Media Education Summit 2023 Highlights

Neil Andersen’s Media Education Summit 2023 Highlights

This was a very politicized gathering of people who are working hard to be woke. The conference theme derived from the work of Media Ecology Professor Antonio Lopez, who has been a long-time advocate for ecological thinking. The ecological/educological notion was woven through most of the conference activities. There were strong representations from marginalized groups and many discussions about social justice.

Ironically, the conference itself was an example of media bias as well as an examination of biases. But rather than subtly including them or trying to deny them, they were openly acknowledged. Specifically, ecological and social justice were openly foregrounded. 

Following are some of my conference highlights.

It was suggested—on more than one occasion—that media literacy education might be unwittingly contributing to the public distrust of journalism and government. Specifically, media literacy education encourages students to practice “healthy scepticism.” 

Healthy scepticism means that all information should be treated as suspect and interrogated before it is believed. If that position and practice becomes superficially mainstream, it could lead to a general distrust of authority or shift people from scepticism to cynicism. Dr. Michael Heochsmann made this observation in his workshop on the Ottawa truck protest. (Gateways and radicalization: The rhetoric of anti-vaxx) Dana Boyd has made a similar observation in You Think You Want Media Literacy… Do You?

What to do? 

How might media literacy education teachers prevent healthy scepticism from morphing into unhealthy cynicism? This is an ongoing conundrum and challenge for media literacy educators.

The issue of scepticism cf. cynicism needs to be addressed directly with students. 

Additionally, the roles of news media and politicians in affecting the shift from scepticism to cynicism needs to be explored. Some politicians work hard to discredit journalism so that they can promote specific agendas, some of which are not in the public interest. These factors must be revealed and analysed. 

Three Key Concepts apply: media construct versions of reality, audiences negotiate meanings and media contain values messages.

Drs. Amanda Levido and Michael Dezuanni (Queensland University of Technology) presented a Primary unit to help students understand and appreciate curating. (Developing children’s algorithmic literacies through curatorship as media literacy) 

They asked a group of Kindergarten students to photograph examples of technology in their school using an instant camera. Then they asked them to select and arrange the images on a clothesline, explaining why they had chosen and arranged the images as they had. It was a good example of supporting critical thinking among young students.

All too often adults mistakenly think that young children are not capable of understanding media literacy concepts. Children understand media construct reality and audiences negotiate meanings completely. 

They know that they live in a constructed world of toys, screens and schools. Teachers just need to identify and introduce concepts that are appropriate to their lived experiences. Using instant photos provided the children with means of communication appropriate to their thinking and abilities: they can’t yet read or write, so images and conversations are appropriate.

Dr. Julian McDougall convened a virtual panel (Creative Hubs, Activism and Media Literacy in the MENA Region). Sadly for me, it became an example of the ongoing friction between form and content. The international remote panelists were asked to respond to the same set of  questions. But the form intruded mercilessly on the content. We watched online heads trying to speak over great distances (the Middle East) in heavily-accented English or via translation. The voices were hard to hear in the large room because of the acoustics and we couldn’t read lips for confirmation of what we heard because we saw the whole panel as a mosaic of small images rather than one speaker on a large screen. 

It was great to include people from developing nations and who could not attend in person, but the technological challenges/effects obfuscated the content badly. Video and audio qualities must be high when such panels convene. Real-time subtitles can also be used when appropriate.

Storylistening’ as a methodology for peacebuilding among young survivors of conflict and their communities in Colombia.

Dr. Karen Fowler-Watt (Bournemouth University) presented a strategy used in a remote part of Columbia to help former child soldiers or war victims reintegrate into their communities. The idea grew from The Tree of Love, a book that was shared with the children. They were then asked to create their own versions of or additions to the story. The idea was to have them describe their traumas but also have the stories heard and acknowledged as part of the children’s psychic healing.

It was a powerful description of the usefulness of story and audience in the healing process. Telling our stories might be therapeutic, but teachers have to determine where the lines occur between healing and hurting. Sometimes children are not ready or do not want to be public about their traumas.

In YouTube as an ecology for peer pedagogies and media education – the case of Minecraft Let’s Player, Stampylonghead, Michael Dezuanni described the ongoing relationship between Stampy Longhead and his YouTube fans. It was a useful exegesis for me to understand and appreciate the interactions. It became especially interesting when Stampy was asked to create some ‘educational’ videos, which were much more didactic and speaker-centred than his usual output. Making ‘educational’ media is always perilous because the didacticism can easily overshadow the entertainment value and sabotage it, making it boring. It is more often better for educators to exploit entertaining media experiences for learning opportunities. All media are educational; teachers just need to imagine how to use them.

Media Literacy Education for Law Enforcement Professionals

Dr. Renee Hobbs described a project that she had done with a Texas police academy. The police trainers were using 136 videos in their courses. Looking at the videos through a media literacy or cultural lens revealed that many—if not all of them—communicated biases to the police trainees. The biases were predominantly racially focused; some were classicist. Dr. Hobbs pointed this out to the trainers and helped them to become more culturally sensitive.

I thought that it might be a mistake to remove the videos from the training program as compared to discussing and identifying the various biases they were presenting. Even flawed media can be a learning opportunity.

Canada is facing a similar dilemma: Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada’s first Prime Minister, has been identified as having practiced racism during his tenure. Specifically, he took decisions that starved and killed many Indigenous people and was a participant in Canada’s shameful Residential Schools. 

Canada is wrestling with what to do about the many statues erected to his memory as well as at least 5 schools and one major highway. Should these be removed/renamed? Or should they remain as testimony to previous injustices, with explanations appended to the plaques, etc. If Canada removes/renames, is it simultaneously  hiding its sins? Can the country grow if it erases these memories? Should it own its transgressions?

Appendix 

We took a short Barry’s Wander-inspired excursion to the John Fluevog shoe store, where Diana Maliszewski took one for the team by trying on 3 pairs. 

She is such a good sport!