COMM 1233: Media, Community and

Citizenship

INFORMATION: BITS & BYTES

Global info consumption exceeds 9,570,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes/year

As a stack of books, it would stretch from Earth to Neptune 20 times over

Server loads DOUBLE every 2 years exponential growth

EVOLUTION? DEVOLUTION?

We create as much information in two days as we did from the dawn of humans to 2003

Much of the growth is user-generated content.

How much of this info do we actually see?

We see very little

• Most information is transient

• Created, used, discarded in seconds

• Never seen by a person

“It’s the underwater base of the iceberg that runs the world we see.”

ARE WE READY FOR THIS?

“I spend most of my time assuming the world is not ready for the technology revolution that will be happening to them soon.”

- Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt

MEDIA LITERACY

How you find your information matters Online Search Engines: Filter Bubbles What consequences do filter bubbles

have for us as individuals and collectives?

Sources and platforms blur Convergence: Did You Know? Why does convergence matter?

WHAT IS “MEDIA LITERACY?”

A set of perspectives we actively use to interpret the meaning of messages we encounter (Potter book)

But “media literacy” is more than just skills . . .

MEDIA LITERACY IS… (POTTER BOOK) A continuum

not an “on/off” switch We each have a typical “place” But our place on the continuum can

shift

Multidimensional: involves 4 dimensions cognitive, emotional, artistic, moral

Media Literacy

BUILDING BLOCKS: 1. PERSONAL LOCUS

About control over effects. We slide between: media control

personal control

personal locus (Potter): our control

goals determine what gets filtered in and out

stronger drives mean we put in more effort if we don’t know our goal or our drive is

low, we let media control the process

BUILDING BLOCKS:2. KNOWLEDGE STRUCTURES

sets of organized information help us understand new ideas & experiences connect very different ideas, objects, people,

situations meanings get more complex with more

experience (direct or vicarious)

For example: What’s a “chair”? Media Coverage: Occupy Wall Street

BUILDING BLOCKS:3. SKILLS

Tools we develop through practice For example, the 5-stage critical

process Description Analysis Interpretation Evaluation Engagement

MEDIA LITERACY HELPS YOU:

pay closer attention to message content and form “autoprocessing” (see Potter book)

make more deliberate choices choose attention and effect triggers

instead of letting media choose

empowers you to advocate for change shield against “info fatigue” (see Potter

book)