with different beliefs,
values, and attitudes take away from the message?
Media messages can influence
beliefs, attitudes, values, behaviors,
and the democratic process

What does the message mean to you?
What is your reaction to it?

How does it influence your attitudes, values and beliefs?
How does it affect how you act, think and feel?
How might it affect the way you relate to other people?

How does it affect your understanding of something?
How does it affect your knowledge about a person,
issue or concern?

How might the message affect other people’s values,
beliefs, attitudes and behavior? Who might benefit?
Who might be harmed?
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Media Literacy for Content Creators
5 Key User-Generated Questions

What is the purpose of the message?

Which technology and creative techniques
did I use to express myself?

What does the message say about my values,
beliefs, and behavior?

How might different people interpret my
message?

How do the choices I make affect me?
© 2012 Bobbie Eisenstock Ph..D.
www.BobbieEisenstock.com
What is the purpose of the message?

Why did I create and post the message?

Who did I want to reach?

Do I expect a response?

What kind of attention might my message
attract? Is it the kind of attention I want?
© 2012 Bobbie Eisenstock Ph..D.
www.BobbieEisenstock.com
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Which technology did I use to express myself?

Why did I choose this form of communication –
cell phone, text message, IM, e-mail, social networking,
webcam, wiki, video or photo sharing?

What creative techniques did I use?
If I use popular songs, video clips, clip art, logos,
cartoons, artwork or other cultural artifacts,
do I need copyright permission?
 What terms or conditions do I agree to when
I use this technology tool?
© 2012 Bobbie Eisenstock Ph..D.
www.BobbieEisenstock.com
What does the message say about
my values, beliefs and behavior?

What type of person does it suggest I am?
Is this what I intended?

Does the message tell things about me
that I should keep private?

What did I include or leave out? Why?
What didn’t I say that I should have?
What could I communicate differently?
© 2012 Bobbie Eisenstock Ph..D.
www.BobbieEisenstock.com
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How might different people
interpret my message?



Does the person or group I sent the message
to understand it in the way I meant?
Do I show respect for people’s privacy?
Do I hurt anyone’s feelings?
How might someone I did not intend to see
this message interpret it – my parents and
other family members, friends and classmates,
teachers, coaches, school admissions,
future employers, strangers, law enforcement?
How do I feel about what they think?
© 2012 Bobbie Eisenstock Ph..D.
www.BobbieEisenstock.com
How do the choices I make affect me?

What is my Net/virtual reputation?
Is this how I want to represent my cyber identity?

How might what I post affect me, or my family and
friends, in the future?

How much control do I have over my online content?
If I delete something, is it gone forever?

Who owns what I create? Who might profit from
it? Did I break any laws creating, posting or
sending content?
© 2012 Bobbie Eisenstock Ph..D.
www.BobbieEisenstock.com
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