Potter, Introduction to Media Literacy 1e 1
Introduction to Media Literacy, 1st edition
W. James Potter
Chapter 2: How to Think About Media Literacy?
Lecture Notes
Learning Objectives:
1. Analyze faulty ideas about the media and media literacy so that you can avoid falling into
the trap of that faulty thinking.
2. Explain the proactive definition of media literacy.
3. Define the three key components of media literacy.
Outline:
I. Taking out the trash: Clearing away faulty beliefs about media literacy
A. Media are harmful.
i. The belief that media are harmful is a trap.
a. There are risks with media exposure.
b. The trap lies in thinking the media are only harmful.
ii. A new medium often faces public scrutiny.
b. Andrea Lunsford (professor of writing and rhetoric at Stanford
University)
New technologies have increased literacy.
Younger people are more expressive writers and more
aware of their audiences.
c. It’s important to have a balanced perspective on the media.
B. Media literacy will destroy my fun with the media.
i. Media literacy does not involve a lot of dry analysis.
ii. Media literacy focuses on digging below the surface.
a. This may actually make people appreciate media more.
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E. Media literacy requires too much effort.
i. Media literacy is a continuum, not a category.
a. We all have some degree of media literacy.
b. There is always room to improve our individual media literacy.
II. Increasing media literacy
B. The big three
i. Your personal locus is composed of goals and drives.
a. Information-processing tasks are shaped by goals by determining
what gets filtered in and what gets ignored.
b. The more you engage with your locus, the more you will be
increasing your media literacy.
ii. Knowledge structures are sets of organized information.
a. The structure of the information allows us to create patterns.
The patterns help us interact with new information.
b. Not all information is useful for the creation of knowledge
structures.
Nonuseful information asks “what”?
Useful information addresses “how and why”?
iii. Skills help you construct knowledge structures.
a. Analysis is the breaking down of a message into meaningful
elements.
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b. Evaluation is making a judgment about the value of an element.
Evaluation involves comparing messages with standards.
i. If a message meets our standards, we accept it.
ii. If a message does not meet our standards, we can
deem it unacceptable.
Faulty beliefs are self-reinforcing.
i. People do not want to hear criticism of their beliefs.
ii. Over time, they are less tolerant of other beliefs.
c. Grouping is the skill we use to put elements into categories.
These categories are determined by comparing and
Classification rules help us organize content.
i. The media tell us what classification rules are.
ii. We still have to interpret those rules and accept or
reject them.
d. Induction is inferring from a small number of elements a general
pattern.
Media present sensationalized events rather than typical
events.
1. Less than 20% of crimes are violent assaults.
e. Deduction is using general patterns to explain specific events.
When we have faulty general principles, we will explain
specific events in a faulty manner.