Figure 1: Curious Kea investigating
Video: Hello
Kia ora, I'm Emma. I'm about to start a Media Literacy Course and hope to build an online learning module that will be helpful in educating others in media literacy. I currently work at Auckland University of Technology as Digital Capability Specialist.
As I go through the course, I will share:
- Artefacts I collect and/or create
- Documentation on my learning experiences
- Reflections on my learning experiences
So far, I don't really like Behance for my Media Literacy Toolkit. I have no control over the size of images and videos, or of font placement.... It is frustrating because if something looks good, it is easier to read and navigate I think. I will investigate another platform.
Figure 2: Definitions of Media Literacy. I voted for option 2.
I voted for option two because it is succinct and I believe encapsulates the other options. I like the focus on critical thinking and making, the articulation of communication as part of the media literacy skill-set, plus the inclusion of active citizenship. Option two is from the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE)
What is media?
A broad and inclusive concept to include all forms of communications media that
are used to entertain, inform and persuade...
are used to entertain, inform and persuade...
Constructed ....Technological .... Purposeful .... Value-embedded .... Influential
“Media literacy is the ability to critically engage with media in all aspects of life. It is a form of lifelong literacy that is essential for full participation in society.”
(Australia Media Literacy Alliance, AMLA) (Defination used in this course)
(Australia Media Literacy Alliance, AMLA) (Defination used in this course)
Media and communication activities in society and political contexts - questions to ask about media:
- Institutions
- Audiences
- Representations
- Technologies
- Languages
- Relationships
Things that affect media literacy:
- age, disability, low income, low education level, where people live (rural esp. lower)
Tend to have: use fewer types of media, less interest in engaging with new media technologies, lower level of media ability
Media literacy education framework
Formal & informal
News and Media Research Centre media literacy evaluation framework - core learning outcomes:
- critical thinking
- strategies for use
- participatory skills
- understanding the media environment
- reflection and lifelong learning
Offer elements of these skills depending on the needs of your community.
IDEAS
How do algorithms work?
Every click you make - research with young adults
Everyday Googling - research into how to teach algorithms
Digital media literacy skills for gold card holders/uni students/job seekers
Module 2
Questions to answer:
1. What different results do I get from family/friends with the same search?
- we get very similar results until you scroll further into the results list.
Left-wing results do not appear, likely because:
"They understood how search engine optimizers use sophisticated keywords and other techniques to game results, pushing some sites to the front of the line and more authoritative information to the back" (Bakke, 2020).
2. What are the implications of Filter Bubbles and Echo Chambers? Think about how one's social, political, economic and cultural environments might be influenced by information being curated and/or censored in this way.
- thoughts are that you'll receive information that agrees with and reinforces your views. This makes it hard to understand others' viewpoints.
- algorithms may keep the bubble stronger, but they also are quite handy and save a lot of time when looking for everyday transactional information.
- echo chambers can be really boring, because everyone just agrees.
Teaching awareness of algorithms
A lesson plan on how to understand how we search and the effect of algorithms on search results, using Bakke's 2020 article.
Aims:
Understand how algorithms affect search results in general
Critique and improve own searches to improve balance of results
Actions:
1. Observe and record your search process
2. Analyse and report on your process
3. Evaluate and critique your process
Module 3: Misinformation
Misinformation and disinformation - how to discern and mitigate, how to evaluate
News media:
- editorial decisions
- professional standards
- timeliness
Digital platforms:
- editorial
- quality control
- up to date
Differences have an impact on how digital platforms can respond to dis/misinformation.
Dis = false/inaccurate/meant to harm
Mis = false
Mal = bad-faith spread of bad information
Misinformation = umbrella term
1. Poor journalism (clickbait, misleading headlines, incorrect facts, dumbed-down stories)
2. Look like news but are ads
3. Spun stories
4. Fabricated stories
5. Made up satire stories
6. Fake news to discredit news they cont like
Potential harm?
World Economic Forum: Top global risk due to real life risks
Examples:
US attack on the capital #StopTheSteal - narrative seeded online in September 2020 - led to violence
Public health anti-vaccine conspiracy theories and spread of misinformation about vaccines - led to decrease trust in authorities, increase risk to public health
Three key issues:
1. Misinformation is prevalent/everywhere - over 50% knowingly encountered misinformation in one week in Australia in 2018-2021.
2. Social media permeates. This was worst on social media such as Facebook andTwitter, and people experienced it more the more social media platforms they used. 78% of people get news through social media.
2. Australians lack confidence in dealing with misinformation - they can't identify it, or know if they see it. Governments, news media companies and social media companies should step in. Most people don't do anything about misinformation, although younger people may challenge it (low numbers).
Why people fall for it?
Example - health conscious groups - emotional effect, have trust in group that advocates healthy living and mistrust in government, leads to distortion of scientific facts. 12 people lead in the spread of misinformation in one study.
What to do - fact checking
1. Do a quick search on the source - use a fact-checking website,
2. Look for standards/ethical guidelines,
3. Transparency about reporting, funding, ownership, advertising, authors
4. System for handling errors/mistakes/feedback
5. Assess news coverage and look for other news articles and their quality
Websites for checking things:
Media misinformation casebook: https://mediamanipulation.org/
Google Fact-check explorer: https://toolbox.google.com/factcheck/explorer
Tineye: reverse image search: https://tineye.com/
Reverse video search: Tineye, Google image search,
Types of media bias: https://www.allsides.com/media-bias/how-to-spot-types-of-media-bias
Content authenticity initiative: https://contentauthenticity.org/ (Adobe)
Critical thinking
...and ...
- How to critically ignore!
- Lateral reading - rather than vertical reading.
This is NOT close reading the site you are on! To find who is behind the information and if it is trustworthy - leave a website to find information about what other sources say about it
Teacher materials Stanford Intro to lateral reading: https://cor.stanford.edu/curriculum/lessons/intro-to-lateral-reading/
- CRAAP test - currency relevance accuracy authority purpose
Visual images and deep fakes
Images are super powerful!!
Videos that closely represent real videos are deep fakes
How to spot a deepfake video made with FakeApp (from Buzzfeed article 2018)
1. Don't jump to conclusions
2. Consider the source
3. Check where it is and is not online
4. Inspect the mouth
5. Slow it down
More from Northon, 2020: https://us.norton.com/internetsecurity-emerging-threats-how-to-spot-deepfakes.html
Mitigating misinformation
Government - regulations
Social media platforms - reduce exposure and have rules for content - but do these actually work? They direct people to information, remove some content (but not a lot)
People themselves - learn to filter
It's also unavoidable - we just have to live with it. So education is key.
Teaching lateral reading
We already use the TRAAP (CRAAP) test - definitely could engage with lateral reading more using this test. Some real-world examples and activities.
Go outside the website.
Module 4: Promotional industries
Everyone is now a creator of media
News and social and traditional media - plus other player develop content "promotional industries"
Skills of media consumption, creation, norms of media and practices of digital advertising
E.g. advertising, marketing, branding, lobbying, PR
? who do they serve?
Roots in wartime propaganda....serve big business!
brand management, SEO, speech-making.... have people who work in this specific area - communications media
History
Edward Bernays -"father of PR" - sold idea that efforts of US in WW1 brought peace to Europe and coined the term "PR"
Extraordinary influence on society - Bernays quote...campaign to promote smoking in young women
Publicity offices start to proliferate
Professional marketing bodies, research, journals, awards etc for best practice develop. These have continued grow with digital markets. $640 billion US = global advertising market - worth
So how much of your thoughts are really yours and how much are manipulated by marketing?
Notes on video "Big THink"
- 1p papers that are cheap so lots of people buy them but will lose money unless advertisers buy space ...much more racey than 6p paper that is serious and relies on people buying it to make money
- WEb limits on advertising - not many! or lacking
- on the web there is lots of stuff that masquerades as not advertising...think things that draw you in to watch a video or enter a competition, or answer a survey...or find somewhere on a map
- the web is free - or is it? Pay with:
- data, attention, giving a lot of access to ourselves and our thoughts/ideas - this open to influence, leading to differences in how we may otherwise live our lives (e.g. buy more things and so on).
- loss of ability to focus deeply because ad-supported mediums need a receptive audience - leads to "Casino effect" where you're super receptive and constantly clicking and following links
A lot of our attention these day is not in the "now" as we spend a lot of time onscreen in a sim reality - this means it's important we understand the motives of the people creating the stuff we are consuming
A realized life requires decisions that are ours -
"My experience is what I attend to" - William James
"My experience is what I attend to" - William James
Advertising and you - the attention economy
Herbert Simon - an abundance of information means the dearth of what it consumes - what it consumes is peoples' attention. Therefore organisations vying for our attention rely on getting our attention enough so they can function and survive. Competition for glance, click or credit card.
Attention = the economy of cyberspace
Neoliberal economics drives this competition means promotion becomes core. This can re-shape our world, e.g. social media.
Everyone is advocating and performing and competing for funds, attention, support - even churches and hospitals
Reference : Digital 2022 Australia
Huge amount of advertising spent on SM - growing at 17%/year
New hybrid forms of content make ML more impt.
Checkology activity/reflections https://checkology.org/everyone/dashboard
How has your understanding of various forms of advertising changed after doing this Checkology lesson?
Wifi symbol - no? Because it is universally used across devices and hardware brands to signify wifi?
PLane wing disintegrating - no? Because at first it has a kids voice saying "bye NY" and then "holy shot" - very amateur.
Geico - yes, even states it is an ad
Menard /Chicago tribune - yes - sponsored by Menard, shows sale and has DIY piece supporting it
Cellphones and popcorn - No? but could be aimed to influence not to use cellphones close to your ear
Usain Bolt and gatorade - yes
Dogs and cats - yes - underlined by story relating to dogs
Baseball - yes - promoting the team with a quick trick
ALL ARE ADS!!!
Traditional ads - easy to spot - feature a product - Ads pay the bills for the media, they are not all bad.
Transparency and credibility are important.
Transparency - you know you are looking at an ad, so you can decide credibility
Who created it?
What is the purpose?
News is created for a different reason from ads - therefore news organisations have to be careful to stay credible and not be influenced by their sponsors
one way: Ad staff different from journalists - one technique a firewall
Firewall
Label ads - but how does this work with brand placement?
Advertisers got more power with the internet as the approaches are not the same as in traditional media. Use storytelliing.
= Native advertising
I find this non-transparent and difficult to evaluate the credibility of their information. I sometimes like the stories, but I don't like not knowing I am looking at an ad until part way through - feel cheated if it looks like news.
examples:
Southland's Rookie Hero - is clearly labelled as an NBC Advertisement, kind of cute story, but because on the front page of the paper, and resembled a news report, sparked controversy
Woman Inmates - Interesting! Signs it is an ad: Brand studio, Netflix at the end, Orange is the New Black
Atlantic - the sponsor content tag - Scientology ad that mimics the Atlantic style. Comments were moderated by Scientologists - so only all positive!!
Buzzfeed - Best Buy brand publisher tag at top and bottom - also content is all about the benefits of smartphones, mimics Buzzfeed lists
Hoax ads = not at all transparent
Political ads - also vary in transparency
Ethics? If they are selling something , I don't think so, but I could be swayed. Even some ads trying to deliver an advocacy message are borderline ethical, because they have undeclared bias.
This course made me think more carefullly about advertising and it was helpful and useful to describe the types of advertising - traditional, native, hoax. Especially with native and hoax advertising, I think transparency is important ethically because you can then judge the agenda and potential bias of the advertiser and make your own infomred decision. Of course, a good media literate person would double-check anything anyway. But some of those hoax ads are really difficult to spot!
Native advertising
= Branded content
"Should look and feel natural to the consumer"?
It's a collab between the company that is advertising and the newsroom/platform that is is on - native advertising mimics the style of whatever platform or publication it is on.
Not overtly selling - but encouraging people to like the brand.
3 types of branded content:
1. Sponsored - the newspaper (or publisher) writes the content to match the style, not the advertiser
2. Custom - created in collab with publisher and brand to feature topics of joint control
3. Syndicated - brand produced, hosted by the publisher
Outbrain - uses Smartfeed technology - adds appear on a site in a designated place (e.g. banner, sidebar), and if you click on the ad, the publisher recieves payment
Immersive advertising - extended reality - e.g can put (virtual) furniture from IKEA in your home to see what it looks like
Features of native advertising (how to tell what it is):
It has to be denoted by words such as:
"Advertisement” or “AD“,
“Promoted” or “Promoted by [brand]”,
“Sponsored” or “Sponsored by [brand]”
“Sponsored Content”,
“Presented by [brand]”,
“Suggested Post”
“Sponsored” tag,
“You might also like” or “You might like”,
“Elsewhere from around the web” or “From around
the web”,
“You may have missed”
“Recommended for you”.
Native advertisements can also be recognised by icons:
‘Ad Choices’ icons
“$” icons
Logos of the Native Advertiser Vendor
Visual Cues like shading,
Coloured backgrounds or borders
These are are all commonly used to distinguish paid vs. non-paid content, particularly across in-feed and promoted listing placements.
Algorithms and programmatic advertising
The platform collects data and usually one side pays (the user does not) for example, booking a restaurant. At the same time, advertisers pay to for space on the platform.
Users (people who click on the platform and other platforms) are tracked by what they like, buy, etc.
The Target story - Target ran algorithms on its customers and could tell when women were pregnant they bought more of certain items - so they began targeting them before they gave birth to buy things that might be useful. A man got angry because he thought they were encouraging his daughter to get pregnant - actually she already was pregnant.
Programmatic advertising
Is when the person's data is crunched really fast, as they click on the page - if cookies show that you might be a good spender, they send your info to an SSP , they compare what data they have on you as a consumer (your higher value), then that goes to a DSP where advertisers bid for the ad spot on the page if the program says the person might be interested in their product and might be a good consumer, and the winning ad is displayed to the person as the webpage opens....
This targets us as individual consumers, not as a broad target audience....
It can be quite out of date, and block us from new products
Wild west of digital advertising
Who is selling the advertising space? For example, fake news, got clicks, people writing fake stories to make money (Macedonia teenagers)
Context matters - being on legit sites that you can trust is better
How do you know to trust an ad?
1. who is serving the ad? Icon at top
2. quality of ad - crap clickbait is dodgy
3. where it appears? (what website)
This is good!
https://crankyuncle.com/game/
https://crankyuncle.com/game/
Module 5. We can all be influencers
Social media and outrage
Edelman trust barometer
Global trust in media very low
2021 - 82% aussies on SM - TikTok especially - spending more online too, downloading lots of apps and spending e.g. on games, apps
Social media honeycomb model shows good and bad of SM = presence /location tracking , sharing/ inappropriate distribution of content, relationships/threat, abuse, harassment bullying, conversations/ misinformation, reputation/shaming and defamation, identity/exploitation of online self, groups/in-group-outgroup bias
Facebook example - world's biggest online platform.
Safeguards don't match growth. Internal FB documents show this. E.g. claims of policing content such as hate speech are untrue. Especially in developing world - [add refs]
India - extremely at risk, but no enough language moderators, and real violence ensues, spread hate speech against minorities. Violent riots against Muslims in 2020 in New Dehlin after a FB post - people killed.
#coronajihad effects another example [Aljazeera ref] [Reuters 2021 ref]
Emotion reactions - valuable - more varied and emotional - angry especially on toxic content. 2020 - set weight on angry reaction to zero - so users got less crap stuff pushed to them.
Game: Go Viral
We can all be influencers
How influencers are similar to conspiracy theorists
1. heros journey - underdog to having found the solution
2. constructed friendships - share personal info to gain trust
3. Celebrities talk about them/blow off steam with conspiracies
Influencer that I think of - Medical Medium
Influencers can get others to act based on their recommendations
Australian Association of National Advertisers - code of ethics - must make sponsorship clear in posts
Top influencers - have heaps of followers but are least trusted - depends on how they position themselves
Wellness culture and lifestyle influencers
Spread misleading advice - es COVID 19 . Combine far right with wellness (this was originally progressive)
Tactics:
- informal modes of address
- personal updates/anecdotes
- authentic alternative to mainstream
- open to supposed private lives
- equals with followers
- supportive friend
- attract people disillusioned with institutions
Also virtual influencers - fake people created to promote things
Influencer marketing code of practice
First draft - [link] Australian Influencers Toolkit
People as propagandists
Both as campaigners and spreaders of misinformation
#PelosiMustGo case study
Australian case study - Understanding mass influence [ref]
Australian Electoral Commission - stop and think campaign, also did their own misinformation checking
My role? - Padlet reflection
Module 6 - Online safety and security
Password vault - why is it good?
Online safety
Scams, data privacy, online bullying
- check your own online behaviour - posts, passwords, public wifi use, etc
Keep personal info minimal. Use privacy controls. Be mindful of strangers who befriend you. Create complex passwords. Use multi-factor authentication. Minimise unsecure network use.Don't click on dodgy links. Watch for security - padlock/https. Screen shot/record threats - don't respond, but tell someone.
Australia - Online Safety Act 2021
eSafety.gov.au
Netsafe (NZ) : https://www.netsafe.org.nz/
DIA - prevention of online harm: https://www.dia.govt.nz/Prevention-of-online-harms
Scams
Main scams: scams, fraud, identity theft, cyberbullying/ stalking, exposure to illicit materials...
98% Aussies have been exposed to a scam or unsolicited communication - esp. older people
Most people would like more control - many people can't unsubscribe or are contacted after subscribing.
Phone Calls - very high rate.
Scam watch - Phishing highest - how to recognise and report scams
Media literacy related to media use in staying safe, recognising a scam, and reporting.
Managing your digital footprint
- Keep personal information to a minimum – use privacy functions and control who sees the content
- Be mindful of strangers who befriends you
- Create complex passwords that include symbols, use password managers, use multi-factor authentication
- Minimise the use of unsecure networks
- Do not click on any links in an email or SMS if you are not sure of the source
- Look for the ‘padlock’ and https in the URL field and use established, well known sites
- Do not respond to threats or harassments but keep a record (screen shot, download etc) and tell someone
Privacy and keeping personal data safe
General data protection regulation (GDBR) in EU in 2018. Restricts data retention. Service providers must inform users about data use. Has global effects.
See sites asking about accepting cookies (collect user data for targeted advertising)
2020 - Google phasing out cookies
Older people
Cyber seniors cheat sheet for keeping safe online - stop - think - connect
Facebook and Instagram - privacy and security settings : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nk3zywvsdvs
Be connected activities
https://beconnected.esafety.gov.au/topic-library/essentials/safety-first
Understanding internet browsers
Cyberbullying
Online content that is seriously threatening , harassing, intimating or humiliating
More subtle that schoolyard bullying
How to respond:
- don't reply to the bully
- block the person
- keep all emails and messages they send
- report the bullying to someone else
- report to online platform and then the e-safety commissioner (Australia)
- recovering from cyberbullying can take a long time
Video : is it cyberbullying? on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtfMzmkYp9E&t=191s
Online safety quiz for kids (quite low tech) https://www.safekids.com/quiz/
