Our society has become characterized by aggressive media. Information is constantly at our fingertips – whether it be through the books, newspapers, and magazines we read, the television we watch, the radio stations to which we listen, or the computers that connect us to the world in a matter of seconds. We can try to limit our media exposure, but it is impossible to avoid all media messages. As a result, we psychologically protect ourselves by automatically processing the media to which we are exposed. Theory of Media Literacy: A Cognitive Approach comprehensively explains how we absorb the flood of information in our media-saturated society and examines how we often construct faulty meanings from those messages. In this book, author W. James Potter enlightens readers on the tasks of information processing. By building on a foundation of principles about how humans think, Theory of Media Literacy examines decisions about filtering messages, standard schema to match meaning, and higher level skills to construct meaning. A central theme of Potter′s theory is the locus that governs the degree to which a person is media literate. The locus is enriched by developing skills as well as good knowledge structures on five topics: media effects, media content, media industries, real world parameters, and the self. Key Features Presents the first social scientific theory of the process of media literacy Explores a broad range of literature on media literacy written during the past two decades Focuses on how the human mind works, especially in this mass media-saturated society Theory of Media Literacy is an essential resource to a wide audience within the media discipline. The book provides empirical researchers with direction to test the theory and extend our understanding of how the media affect individuals and society. Practitioners will find it helpful in developing strategies to achieve goals and, at the same time, avoid high risks of negative effects. In addition, new scholars will find it to be an excellent introduction to various media literacy research.

Over the past forty years, media education research has emerged as a historical, epistemological and practical field of study. Shifts in the field—along with radical transformations in media technologies, aesthetic forms, ownership models, and audience participation practices—have driven the application of new concepts and theories across a range of both school and non-school settings. The Handbook on Media Education Research is a unique exploration of the complex set of practices, theories, and tools of media research. Featuring contributions from a diverse range of internationally recognized experts and practitioners, this timely volume discusses recent developments in the field in the context of related scholarship, public policy, formal and non-formal teaching and learning, and DIY and community practice. Offering a truly global perspective, the Handbook focuses on empirical work from Media and Information Literacy (MIL) practitioners from around the world. The book’s five parts explore global youth cultures and the media, trans-media learning, media literacy and scientific controversies, varying national approaches to media research, media education policies, and much more. A ground breaking resource on the concepts and theories of media research, this important book: Provides a diversity of views and experiences relevant to media literacy education research Features contributions from experts from a wide-range of countries including South Africa, Finland, India, Italy, Brazil, and many more Examines the history and future of media education in various international contexts Discusses the development and current state of media literacy education institutions and policies Addresses important contemporary issues such as social media use; datafication; digital privacy, rights, and divides; and global cultural practices. The Handbook of Media Education Research is an invaluable guide for researchers in the field, undergraduate and graduate students in media studies, policy makers, and MIL practitioners.

"Media Literacy is a captivating, engaging, reader-friendly textbook essential for introductory Media Studies courses in communication, sociology, film studies, and English." -SirReadaLot.org In this media-saturated world, it is critical to approach media influences using critical thought and active participation. Media Literacy, Fourth Edition uses an engaging and conversational style to help students gain the skills needed to navigate the rocky terrain of mass messages - which are designed to inform them, to entertain them, and to sell them. This captivating book offers a plan of action for gaining a clearer perspective on the borders between the real world and the simulated media world, helping readers become responsible media consumers.

Introduction to Media Literacy builds students’ media literacy step-by-step to make them more knowledgeable about all facets of the media and more strategic users of media messages. In nine streamlined chapters, all of the essential media topics are covered – from understanding media audiences, industries, and effects to confronting controversies like media ownership, privacy, and violence – in a concise format that keeps students focused on improving their media literacy skills as effectively and efficiently as possible.

This book addresses both the potential negative effects and the positive effects of various forms of media, leading to the need for media literacy across all demographics. Written for psychologists, educators, researchers, and parents, this book discusses the impact of video games, popular music, television, social media and screen addiction, fake news and misinformation, representation in media, as well as the role of big tech in the lives of consumers. The text emphasises the need for a healthy media diet and focuses on the need for media literacy in all societal groups, providing empirically based approaches to teaching media literacy as well as sample media literacy lesson plans.

With the ever-growing proliferation of electronic and other popular media, the complexity of relationship between what students see and hear, what they believe and how they interact with one another underscores now, more than ever, the need for across-the-curriculum teaching of critical thinking, critical reading, and critical viewing skills. The emerging consensus is that teaching critical viewing skills bolsters students' abilities in traditional disciplines, combats problems of youth apathy, violence, and substance abuse, and improves students', parents, and teachers' attitudes' toward school.Intermediality: Teachers' Handbook of Critical Media Literacy challenges the practice of teaching the classics and the canon of acceptable literary works far removed from students' experiences, with emphasis on learning environment over the presentation of any specific or specified content. The authors, Ladislaus Semali and Ann Watts Pailliotet, present literacy education as ?intermedial? in nature?it entails constructing connections among varying conceptions and sign systems. Reading printed texts requires more than simply decoding letters into words or sounds; it involves finding meaning, motive, structure, and affect. The same goes for reading the electronic text. The authors argue for the discourse of literacy to take up a critical stance by examining a whole wide array of texts that form the meaning-making process of the looming information age.Intermediality examines, extends, and synthesizes the existing literary definitions, texts, theories, processes, research and contexts. It brings into focus the possibilities of working with media texts to address questions adapted from linguists and literary educators. Thus, in this book, critical media literacy becomes a competency to read, interpret, and understand how meaning is made and derived from print, photographs and other electronic and graphic visuals.

"This handbook interrogates the foundations of media literacy and media education research from a methodological standpoint. It provides a detailed, illustrated overview of key methods used in the study of media literacy and media education. It further reveals the diversity of this research field and organizes this diversity by using three categories of investigation: media practices, educational initiatives, and prescriptive discourses. The book offers valuable reference points and tools for exploring the range of research methods used to study media literacy and media education, and how these methods connect to epistemological stances, theoretical frameworks and research questions. It serves as a guide for researchers who wish to position themselves, reflect on the methods they use or are considering using, and compare and contrast them against alternative or complementary approaches. After reading this book, readers will be better able to identify and define the objects of study in media literacy and media education research, the preferred ways of conducting investigations, the phenomena, issues, and dimensions that these are likely to bring to light, and the knowledge that they generate. This comprehensive and up to date overview of the field of media literacy education research methods will be of great interest to scholars and students of education studies, media studies, media literacy, cognitive science, and communication studies"--

Examines the theory and practice of media education.

Media literacy is often focused on evaluating the message rather than reflecting on the medium. Bringing together postphenomenology, media ecology, posthumanism, and complexity theory, Richard Lewis’s book offers a method for such a reflection and shows how our everyday media environments constitute us as (post)human subjects: one that is becoming and constitutes through relations – also with our media technologies. An original interdisciplinary effort – including for example the term 'intrasubjective mediation' – and a must-read book for everyone interested in how we become with and through technologies. Prof Mark Coeckelbergh, University of Vienna Technology, Media Literacy, and the Human Subject is a clearly and concisely written book that employs a fruitful transdisciplinary approach. It at once offers an excellent grounding in the literature, whilst simultaneously developing a useful tool for students to reflect deeply and critically upon their own engagement with media. Thoroughly recommended. Alexander Thomas, University of East London What does it mean to be media literate in today’s world? How are we transformed by the many media infrastructures around us? We are immersed in a world mediated by information and communication technologies (ICTs). From hardware like smartphones, smartwatches, and home assistants to software like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat, our lives have become a complex, interconnected network of relations. Scholarship on media literacy has tended to focus on developing the skills to access, analyze, evaluate, and create media messages without considering or weighing the impact of the technological medium—how it enables and constrains both messages and media users. Additionally, there is often little attention paid to the broader context of interrelations which affect our engagement with media technologies. This book addresses these issues by providing a transdisciplinary method that allows for both practical and theoretical analyses of media investigations. Informed by postphenomenology, media ecology, philosophical posthumanism, and complexity theory the author proposes both a framework and a pragmatic instrument for understanding the multiplicity of relations that all contribute to how we affect—and are affected by—our relations with media technology. The author argues persuasively that the increased awareness provided by this posthuman approach affords us a greater chance for reclaiming some of our agency and provides a sound foundation upon which we can then judge our media relations. This book will be an indispensable tool for educators in media literacy and media studies, as well as academics in philosophy of technology, media and communication studies, and the post-humanities.

At the dawn of the twenty-first century, education about and through the media has become a worldwide phenomenon, and is playing an increasingly important role in educational reform. The theory and practice of media education have profited greatly from recent and intensive development and application of new information and telecommunications technologies. Consequently, the importance of media and information literacy is taking on an even greater urgency. With this in mind, the contributors to this volume survey what has taken place over the last decade in different parts of the world, examine the current state of theoretical, conceptual, and research development, and consider where media education is going and where it ought to go. With two-thirds of its 22 contributions coming from outside the United States, Media Literacy around the World is a genuine international effort, with many leading media and information educators in the world taking part. The work converts the notion of globalism from a slogan into a working hypothesis. The concerns in this volume are with literacy not just in computer technology, but as a broad concern of the educational process.