I had two great mentors in my PhD program—David Bordwell and John Fiske. I learned with much pain and sadness that John Fiske has passed away (here is his obit). I was lucky to have been asked twice to write about John and his impact on the field of cultural studies. This morning, I find myself rereading one of the two essays which has a passage describing how John enter my … [Read more...] about In Remembrance: John Fiske—A Great Mentor
Blogs
René Magritte and Media Literacy
I do not believe that I would be farfetched in claiming that the Belgian Surrealist René Magritte’s painting The Treachery of Images(1928-1929) remains among the world’s most ubiquitous works of art. The image is familiar: a brown pipe with a black stem rests in front of a beige background. Magritte has given the pipe dimension: it curves smoothly and it seems to reflect an … [Read more...] about René Magritte and Media Literacy
Heuristics (…why we’re susceptible to disinformation)
With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, misinformation, or mistaken information, and disinformation, intentionally falsified information, became increasingly pervasive. Conspiracy theories saturated corners of the internet, wholly emerging into both political discourse and kitchen-table gossip. From outlandish claims that 5G cell phone towers spurred the pandemic to overtly … [Read more...] about Heuristics (…why we’re susceptible to disinformation)
A Tribute to a Grand Pioneer of Media Literacy Education: Marieli Rowe
Inspired, brilliant, empathetic, and classy are all words that describe my friend, mentor, and confidant — Marieli Rowe. She was at times for me the voice of reason and the one who supported many of my ideas and reflections on media literacy education…and much more. We met at Appalachian State University what seems like a lifetime ago. However, even before then, her name and … [Read more...] about A Tribute to a Grand Pioneer of Media Literacy Education: Marieli Rowe
Check Out The IC4ML Blog
IC4ML members share their thoughts and experiences about how they interact with media and information in our world, and how MIL shows up in everything we do. … [Read more...] about Check Out The IC4ML Blog
My Introduction to Media Literacy
I first came across media literacy not as an advocate nor as a teacher but as a high school senior in 2017. My junior year of high school coincided with the 2016 Presidential election. Buzzwords like “fake news” and “disinformation” saturated the pixels on my computer screen, and questions about journalistic integrity and objectivity permeated the very ink of the articles I … [Read more...] about My Introduction to Media Literacy
