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[ecrea] Commission sets new information society challenge: Becoming literate in new media
Thu Aug 20 17:44:27 GMT 2009
Commission sets new information society challenge: Becoming literate
in new media
The way we use media is changing, the volume of information
enormous, demanding more of us than being able to read, write or use
a computer. The European Commission today warned that Europeans
young and old could miss out on the benefits of today's high-tech
information society unless more is done to make them 'media
literate' enough to access, analyse and evaluate images, sounds and
texts and use traditional and new media to communicate and create
media content. The Commission said EU countries and the media
industry need to increase awareness of the many media messages
people encounter, be they advertisements, movies or online content.
"Interacting with the media now means a lot more than writing to a
newspaper. Media, especially new digital technologies, involve more
Europeans in a world of sharing, interaction and creation. Consumers
today can create their own content and make new works by
transforming third party content," said Information Society and
Media Commissioner Viviane Reding. "However, people who cannot use
new media like social networks or digital TV will find it hard to
interact with and take part in the world around them. We must make
sure everyone is media literate so nobody is left out. Citizens are
being talked to all the time, but can they talk back? If they can
use the media in a competent and creative way we would take a step
towards a new generation of democratic participation."
To participate in today's information society, people need to
understand how the various media (old and new) work. This is why the
European Commission today adopted (following a call from the
European Parliament) policy guidelines calling on EU countries and
industry to promote media literacy across Europe through activities
that help people access, understand and critically evaluate all
media they are exposed to, like TV and film, radio, music, print
media, the internet and digital communication technologies.
Media literacy training could improve the way citizens use search
engines, show school children how a film is made or how advertising
works. In some countries (for example Sweden, Ireland, UK) media
literacy is already part of the school curriculum. The UK's
<http://www.kidsmart.org.uk/>kidSMAR T website teaches young people
how to use social networking sites safely. Education is a national
competence, but the Commission today invited EU countries to open a
debate on how to give media literacy a prominent place in schools.
People using media need to be aware of the risks connected to the
spread of their personal data. The more skilled they are in using
these technologies, and the more savvy they are about how online
advertising works, the better they can protect their privacy. People
who are more media literate will also be more curious about and
explore their cultural heritage and recent European cultural works.
The Commission's "Digital Europe" report, released earlier this
month
<http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/09/1221&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=nl>(IP/09/1221)
shows that Europeans are becoming more skilful internet and
computers users, with 60% "digitally literate", an essential aspect
of media literacy. 56% of all Europeans go online at least once a
week (compared to 43% in 2005) and more people in disadvantaged
groups are using the net (see annex).
More people with lower educational levels go online (from 53.5% in
2005 to 62.5% in 2008, where 100% is the overall population's
internet use). More unemployed people use the web (up from 74.4% in
2005 to 80.3 % in 2008), and women's internet use is now almost the
same as the EU's overall population (growing from.88.4% in 2005 to
94.6% in 2008). The computer and internet skills of women, the
unemployed and over-55s have grown by at least 3% compared to the
overall population since 2006.
However, even though internet, especially broadband, connections are
becoming more affordable, 24% of Europeans without internet at home
said this is because they lack the necessary skills to use it.
Background
Media literacy is the ability to access , understand and critically
evaluate different aspects of the media and media content and
communicate in a variety of contexts. It relates to all media,
including television and film, radio and recorded music, print
media, the internet and all other digital technologies.
In 2007, the Commission issued a Communication on media literacy (
<http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/07/1970&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en>IP/07/1970
) as part of its overall efforts to build a Single Market for the
audiovisual sector, which also includes the Audiovisual Media
Services Directive (
<http://www.europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/08/803&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en>MEMO/08/803
) providing cross border rules on areas like advertising, and the
MEDIA 2007 support programme for European cinema (
<http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/07/169&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en>IP/07/169
). The Commission also promotes media literacy through film literacy
projects under its
<http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/media/prep_action/index_en.htm>MEDIA
International preparatory action . This initiative encourages
actions to educate and raise awareness, especially of the young
generation, about cinematographic and audiovisual works of third
countries and vice versa.
Today's Commission Recommendation on media literacy can be found at:
<http://ec.europa.eu/avpolicy/media_literacy/index_en.htm>http://ec.europa.eu/avpolicy/media_literacy/index_en.htm
Europe's digital competitiveness report can be found at:
<http://ec.europa.eu/i2010>http://ec.europa.eu/i2010
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Nico Carpentier (Phd)
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Vrije Universiteit Brussel - Free University of Brussels
Centre for Studies on Media and Culture (CeMeSO)
Pleinlaan 2 - B-1050 Brussels - Belgium
T: ++ 32 (0)2-629.18.56
F: ++ 32 (0)2-629.36.84
Office: 5B.401a
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European Communication Research and Education Association
Web: http://www.ecrea.eu
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E-mail: (Nico.Carpentier /at/ vub.ac.be)
Web: http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~ncarpent/
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