{"id":25,"date":"2025-03-15T15:34:29","date_gmt":"2025-03-15T15:34:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/exploring\/front-matter\/what-is-digital-media-literacy\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T17:11:01","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T17:11:01","slug":"what-is-digital-media-literacy","status":"publish","type":"front-matter","link":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/exploring\/front-matter\/what-is-digital-media-literacy\/","title":{"raw":"What is Digital Media Literacy?","rendered":"What is Digital Media Literacy?"},"content":{"raw":"Digital media literacy is the ability to critically, effectively and responsibly access, use, understand and engage with media of all kinds.\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/XxVcRep1weI\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/exploring\/chapter\/medium-technology-genre\/\">Select this link to access a video description for people who are blind or low-vision<\/a>.\r\n\r\nMediaSmarts\u2019 definition of digital media literacy is based on the recognition that digital literacy does not replace or run parallel to media literacy but rather builds on it, while incorporating new concepts that arise from the difference between traditional and digital media \u2013 in particular, their networked nature. At the same time, many digital issues cannot be understood without the key concepts of traditional media literacy.\r\n\r\nMedia are powerful forces in the lives of youth. Music, TV, video games, social networks, online video, and other media all have a strong influence on how we see the world, an influence that often begins in infancy. To be engaged and critical media users and consumers, young people need to develop the skills and habits of digital media literacy. \u00a0These skills are being able to <em>access<\/em> media and navigate digital networks; to <em>analyze <\/em>and <em>evaluate <\/em>media in a critical way based on certain <em>key concepts;<\/em> to <em>use<\/em> digital and media tools to make media and for school, work, and personal interest; and to <em>engage <\/em>with media to express oneself and participate in online and offline communities.\r\n\r\nWhat does it mean to be media literate? The field of media literacy \u2013 which has both expanded to include digital literacy and been divided into sub-fields such as news literacy and advertising literacy \u2013 is sometimes described as being too broad to have a single definition, but this breadth is essential. Digital media literacy is not just about verifying information, or deconstructing stereotypes, or observing \u201cnetiquette,\u201d or about protecting your privacy online. Not only are these different aspects equally important, they are connected, in sometimes surprising ways: for example, the promotion of gender stereotypes to young children and data collection by social networks are both motivated by marketers\u2019 desire to target content and ads more accurately \u2013 and themselves have an impact on phenomena ranging from cyberbullying to misinformation. A media literate person, therefore, is someone with the skills, knowledge and critical capacity that are traditionally included in both \u201cmedia literacy\u201d and \u201cdigital literacy\u201d \u2013 and an understanding of the connections between them.\r\n\r\nAs well, digital media literacy is not one-dimensional: it is possible to be media literate in some ways but not others, and even media professionals often have a limited understanding of media representation issues or even the commercial realities of their own industries. Similarly, young people\u2019s enthusiasm for digital media masks a potential problem. Although they don\u2019t need coaxing to <em>take up<\/em> internet technologies and their skills quickly improve relative to their elders, without guidance they remain amateur users of digital technology. In order to be literate in today\u2019s media-rich environments, young people need to develop knowledge, values and a whole range of critical thinking, communication and information management skills for the digital age. As increasing numbers of businesses, services and even democratic processes migrate online, citizens who lack digital media literacy skills risk being disadvantaged when it comes to accessing healthcare, government services and opportunities for employment, education and civic participation.\r\n\r\nTo remain current and relevant, media education needs both to update the fundamentals of media literacy to reflect what\u2019s unique about digital media, and to apply media literacy practice to digital literacy: \u201cWhile learning how to use and manipulate digital technology is important, without an understanding of the role humans play in questioning, challenging and therefore shaping this techno-social system, then the scope of digital literacy is limited.\u201d\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>What is Media\u00a0Education?<\/strong>\r\n\r\nMedia education is the process through which individuals become media literate \u2013 able to critically understand the nature, techniques and impacts of media messages and\u00a0productions. In the words of digital media literacy scholar Sonia Livingstone, \u201cthe more that the media mediate everything in society \u2013 work, education, information, civic participation, social relationships and more \u2013 the more vital it is that people are informed about and critically able to judge what\u2019s useful or misleading, how they are regulated, when media can be trusted, and what commercial or political interests are at stake. In short, media literacy is needed not only to engage with the media but to engage with society through the media.\u201d\r\n\r\nMedia education acknowledges and builds on the positive, creative and pleasurable dimensions of popular culture, while also teaching young people how to manage the risks and impacts of digital and traditional media. It incorporates production of media texts and critical thinking about media to help us navigate through an increasingly complex media landscape. That landscape includes not only traditional and digital media, but also popular culture such as toys, fads, fashion, shopping malls and theme parks.\r\n\r\nBecause media issues are complex and often contradictory, the educator\u2019s role isn\u2019t to teach the right answers, but to help students ask the right questions.\r\n\r\nFor\u00a0example:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Who is the audience of a media work and why? From whose perspective is a story being\u00a0told?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>How do the unique elements of a specific genre affect what we see, hear or\u00a0read?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>How might different audiences interpret the same media work?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>How do the affordances and defaults of a digital tool influence how we use it? What might be the social and political implications of that influence?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nMedia education can involve considering a media work as a <em>text <\/em>or an <em>artifact.<\/em> Analyzing a work as a <em>text <\/em>means focusing on its content and the ways in which its authors direct our attention and communicate meaning, while treating it as an <em>artifact <\/em>means thinking about its context: who created it and why, its relation to similar works, how different audiences might interpret it differently, and so on.\r\n\r\nBoth approaches are important and reinforce one another: even if your interest as a teacher is mainly in analyzing media as artifacts, students need to do some analysis of them as texts to meaningfully discuss their broader context. Some context around <em>why<\/em> media works are made is also essential to understanding <em>how <\/em>they are made. In this way, digital media literacy helps students become \u201cexpert readers\u201d of both traditional and digital media: \u201cChildren can be taught about visual codes and semiotic conventions, and they may also be taught about the institutions that produce these texts and the wider circuit of culture in which they become meaningful.\u201d\r\n\r\nMedia education addresses both the <em>cognitive <\/em>and <em>affective <\/em>aspects of digital media literacy \u2013 how media make us <em>think <\/em>and how they make us <em>feel<\/em>. Whether we\u2019re managing online conflicts or learning to recognize our own confirmation bias, learning to identify and question our assumptions, emotions and beliefs \u2013 and understanding why we should do so \u2013 is an essential part of media education as well. As Erica Rosenthal put it, \u201cknowledge and skills provide the raw materials, but motivation provides the fuel.\u201d\r\n\r\nAnother important element of media education is giving students a chance to <em>make <\/em>media. Where it once took a very definite back seat to critical media analysis, carried out largely to provide a deeper understanding of media and genre with the expectation that very few students would go on to create media for themselves (either for personal or professional purposes), today nearly all young people create and publish media works of one kind or another on platforms with little or no barriers to entry and educators are scrambling to teach them to apply critical and ethical thinking. As well as being highly engaging, media-making can be a vehicle for student creativity and a way for them to demonstrate their learning.\r\n<div><\/div>\r\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ZHAFcjX0Zpg\r\n<div>\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/exploring\/chapter\/myths-about-creativity\/\">Select this link to access a video description for people who are blind or low-vision<\/a>.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Key Concepts for Digital Media\u00a0Literacy<\/strong>\r\n\r\nMediaSmarts\u2019 approach to digital media literacy, and media education in Canada in general, draw on a number of distinct scholarly traditions and theoretical approaches. The earliest and most influential school of media education in the Canadian K-12 context is the <em>key concepts<\/em> approach, which was inspired by the work of Len Masterman and developed into curriculum and support materials by Ontario practitioners including Barry Duncan and John Pungente. This approach embraced Masterman\u2019s contention that : \u201cyou can teach about the media most effectively, not through a content-centered approach, but through the application of a conceptual framework which can help pupils to make sense of any media text \u2026The acid test of whether a media course has been successful resides in the students\u2019 ability to respond critically to media texts they will encounter in the future.\u201d\r\n\r\nThese key concepts were a way of integrating and synthesizing different theoretical approaches to media, and making them usable and comprehensible in a K-12 context. The key concept that <em>media are constructions that re-present reality<\/em>, for instance, primarily draws on the theory of <em>framing <\/em>as articulated by Goffman, which holds that our view of the world \u2013 our \u201cframework\u201d \u2013 is shaped in part by the media we consume and influences our views of what is frequent or infrequent, what is normal or abnormal, et cetera. (Empirical research has supported this idea, finding that media influence audiences\u2019 ideas of reality on subjects ranging from what drowning looks like to correct kitchen hygiene.) Agenda-setting theory elaborates on this, showing that <em>how <\/em>a media work \u201cframes\u201d its subject \u2013 what is included and what is left out, whose perspectives are represented and whose voices are heard, which characters the audience is invited to sympathize with \u2013 have as much or more impact on our views as more explicit \u201cmessages.\u201d (Indeed, fiction and entertainment media may be more influential on individual attitudes and public opinion that news or other informational media: one study found that while exposure to news stories about trans people had no effect on audiences\u2019 views, seeing a trans character in a scripted TV series made people more likely to have supportive attitudes towards trans people \u2013 an effect that was even more powerful among those whose attitudes had been more negative to begin with.)\r\n\r\nSimilarly, the concept that <em>media have social and political implications <\/em>draws heavily on the critical literacy tradition, which focuses on students \u201cabilities to criticize stereotypes, dominant values, and ideologies, and competencies to interpret the multiple meanings and messages generated by media texts\u201d while the concept that <em>each medium has a unique aesthetic form <\/em>is based on Marshall McLuhan\u2019s insight that \u201cthe nature of the medium shapes what \u2018content\u2019 works best through it.\u201d Stuart Hall\u2019s then-recent paper \u201cEncoding\/Decoding,\u201d which argued that \u201cviewers may \u2018decode\u2019 meaning in ways other than those in which producers \u2018encode\u2019 it \u2026 [and] \u2018readers\u2019 of popular culture may interpret from within dominant ideology, but they can also reserve the right \u2018to make a more negotiated application\u2019 or to read oppositionally,\u201d inspired the key concept that <em>audiences negotiate meaning<\/em>. (This last has been given empirical support by research into the Differential Susceptibility to Media Effects Model or DSMM, which has identified three different factors that can influence one\u2019s susceptibility to media effects, as well as three states \u2013 cognitive, emotional, and excitative \u2013 that can mediate media them. In effect, the DSMM suggests that audiences <em>are always negotiating meaning<\/em>, but can also learn to do so more consciously and intentionally.)\r\n\r\nThough the key concepts approach proved to be highly influential both within Canada and internationally, other approaches found in curricula and classrooms across the country highlight some of its gaps and limitations. Media education in British Columbia, for example, emphasized media <em>production <\/em>much more than in Ontario, taking the approach that \u201ceducating young people about the media (its ideological function, its constructed nature, its commercial agenda, etc.) is important, but this will not be accomplished by critical deconstruction alone.\u201d Focused as it is on an <em>intellectual <\/em>engagement with media, this approach also does not address students\u2019 <em>affective <\/em>interactions with media, such as fear reactions, which are of particular importance for younger children.\r\n\r\nFinally, the key concepts (eight in the original formulation, five as synthesized by MediaSmarts in Canada and the Center for Media Literacy in the United States) have their roots in a media environment where producing and distributing media were expensive and time-consuming and, as a result, were limited to a small number of groups, primarily large corporations and governments. The \u201cflow\u201d of media was also primarily one-way: aside from unusual acts such as writing a letter of complaint, audiences had few opportunities to interact with those large media producers, or to exchange media with one another without a large media producer as an intermediary.\r\n\r\nThe advent of networked digital media changed both of those circumstances, and the relationship between audiences and media, in fundamental ways. First, it changed media <em>production <\/em>from a time-consuming process requiring expensive and frequently bulky tools to one that is inexpensive, portable and relatively easy (to underscore this fact, all of the top five favourite online platforms among Canadian youth in 2023 \u2013 YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat \u2013 feature primarily content created by their users, not commercial media producers.) Media <em>distribution <\/em>was changed even more radically, as both digital format and high-speed networked connections made it possible for audiences to not only become media creators but to bring their creations to audiences potentially as large as those for traditional media, and also to interact with others. The range of students\u2019 media experiences, therefore, expanded from being primarily <em>consumers <\/em>to include activities like creation, curation, socializing, activism, annotation and criticism, collaboration, and darker forms of engagement such as bullying or participation in hate groups.\r\n\r\nAs a result of these changes in the media environment, many scholars feel that \u201cdigital and media literacy should be taught as literacy and\u2026 the fields of digital and media literacies can no longer exist in isolation from each other.\u201d Integrating digital and media literacy means supplementing the original key concepts with different approaches, primarily drawn from different traditions. One of these is the school variously called New Literacies, Multiliteracies, 21st Century Literacies and Transliteracy, which emphasizes preparing students to <em>participate <\/em>in networked environments. The other is the line in science and technology studies that leads through Actor-Network Theory to the Mechanisms and Conditions Framework, which investigates the impact of our media tools \u2013 specifically, their real or imagined <em>affordances <\/em>(what can be done with them) and <em>defaults <\/em>(what is obvious or expected to be done with them) on how we use them, and their consequent effects on those with whom we interact and on our communities and society. As with media effects, however, these impacts are not inevitable, and can be negotiated: \u201cTechnologies may affect human life in myriad and sometimes profound ways, yet outcomes are never certain and can be disrupted, thwarted, and circumvented to sometimes surprising ends\u2026 This perspective resists designations of either human subjects or technological objects as autonomous and effectual and instead positions human-technology dynamics as necessarily relational.\u201d\r\n\r\nPut together, these differences between traditional and networked media require an expansion of the original key concepts. Just as the concept that <em>media are constructions <\/em>leads to the other four (or seven) by implication, the concept that <em>digital media are networked <\/em>implies four consequent concepts: that <em>digital media are shareable and persistent <\/em>(because of the ease of copying and distributing them), that <em>digital media have unanticipated audiences <\/em>(because the linked nature of digital networks can easily lead any audience to any content), that <em>interactions through digital media can have real impact <\/em>(because when we use them we are interacting with other individuals, in communities, or both) and that <em>digital media experiences are shaped by the tools we use<\/em>, in particular their affordances and defaults. (Though a departure from traditional media education, this last key concept actually returns to Marshall McLuhan\u2019s insight that \u201cwe shape our tools and thereafter they shape us.\u201d These additional key concepts help to identify new competencies that media education must develop (such as the ability to access media and to use media tools), new topics that students must learn about (such as privacy and the ethical dimensions of interacting online) and new approaches to existing subjects (such as teaching companion reading as a step before deeper critical engagement with an informational text.)\r\n<div><\/div>\r\nKey concepts:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Provide teachers with a theoretical basis for developing their own media literacy activities, even if they are not media studies specialists. While a focus on the key concepts should certainly not be taken as a justification not to provide more thorough media and digital literacy training, it at least gives teachers and students a way to start asking questions. Similarly, while they do not excuse a lack of digital technology in schools, they make it possible to do digital media literacy without technology \u2013 and give teachers the freedom and flexibility to decide when digital literacy might be better taught with little or no use of digital technology, as well as the ability to teach digital media literacy when access to technology is limited or unavailable.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Provide a common language for creating and sharing resources. Teachers in every province and territory, and around the world, can refer to the key concepts when designing and sharing lessons or activities.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Provide a learning path as children mature and develop. Because these concepts are so fundamental, students can learn them in ways that are appropriate for their developmental stages.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Allow students to transfer the skills they learn to different contexts. For example, teaching students to authenticate information for class work teaches them how to do it in school contexts, but not how \u2013 or <em>why <\/em>\u2013 to do it in other situations. A key concepts approach provides an organizing principle in which the skills specific to different disciplines and contexts can be applied.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Give teachers tools to develop their own materials and adapt materials to their students\u2019 needs.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Allow teachers to add a digital media literacy component to existing lessons or activities.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Put students in the position of content or technology experts, freeing teachers to train them to think more critically.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Keep resources from becoming obsolete when students\u2019 media habits change. Because the specific content is generally less important than students\u2019 understanding of the key concepts, in many cases keeping an activity up-to-date is just a matter of finding more recent examples.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nWhen activities do need more extensive updating, key concepts help us identify why the current approach doesn\u2019t work and develop new approaches that will. For example, early media literacy approaches to verifying information, such as the CRAAP test, were developed at a time when it was expensive to create media, and a small number of gatekeepers controlled most distribution, so it made sense to judge sources primarily through close reading \u2013 analysing them for tone, bias, use of loaded language and so on. In today\u2019s networked media environment, though, information overload is the problem, so students now need to learn to triage their sources first, using networked tools for <em>companion reading <\/em>to quickly determine which are worth <em>close reading<\/em> and which aren\u2019t.\r\n\r\nMost importantly, key concepts provide a lens for analyzing any media text or experience. Sometimes, particularly with younger children, a single concept will be enough to help us understand something; more often, two or more \u2018lenses\u2019 will be applied together, or the tension between two lenses may be explored.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong> Media are\u00a0constructions <\/strong>\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=baftkjc5gKs&amp;list=PLC-psp4a5OptHCIH-YYTgvWtHTKaDlMqV&amp;index=2\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/exploring\/chapter\/media-are-constructions\/\">Select this link to access a video description for people who are blind or low-vision<\/a>.\r\n\r\nWe instinctively see media as being like <em>windows<\/em>, allowing an unfiltered view of the world. In fact, though, media are <em>frames<\/em> that select and direct our attention. Media works are <strong>created <\/strong>by individuals who make choices about what to include, what to leave out and how to present what is included.\r\n\r\nEvery aspect of a media work is the result of a choice, but not all choices are free or conscious. Decisions are based on the creators\u2019 own point of view, which will have been shaped by their opinions, assumptions and biases \u2013 as well as media they have been exposed to. As a result of this, while we instinctively view many media works as direct representations of what is\u00a0real, media works are never entirely accurate reflections of the real world: even the most objective journalist or documentary filmmaker has to decide what footage to use and what to cut, as well as where to put the camera. The fact that we see a puppet as a person, for instance \u2013 even when we see the puppeteer \u2013 shows how much our minds see media as reality. The instinct to see them as real, even when we see evidence they aren\u2019t, is why it\u2019s so important to ask critical questions about the realities that media show us.\r\n\r\n<em>Sample questions to ask: <\/em>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Who created this media\u00a0work?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>What is its\u00a0purpose?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>What assumptions or beliefs do its creators have that are reflected in the content?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong> Media have commercial implications<\/strong>\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=RdkH0GwJy6A&amp;list=PLC-psp4a5OptHCIH-YYTgvWtHTKaDlMqV&amp;index=4\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/exploring\/chapter\/media-have-commercial-implications\/\">Select this link to access a video description for people who are blind or low-vision<\/a>.\r\n\r\nMost media production is a business and must, therefore, make a profit. In addition, media industries belong to a powerful network of corporations that exert influence on content and distribution. Questions of ownership and control are central \u2013 a relatively small number of individuals control what we watch, read and hear in the media. Even in cases where media content is not made for profit \u2013 such as YouTube videos and Facebook posts \u2013 the ways in which content is distributed are nearly always run with profit in mind. However, commercial pressure is not just one-way: \u201cthe professional production of media follows an industrial logic, with a highly structured and routinized production pipeline and process, while at the same time undergoing constant change to accommodate fickle audiences that are increasingly less likely to congregate as a \u2018mass\u2019 around content.\u201d As well, the conventional wisdom in an industry may be more influential than the actual commercial reality: for instance, despite the fact that films that have at least two Black directors, producers or screenwriters earn an average of ten per cent more than those that don\u2019t, Black people are still heavily under-represented in Hollywood \u2013 at an estimated cost of $10 billion dollars US per year.\r\n\r\nUnderstanding the business model of a media work\u2019s maker is key to analyzing it. For instance, while news outlets may be influenced by the views or interests of their owners, their content is much more affected by a commercial consideration: the views of their audience. News outlets can appeal to audiences by providing news that is accurate, news that is entertaining, and news that affirms and reinforces audiences\u2019 identities. Most outlets provide at least some of each of these, but understanding which one most affects a particular outlet\u2019s bottom line is key to critically engaging with them: the more people know about how the news industry actually works, for instance, the less likely they are to believe in conspiracy theories.\r\n\r\nSimilarly, understanding the business model of an online platform such as a search engine or social network is vital to recognizing what implications using it might have for your privacy and what purposes their algorithms might have been optimized for. For example, a search engine that is optimized more for <em>relevance <\/em>\u2013 giving you the information it thinks you want to see \u2013 will deliver different results than one that weights <em>accurate and reliable <\/em>results more heavily. Similarly, nearly all social networks and entertainment sites are optimized to keep you <em>engaged <\/em>with the site, encouraging you to stay on them longer and return more often.\r\n\r\n<em>Sample questions to ask:<\/em>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>What is the commercial purpose of this media work (in other words, how will it help someone make\u00a0money)?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>How does this influence the content and how it\u2019s\u00a0communicated?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>How did considerations of cost influence how the work was made (casting, special effects, coding, etc.)?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>How do those purposes influence the content and how it\u2019s\u00a0communicated?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Media have social and political\u00a0implications<\/strong>\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=YZi6s22yktw&amp;list=PLC-psp4a5OptHCIH-YYTgvWtHTKaDlMqV&amp;index=5\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/exploring\/chapter\/media-have-social-and-political-implications\/\">Select this link to access a video description for people who are blind or low-vision<\/a>.\r\n\r\n\u201cPoets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world.\u201d <em>Percy Bysshe Shelley<\/em>\r\n\r\nWhether and how media affect us is one of the oldest and most contentious questions in media studies. While few scholars still believe that media will affect everyone in the same way, research has shown repeatedly that they do influence us. In some cases the impact is direct: one study found more than half of Americans had done something based on seeing something in a movie or TV show, and one-third had looked for more information about an issue after seeing it handled in fiction. More often, though, media effects are more indirect: media convey ideological messages about values, power and authority.\r\n\r\nWho or what is absent in media may be more important than what or who is included. These messages may be the result of conscious decisions, but more often they are the result of unconscious biases and unquestioned assumptions \u2013 and they can have a significant influence on what we think and\u00a0believe.\r\n\r\nAs a result, media have great influence on politics and social change through what is called <em>agenda-setting<\/em>: as political scientist Bernard Cohen put it, media \u201cmay not be successful much of the time in telling people what to think, but is stunningly successful in telling its readers what to think <em>about<\/em>.\u201d TV news coverage and advertising can greatly influence the election of a national leader on the basis of image; representations of world issues, both in journalism and fiction, can affect how much attention they receive; and society\u2019s views towards different groups can be directly influenced by how \u2013 and how often \u2013 they appear in\u00a0media.\r\n\r\nAs with commercial considerations, social and political implications often work in both directions. The political leanings of news outlets, for instance, are more influenced by their audience than their owners, and audiences on both sides typically feel that media are biased against them. As a result, it\u2019s not generally worth giving too much attention to media makers\u2019 <em>motivations<\/em> for social and political implications. No text is neutral: while the creators\u2019 intentions are not irrelevant, there is very little difference between the impact of a representation intended by the creator and one that is an unconscious product of their assumptions, their sense of what the audience wants, commercial considerations, industry conventional wisdom and so on. In fact, unintended implications can be more powerful because they are less obvious, and therefore less likely to trigger the audience\u2019s critical thinking.\r\n\r\nThis concept and the previous one are good examples of how different concepts may be in tension. While advertisers have their own political goals, most often these act as a counterbalance to the partisan leanings of a news outlet. A good gauge of a news source\u2019s reliability, therefore, might be \u201cHow far outside of the audience\u2019s political comfort zone is an outlet willing to go in the name of accurate reporting?\u201d\r\n\r\n<em>Sample questions to ask:<\/em>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Who and what is shown in a positive light? In a negative\u00a0light?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Why might these people and things be shown this\u00a0way?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Who and what is not shown at\u00a0all? What voices, perspectives, and experiences are missing?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>What conclusions might audiences draw based on the above?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>What are the views of the expected audience? How might those influence the media work?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong> Audiences negotiate meaning<\/strong>\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=goyXz1VmhWA&amp;list=PLC-psp4a5OptHCIH-YYTgvWtHTKaDlMqV&amp;index=6\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/exploring\/chapter\/audiences-negotiate-meaning\/\">Select this link to access a video description for people who are blind or low-vision.<\/a>\r\n\r\nThe meaning of any media work is not created solely by its producers but is, instead, a collaboration between them and the audience \u2013 which means that different audiences can take away different meanings from the same work. Just as media works are never neutral, the way we read them is not neutral either:\r\n\r\nEach time we read, write, or create, we draw from our past experiences and understanding about how the world works\u2026 If you agree with a text, it is easy to read it sympathetically and hard to read it critically. However, if you find a text offensive, it is hard to engage with it. But we have to do both: we have to engage with texts on their own terms \u2013 both to learn from them and to critique them \u2013 and we have to recognize that our identities shape how we consume and produce texts.\r\n\r\nThe interaction between this key concept and the previous one was well summarized by Kathleen Hall Jamieson of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania: \u201cProlonged exposure to media messages\u2026 has an impact on attitudes, but viewers also come predisposed to certain beliefs, and\u2026 producers are attuned to what their viewers want to hear.\u201d Media literacy encourages us to understand how individual factors, such as age, gender, race and social status affect our interpretations of\u00a0media.\r\n\r\nHowever, it is important not to overstate the freedom that we have in negotiating meaning. Audiences, especially those from groups that have traditionally been marginalized in media industries, do engage in \u201cresistant reading,\u201d interpreting works in ways that are directly contrary to the generally received meaning; it is nevertheless true that, as bell hooks put it, \u201cwhile audiences are clearly not passive and are able to pick and choose, it is simultaneously true that there are certain \u2018received\u2019 messages that are rarely mediated by the will of the audience.\u201d\r\n\r\nIn other words, while we don\u2019t automatically accept the surface meaning of media works, most of us will take away a meaning that is fairly close to it. Only a small number of people, mostly those whose identity or experience lead them to a resistant reading \u2013 such as women, racialized or 2SLGBTQ people and others that have historically been mis- and under-represented in media \u2013 will have a significantly different interpretation. Until members of these groups have more meaningful participation in the media industries, however, neither the portrayals nor the mainstream audience\u2019s interpretation of them are likely to change.\r\n\r\nSimilarly, some works are more congenial to resistant readings than others: in most video games, for instance, \u2018resistant play\u2019 \u2013 choosing actions other than the ones the designers assume you will take \u2013 will prevent you from progressing very far in the game. This illustrates the connection between this key concept and the next, that each medium has a unique aesthetic form.\r\n\r\n<em>Sample questions to ask:<\/em>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>How might different people see this media work differently?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>How does this make you feel, based on how similar or different you are from the people portrayed in the media\u00a0work?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>How were the media makers influenced by their perception of the intended audience?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>What alternative readings are possible?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>How does the medium or genre influence how easy or hard it is to \u201cread against the text\u201d?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Each medium has a unique aesthetic\u00a0form<\/strong>\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=d76X-uCy7No&amp;list=PLC-psp4a5OptHCIH-YYTgvWtHTKaDlMqV&amp;index=3\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/exploring\/chapter\/each-medium-has-a-unique-aesthetic-form\/\">Select this link to access a video description for people who are blind or low-vision<\/a>.\r\n\r\n<em>The content of media depends in part on the nature of the medium. <\/em>This includes the technical, commercial and storytelling demands of each medium: for instance, the interactive nature of video games leads to different forms of storytelling \u2013 and different demands on media creators \u2013 than what are found in film and\u00a0TV. Different media require different levels of \u2018literacy\u2019 to understand them, as they rely on codes and conventions to communicate meaning. Some, such as television, are made to be as accessible as possible, while others like film or comics may use techniques that take more familiarity to decode, and a few (such as video games) require you to master specialized skills to see all of their content. (Many <em>genres <\/em>have specialized codes and conventions, as well.)\r\n\r\nAll media and genres have \u2018rules of notice\u2019 that creators use to direct our attention (such as cuts and close-ups) and inflect our experience (such as angles and music), which we can learn to recognize and analyze. Learning the \u2018language\u2019 of a medium is necessary to gather evidence to support an interpretation, but it can have more immediate applications as well: for example, learning to recognize the surface features which most of us use to judge the reliability of a website \u2013 as well as knowing that spreaders of misleading information deliberately use those features to fool us \u2013 is an essential part of learning to recognize what <em>is <\/em>true online.\r\n\r\nSince \u201cchannel surfing\u201d became the norm in the cable news era, the media experience has shifted from <em>show <\/em>to <em>flow<\/em>, and on platforms such as YouTube, Netflix and TikTok that is now the default. This means our analysis of form, codes and conventions must be applied not just to specific media works but to the entire medium: TV ads, for example, were relatively easy to confront because they interrupted the show, but today\u2019s influencer ads don\u2019t interrupt the flow.\r\n\r\n<em>Sample questions to ask:<\/em>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>What techniques does the media work use to get your attention and to communicate its\u00a0message?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>In what ways are the images in the media work manipulated through various techniques (for example: lighting, makeup, camera angle, photo\u00a0manipulation)?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>What are the expectations of the <em>genre<\/em> (for example: print advertising, TV dramas, reaction videos, Instagram stories) towards its\u00a0subject?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Digital media are networked<\/strong>\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=b-HXiObDDnA&amp;list=PLC-psp4a5OpuMPbF9PKwE_MwbA23vY8eB&amp;index=2\r\n<div>\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/exploring\/chapter\/digital-media-are-networked\/\">Select this link to access a video description for people who are blind or low-vision<\/a>.\r\n\r\nIn traditional media, content only flowed one way: producers created it, then sold or licensed it to distributors who then brought it to you. In digital media, by contrast, you\u2019re no longer the final link in a distribution chain but a node in the middle of an infinite network. You can share content with other people as easily as a producer or distributor shares it with you. Collaboration and dialogue are the norm, rather than solitary creation and\u00a0broadcasting, and sometimes change the content that we see.\r\n\r\nFor a medium to be networked it must have three characteristics:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>All nodes must be <em>connected<\/em> or connectable (though there may be many intervening nodes)<\/li>\r\n \t<li>It must be possible to send (and receive) messages to and from <em>multiple <\/em>nodes at once (many-to-many)<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Connections must be two-way: it must be possible for nodes to <em>interact<\/em> (though that interactivity may be made asymmetrical \u2013 people on Twitter don\u2019t automatically follow you, for example. As well, networked platforms can limit your ability to interact; your options for consciously interacting with Netflix are limited, but information \u2013 such as what you like to watch \u2013 still flows back to them on their terms)<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nPower in networks is not hierarchical, but neither is it evenly distributed: it rests in the nodes with the most \u2013 and most asymmetrical \u2013 links. This means that those who had gatekeeping power in the old media environment have had their influence reduced, but not eliminated. Power in networks can be imagined in terms of <em>betweenness<\/em> and <em>closeness<\/em>: betweenness \u201cmeasures the control a node has over what flows in the network,\u201d while closeness \u201cmeasures how easily a node can access what is available via the network\u2026 A combination where a node has easy access to others, while controlling the access of other nodes in the network, reveals high informal power.\u201d\r\n\r\nThese links are always at least two-way, even if you\u2019re not aware of the ways you\u2019re sending data. This means that everyone and everything is linked to everything else. As a result, the barriers to participation are much lower than in traditional media and anyone can publish content and find an audience. This means that there is a much greater range of choice for media consumers,\u00a0 but this choice can be overwhelming. As a result, consumers have largely moved from letting their media experiences be curated by book publishers, movie studios and television networks to having them curated by recommendation algorithms \u2013 with the difference being that this curation mostly happens without our knowing it. This is why understanding how our media experiences are curated and being able to take a more active role in choosing and engaging with media is a fundamental digital media literacy skill. In the old media environment, the main focus of media literacy was on how different groups were represented; while this remains important, it is now equally important to consider how and to what extent different groups are able to <em>participate<\/em> in networked media.\r\n\r\nThe networked nature of digital media also means that users can interact with peers and celebrities at the same time, and also has important implications when we need to authenticate information or recognize a source\u2019s bias and point of view. The networked nature of digital media also makes it possible for formal and informal communities to develop online, and for the members of those communities to shape their norms and values.\r\n\r\n<em>Sample questions to ask:<\/em>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Where does this work sit in the network? What networked tools can you use to help interact with or interpret it?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Who has control over what passes between nodes of this network? Who has influence?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>What is easy to access through this network? What is more difficult?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>How are you expected to interact with this message?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>How might the expected interactions influence how it was made?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Digital media are shareable and persistent<\/strong>\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=0YCiVpfRBkU&amp;list=PLC-psp4a5OpuMPbF9PKwE_MwbA23vY8eB&amp;index=3\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/exploring\/chapter\/digital-media-are-shareable-and-persistent\/\">Select this link to access a video description for people who are blind or low-vision<\/a>.\r\n\r\nDigital content is permanent: everything that is transmitted is stored somewhere and can be searched for and indexed. When considered together with the concept that digital media are networked, this means that most of this content can also be copied, shared or spread at a trivial cost. Even things that are apparently temporary (like Snapchat photos) can be copied, and are almost always stored on the platform\u2019s\u00a0servers. However, some networks are more open to sharing than others, and networks often make some things easier to share more widely (typically through sorting and recommendation algorithms) and add <em>friction <\/em>to make some things harder to share.\r\n\r\nBecause it\u2019s persistent, digital content is mostly consumed asynchronously: we typically react or reply to something at a time other than when it\u2019s posted, and reactions to our reactions will also come at a later, usually unpredictable time. This can make digital media hard to turn off, since a reaction \u2013 or a chance for us to respond to something \u2013 may come at any\u00a0time.\r\n\r\n<em>Sample questions to ask:<\/em>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>How did this work reach you? Was it because you are mutual friends with the maker, because you follow the maker, because someone else shared it with you, or because you found it in a different\u00a0way? How did the architecture of the platform (such as a recommendation algorithm) influence how it was delivered to you?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>What might make it easier or harder to share this message?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>If you made the work, how did you share it? How did that influence how you made\u00a0it?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Was the work meant to be shared widely? If so, what did the maker do to encourage others to share it? If not, what did the maker do to try to limit people\u2019s ability to share or copy\u00a0it?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Digital media have unexpected audiencezs<\/strong>\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ZsOTTBY5c9o&amp;list=PLC-psp4a5OpuMPbF9PKwE_MwbA23vY8eB&amp;index=4\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/exploring\/chapter\/digital-media-have-unexpected-audiences\/\">Select this link to access a video description for people who are blind or low-vision<\/a>.\r\n\r\nBecause digital media are networked and digital content is shareable, what you share online may be seen by people you didn\u2019t intend or expect to see it. Your ability to control who sees what is limited: both content creators and traditional gatekeepers and distributors have much less power to control what happens to it once it\u2019s posted. This can make it difficult to manage audiences, and there is always a risk of <em>context collapse<\/em> when what was intended for one audience is seen by another. As well, you may be sharing content that you\u2019re not aware of with audiences you don\u2019t know about, such as cookies and other tracking tools that record information about who you are and what you do when you visit a\u00a0website.\r\n\r\nThe networked nature of digital media means that it is also easy for users to be unexpected audiences and see content that wasn\u2019t intended for them \u2013 or that they didn\u2019t want to see. Rather than seeking out content, frequently our task is now to <em>limit <\/em>what content we are exposed to. (In fact, young people are primarily concerned with <em>avoiding <\/em>upsetting content online rather than seeking it out.) Recommendation algorithms can also deliver unwanted or unexpected or unexpected content, which may sometimes include misinformation or hate material. Who is \u2013 and isn\u2019t \u2013 shown what content can have serious impacts on opportunity (for instance, by showing a job ad to some people and not others), income (by offering a higher price based on what operating system you are using, for example), society (such as reinforcing stereotypes by training an algorithm on biased data) and liberty (subjecting some people to more surveillance than others, for example, or downranking particular kinds of content.)\r\n\r\nBecause digital media is networked, it also means that each of us is a node in the network, with the ability to share content with the people connected to us. This means that there is always an <em>ethical <\/em>aspect to what we do online \u2013 which demonstrates the connection between this concept and the next one.\r\n\r\n<em>Sample questions to ask:<\/em>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Who was the intended audience for the work? How did the intended audience influence how it was made? (For example, how would a photo you post for your friends to see be different from one for your parents, or a romantic\u00a0partner?)<\/li>\r\n \t<li>How might the work be interpreted differently if it was seen by an audience other than the one it was meant\u00a0for?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Were you the intended audience for the work? If so, how did that affect how you responded to it? If not, how did the work reach\u00a0you?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>How might the networks have made this work more or less likely to reach you?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Which users or messages are <em>whitelisted <\/em>(exempted from being deleted, downranked or fact-checked) by default, and which are <em>blacklisted<\/em>?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>How might the creators or distributors of this work have made it more or less likely to reach you?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>What things are you <em>not <\/em>being shown as result of recommendation algorithms?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>What might happen if the work was seen by unexpected audiences, now or in the future?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>What responsibilities do you have as a sharer of networked content?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Interactions through digital media can have real impact<\/strong>\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=V2mrvhMY4QA&amp;list=PLC-psp4a5OpuMPbF9PKwE_MwbA23vY8eB&amp;index=5\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/exploring\/chapter\/digital-media-experiences-are-shaped-by-the-tools-we-use\/\">Select this link to access a video description for people who are blind or low-vision.<\/a>\r\n\r\nBeing networked means that all digital media are, to at least a certain extent, interactive: we are never just passive viewers but always a part of what\u2019s happening. That means that what we do has a real impact on other people, because we are actually interacting with them. We often respond to things online as though we are really there, but most of the cues that tell us how we and others feel are absent. One result of this can be <em>empathy traps<\/em>, features of networked interaction \u2013 such as a feeling of being anonymous, or the absence of cues such as tone of voice or facial expressions in the people we interact with \u2013 that prevent us from feeling empathy when we normally would, and these traps can make us forget that what we do online can have real consequences. For the same reasons, it can be very difficult to determine someone\u2019s actual meaning and motivation when interacting with them online.\r\n\r\nPartly because of this, and also because of the lack of physical presence online (we may not even entirely feel we\u2019re \u201cin\u201d our bodies, as we\u2019re usually sitting and immobile when using digital media), it\u2019s easy to forget that laws, morals and rights still apply online. The norms and values of the online communities we\u2019re part of can also affect our own personal norms and values, as the values of our offline communities do, but because we don\u2019t always know how many people are in the community we are especially susceptible to the \u201cmajority illusion,\u201d in which a small number of loud voices can seem like they\u2019re speaking for the group. Taken together with the lowered barriers to publication discussed above, this can also mean that the people and images we interact with online impact us as much or more than images in traditional media because they are (or seem to be) our peers. The images of ourselves we create online have an extra impact on us because they embody who we imagine (or wish) ourselves to\u00a0be.\r\n\r\nBut there are important positive aspects to this, as well. The interactive nature of networked media allows everyone, even youth, to be fully engaged citizens online, and to take part in shaping the norms and values of our online communities \u2013 and to use networked tools to make a difference in our offline communities.\r\n\r\n<em>Sample questions to ask:<\/em>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>What are the norms and values of your online communities? Do I agree with them? If not, what can I do to shape them?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>What are the possible moral and ethical consequences of different online actions?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>How can we remind ourselves to feel empathy for people we\u2019re interacting with online? What strategies can we use to moderate conflict?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>How can we use networked tools to make a difference in our online and offline communities?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Digital media experiences are shaped by the tools we use<\/strong>\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=8AXiTZ6LQfs&amp;list=PLC-psp4a5OpuMPbF9PKwE_MwbA23vY8eB&amp;index=6\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/exploring\/chapter\/digital-media-experiences-are-shaped-by-the-tools-we-use\/\">Select this link to access a video description for people who are blind or low-vision.<\/a>\r\n\r\nOne of the most fundamental insights of media literacy is that the form of a medium influences how we \u201cread\u201d or experience a text. While this remains true in digital media, the network effect means that the architecture of a platform \u2013 everything from the user interface we interact with to the algorithms that determine how it delivers content to us \u2013 affects not just the meaning and message of digital media but also our own behaviour when using them. These can be analyzed in terms of <em>affordances <\/em>(what a tool enables you to do) and <em>defaults <\/em>(what is easy and expected to do with it.) The two of these combine to create <em>choice architectures <\/em>that make some uses possible or easier, others harder or impossible, and steer the user\u2019s behaviour by <em>requesting, demanding, encouraging, discouraging, refusing and allowing <\/em>certain actions.\r\n\r\nThough it is possible to make \u201cresistant\u201d use of a networked tool \u2013 either by changing or \u201chacking\u201d its affordances, or by using it in ways outside of its defaults \u2013 in general the vast majority of people adopt the default use; for this reason, defaults can be as (or more) important than affordances. There is, as a result, a constant tension between the user\u2019s desires and the affordances of the platform: the less the platform was designed with you in mind, the greater the tension. Teens may choose to post casual photos on Snapchat and more formal ones on Instagram, for instance, based on how they see the two platforms serving their purposes differently, but they are also being influenced by the structure of those platforms: Snapchat, where photos are temporary by default, creates an expectation of being casual and \u201cfun,\u201d while Instagram\u2019s persistent feed promotes the careful maintenance of a public-facing profile.\r\n\r\nAs the historian of science Melvin Kranzberg put it, different technologies are neither inherently good nor inherently bad, but neither are they neutral: they reflect the beliefs, unconscious biases and unquestioned assumptions of their creators. Sometimes these values will be consciously applied: if a platform\u2019s designers consider freedom of speech their top priority, then protections from hate speech and harassment will probably be an afterthought at best \u2013 which will influence who feels free to speak and what kinds of conversations happen. But unconscious attitudes can be at play, too, such as an \u201cengineering mindset\u201d that sees no problem with showing different job listings for Black and White users, or with delivering an ever-narrower feed of news that you\u2019re likely to agree with if that\u2019s the most efficient and effective way to advertise to you. As is almost always the case, commercial considerations are also key: a platform that makes money from user engagement will naturally encourage interactions that produce the most intense engagement, no matter the content or tenor of those\u00a0interactions.\r\n\r\n<em>Sample questions to ask:<\/em>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>What tools were used to make and distribute a work? What tools are we using?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Who made the tool? Who were the expected users? How did that influence its design?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>What are the tool\u2019s <em>affordances? <\/em>What are its <em>defaults? <\/em>How do these combine to constrain, steer, and enable particular actions?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>What uses have people put the tool to that its makers didn\u2019t anticipate? How do they change how it\u2019s used?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<div>\r\n<div>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"<p>Digital media literacy is the ability to critically, effectively and responsibly access, use, understand and engage with media of all kinds.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"oembed-1\" title=\"Medium Technology Genre\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XxVcRep1weI?feature=oembed&#38;rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/exploring\/chapter\/medium-technology-genre\/\">Select this link to access a video description for people who are blind or low-vision<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>MediaSmarts\u2019 definition of digital media literacy is based on the recognition that digital literacy does not replace or run parallel to media literacy but rather builds on it, while incorporating new concepts that arise from the difference between traditional and digital media \u2013 in particular, their networked nature. At the same time, many digital issues cannot be understood without the key concepts of traditional media literacy.<\/p>\n<p>Media are powerful forces in the lives of youth. Music, TV, video games, social networks, online video, and other media all have a strong influence on how we see the world, an influence that often begins in infancy. To be engaged and critical media users and consumers, young people need to develop the skills and habits of digital media literacy. \u00a0These skills are being able to <em>access<\/em> media and navigate digital networks; to <em>analyze <\/em>and <em>evaluate <\/em>media in a critical way based on certain <em>key concepts;<\/em> to <em>use<\/em> digital and media tools to make media and for school, work, and personal interest; and to <em>engage <\/em>with media to express oneself and participate in online and offline communities.<\/p>\n<p>What does it mean to be media literate? The field of media literacy \u2013 which has both expanded to include digital literacy and been divided into sub-fields such as news literacy and advertising literacy \u2013 is sometimes described as being too broad to have a single definition, but this breadth is essential. Digital media literacy is not just about verifying information, or deconstructing stereotypes, or observing \u201cnetiquette,\u201d or about protecting your privacy online. Not only are these different aspects equally important, they are connected, in sometimes surprising ways: for example, the promotion of gender stereotypes to young children and data collection by social networks are both motivated by marketers\u2019 desire to target content and ads more accurately \u2013 and themselves have an impact on phenomena ranging from cyberbullying to misinformation. A media literate person, therefore, is someone with the skills, knowledge and critical capacity that are traditionally included in both \u201cmedia literacy\u201d and \u201cdigital literacy\u201d \u2013 and an understanding of the connections between them.<\/p>\n<p>As well, digital media literacy is not one-dimensional: it is possible to be media literate in some ways but not others, and even media professionals often have a limited understanding of media representation issues or even the commercial realities of their own industries. Similarly, young people\u2019s enthusiasm for digital media masks a potential problem. Although they don\u2019t need coaxing to <em>take up<\/em> internet technologies and their skills quickly improve relative to their elders, without guidance they remain amateur users of digital technology. In order to be literate in today\u2019s media-rich environments, young people need to develop knowledge, values and a whole range of critical thinking, communication and information management skills for the digital age. As increasing numbers of businesses, services and even democratic processes migrate online, citizens who lack digital media literacy skills risk being disadvantaged when it comes to accessing healthcare, government services and opportunities for employment, education and civic participation.<\/p>\n<p>To remain current and relevant, media education needs both to update the fundamentals of media literacy to reflect what\u2019s unique about digital media, and to apply media literacy practice to digital literacy: \u201cWhile learning how to use and manipulate digital technology is important, without an understanding of the role humans play in questioning, challenging and therefore shaping this techno-social system, then the scope of digital literacy is limited.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is Media\u00a0Education?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Media education is the process through which individuals become media literate \u2013 able to critically understand the nature, techniques and impacts of media messages and\u00a0productions. In the words of digital media literacy scholar Sonia Livingstone, \u201cthe more that the media mediate everything in society \u2013 work, education, information, civic participation, social relationships and more \u2013 the more vital it is that people are informed about and critically able to judge what\u2019s useful or misleading, how they are regulated, when media can be trusted, and what commercial or political interests are at stake. In short, media literacy is needed not only to engage with the media but to engage with society through the media.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Media education acknowledges and builds on the positive, creative and pleasurable dimensions of popular culture, while also teaching young people how to manage the risks and impacts of digital and traditional media. It incorporates production of media texts and critical thinking about media to help us navigate through an increasingly complex media landscape. That landscape includes not only traditional and digital media, but also popular culture such as toys, fads, fashion, shopping malls and theme parks.<\/p>\n<p>Because media issues are complex and often contradictory, the educator\u2019s role isn\u2019t to teach the right answers, but to help students ask the right questions.<\/p>\n<p>For\u00a0example:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Who is the audience of a media work and why? From whose perspective is a story being\u00a0told?<\/li>\n<li>How do the unique elements of a specific genre affect what we see, hear or\u00a0read?<\/li>\n<li>How might different audiences interpret the same media work?<\/li>\n<li>How do the affordances and defaults of a digital tool influence how we use it? What might be the social and political implications of that influence?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Media education can involve considering a media work as a <em>text <\/em>or an <em>artifact.<\/em> Analyzing a work as a <em>text <\/em>means focusing on its content and the ways in which its authors direct our attention and communicate meaning, while treating it as an <em>artifact <\/em>means thinking about its context: who created it and why, its relation to similar works, how different audiences might interpret it differently, and so on.<\/p>\n<p>Both approaches are important and reinforce one another: even if your interest as a teacher is mainly in analyzing media as artifacts, students need to do some analysis of them as texts to meaningfully discuss their broader context. Some context around <em>why<\/em> media works are made is also essential to understanding <em>how <\/em>they are made. In this way, digital media literacy helps students become \u201cexpert readers\u201d of both traditional and digital media: \u201cChildren can be taught about visual codes and semiotic conventions, and they may also be taught about the institutions that produce these texts and the wider circuit of culture in which they become meaningful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Media education addresses both the <em>cognitive <\/em>and <em>affective <\/em>aspects of digital media literacy \u2013 how media make us <em>think <\/em>and how they make us <em>feel<\/em>. Whether we\u2019re managing online conflicts or learning to recognize our own confirmation bias, learning to identify and question our assumptions, emotions and beliefs \u2013 and understanding why we should do so \u2013 is an essential part of media education as well. As Erica Rosenthal put it, \u201cknowledge and skills provide the raw materials, but motivation provides the fuel.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Another important element of media education is giving students a chance to <em>make <\/em>media. Where it once took a very definite back seat to critical media analysis, carried out largely to provide a deeper understanding of media and genre with the expectation that very few students would go on to create media for themselves (either for personal or professional purposes), today nearly all young people create and publish media works of one kind or another on platforms with little or no barriers to entry and educators are scrambling to teach them to apply critical and ethical thinking. As well as being highly engaging, media-making can be a vehicle for student creativity and a way for them to demonstrate their learning.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"oembed-2\" title=\"Myths About Creativity\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZHAFcjX0Zpg?feature=oembed&#38;rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/exploring\/chapter\/myths-about-creativity\/\">Select this link to access a video description for people who are blind or low-vision<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Key Concepts for Digital Media\u00a0Literacy<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>MediaSmarts\u2019 approach to digital media literacy, and media education in Canada in general, draw on a number of distinct scholarly traditions and theoretical approaches. The earliest and most influential school of media education in the Canadian K-12 context is the <em>key concepts<\/em> approach, which was inspired by the work of Len Masterman and developed into curriculum and support materials by Ontario practitioners including Barry Duncan and John Pungente. This approach embraced Masterman\u2019s contention that : \u201cyou can teach about the media most effectively, not through a content-centered approach, but through the application of a conceptual framework which can help pupils to make sense of any media text \u2026The acid test of whether a media course has been successful resides in the students\u2019 ability to respond critically to media texts they will encounter in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>These key concepts were a way of integrating and synthesizing different theoretical approaches to media, and making them usable and comprehensible in a K-12 context. The key concept that <em>media are constructions that re-present reality<\/em>, for instance, primarily draws on the theory of <em>framing <\/em>as articulated by Goffman, which holds that our view of the world \u2013 our \u201cframework\u201d \u2013 is shaped in part by the media we consume and influences our views of what is frequent or infrequent, what is normal or abnormal, et cetera. (Empirical research has supported this idea, finding that media influence audiences\u2019 ideas of reality on subjects ranging from what drowning looks like to correct kitchen hygiene.) Agenda-setting theory elaborates on this, showing that <em>how <\/em>a media work \u201cframes\u201d its subject \u2013 what is included and what is left out, whose perspectives are represented and whose voices are heard, which characters the audience is invited to sympathize with \u2013 have as much or more impact on our views as more explicit \u201cmessages.\u201d (Indeed, fiction and entertainment media may be more influential on individual attitudes and public opinion that news or other informational media: one study found that while exposure to news stories about trans people had no effect on audiences\u2019 views, seeing a trans character in a scripted TV series made people more likely to have supportive attitudes towards trans people \u2013 an effect that was even more powerful among those whose attitudes had been more negative to begin with.)<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, the concept that <em>media have social and political implications <\/em>draws heavily on the critical literacy tradition, which focuses on students \u201cabilities to criticize stereotypes, dominant values, and ideologies, and competencies to interpret the multiple meanings and messages generated by media texts\u201d while the concept that <em>each medium has a unique aesthetic form <\/em>is based on Marshall McLuhan\u2019s insight that \u201cthe nature of the medium shapes what \u2018content\u2019 works best through it.\u201d Stuart Hall\u2019s then-recent paper \u201cEncoding\/Decoding,\u201d which argued that \u201cviewers may \u2018decode\u2019 meaning in ways other than those in which producers \u2018encode\u2019 it \u2026 [and] \u2018readers\u2019 of popular culture may interpret from within dominant ideology, but they can also reserve the right \u2018to make a more negotiated application\u2019 or to read oppositionally,\u201d inspired the key concept that <em>audiences negotiate meaning<\/em>. (This last has been given empirical support by research into the Differential Susceptibility to Media Effects Model or DSMM, which has identified three different factors that can influence one\u2019s susceptibility to media effects, as well as three states \u2013 cognitive, emotional, and excitative \u2013 that can mediate media them. In effect, the DSMM suggests that audiences <em>are always negotiating meaning<\/em>, but can also learn to do so more consciously and intentionally.)<\/p>\n<p>Though the key concepts approach proved to be highly influential both within Canada and internationally, other approaches found in curricula and classrooms across the country highlight some of its gaps and limitations. Media education in British Columbia, for example, emphasized media <em>production <\/em>much more than in Ontario, taking the approach that \u201ceducating young people about the media (its ideological function, its constructed nature, its commercial agenda, etc.) is important, but this will not be accomplished by critical deconstruction alone.\u201d Focused as it is on an <em>intellectual <\/em>engagement with media, this approach also does not address students\u2019 <em>affective <\/em>interactions with media, such as fear reactions, which are of particular importance for younger children.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, the key concepts (eight in the original formulation, five as synthesized by MediaSmarts in Canada and the Center for Media Literacy in the United States) have their roots in a media environment where producing and distributing media were expensive and time-consuming and, as a result, were limited to a small number of groups, primarily large corporations and governments. The \u201cflow\u201d of media was also primarily one-way: aside from unusual acts such as writing a letter of complaint, audiences had few opportunities to interact with those large media producers, or to exchange media with one another without a large media producer as an intermediary.<\/p>\n<p>The advent of networked digital media changed both of those circumstances, and the relationship between audiences and media, in fundamental ways. First, it changed media <em>production <\/em>from a time-consuming process requiring expensive and frequently bulky tools to one that is inexpensive, portable and relatively easy (to underscore this fact, all of the top five favourite online platforms among Canadian youth in 2023 \u2013 YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat \u2013 feature primarily content created by their users, not commercial media producers.) Media <em>distribution <\/em>was changed even more radically, as both digital format and high-speed networked connections made it possible for audiences to not only become media creators but to bring their creations to audiences potentially as large as those for traditional media, and also to interact with others. The range of students\u2019 media experiences, therefore, expanded from being primarily <em>consumers <\/em>to include activities like creation, curation, socializing, activism, annotation and criticism, collaboration, and darker forms of engagement such as bullying or participation in hate groups.<\/p>\n<p>As a result of these changes in the media environment, many scholars feel that \u201cdigital and media literacy should be taught as literacy and\u2026 the fields of digital and media literacies can no longer exist in isolation from each other.\u201d Integrating digital and media literacy means supplementing the original key concepts with different approaches, primarily drawn from different traditions. One of these is the school variously called New Literacies, Multiliteracies, 21st Century Literacies and Transliteracy, which emphasizes preparing students to <em>participate <\/em>in networked environments. The other is the line in science and technology studies that leads through Actor-Network Theory to the Mechanisms and Conditions Framework, which investigates the impact of our media tools \u2013 specifically, their real or imagined <em>affordances <\/em>(what can be done with them) and <em>defaults <\/em>(what is obvious or expected to be done with them) on how we use them, and their consequent effects on those with whom we interact and on our communities and society. As with media effects, however, these impacts are not inevitable, and can be negotiated: \u201cTechnologies may affect human life in myriad and sometimes profound ways, yet outcomes are never certain and can be disrupted, thwarted, and circumvented to sometimes surprising ends\u2026 This perspective resists designations of either human subjects or technological objects as autonomous and effectual and instead positions human-technology dynamics as necessarily relational.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Put together, these differences between traditional and networked media require an expansion of the original key concepts. Just as the concept that <em>media are constructions <\/em>leads to the other four (or seven) by implication, the concept that <em>digital media are networked <\/em>implies four consequent concepts: that <em>digital media are shareable and persistent <\/em>(because of the ease of copying and distributing them), that <em>digital media have unanticipated audiences <\/em>(because the linked nature of digital networks can easily lead any audience to any content), that <em>interactions through digital media can have real impact <\/em>(because when we use them we are interacting with other individuals, in communities, or both) and that <em>digital media experiences are shaped by the tools we use<\/em>, in particular their affordances and defaults. (Though a departure from traditional media education, this last key concept actually returns to Marshall McLuhan\u2019s insight that \u201cwe shape our tools and thereafter they shape us.\u201d These additional key concepts help to identify new competencies that media education must develop (such as the ability to access media and to use media tools), new topics that students must learn about (such as privacy and the ethical dimensions of interacting online) and new approaches to existing subjects (such as teaching companion reading as a step before deeper critical engagement with an informational text.)<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Key concepts:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Provide teachers with a theoretical basis for developing their own media literacy activities, even if they are not media studies specialists. While a focus on the key concepts should certainly not be taken as a justification not to provide more thorough media and digital literacy training, it at least gives teachers and students a way to start asking questions. Similarly, while they do not excuse a lack of digital technology in schools, they make it possible to do digital media literacy without technology \u2013 and give teachers the freedom and flexibility to decide when digital literacy might be better taught with little or no use of digital technology, as well as the ability to teach digital media literacy when access to technology is limited or unavailable.<\/li>\n<li>Provide a common language for creating and sharing resources. Teachers in every province and territory, and around the world, can refer to the key concepts when designing and sharing lessons or activities.<\/li>\n<li>Provide a learning path as children mature and develop. Because these concepts are so fundamental, students can learn them in ways that are appropriate for their developmental stages.<\/li>\n<li>Allow students to transfer the skills they learn to different contexts. For example, teaching students to authenticate information for class work teaches them how to do it in school contexts, but not how \u2013 or <em>why <\/em>\u2013 to do it in other situations. A key concepts approach provides an organizing principle in which the skills specific to different disciplines and contexts can be applied.<\/li>\n<li>Give teachers tools to develop their own materials and adapt materials to their students\u2019 needs.<\/li>\n<li>Allow teachers to add a digital media literacy component to existing lessons or activities.<\/li>\n<li>Put students in the position of content or technology experts, freeing teachers to train them to think more critically.<\/li>\n<li>Keep resources from becoming obsolete when students\u2019 media habits change. Because the specific content is generally less important than students\u2019 understanding of the key concepts, in many cases keeping an activity up-to-date is just a matter of finding more recent examples.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>When activities do need more extensive updating, key concepts help us identify why the current approach doesn\u2019t work and develop new approaches that will. For example, early media literacy approaches to verifying information, such as the CRAAP test, were developed at a time when it was expensive to create media, and a small number of gatekeepers controlled most distribution, so it made sense to judge sources primarily through close reading \u2013 analysing them for tone, bias, use of loaded language and so on. In today\u2019s networked media environment, though, information overload is the problem, so students now need to learn to triage their sources first, using networked tools for <em>companion reading <\/em>to quickly determine which are worth <em>close reading<\/em> and which aren\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>Most importantly, key concepts provide a lens for analyzing any media text or experience. Sometimes, particularly with younger children, a single concept will be enough to help us understand something; more often, two or more \u2018lenses\u2019 will be applied together, or the tension between two lenses may be explored.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong> Media are\u00a0constructions <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"oembed-3\" title=\"Media Minute: Media are constructions\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/baftkjc5gKs?list=PLC-psp4a5OptHCIH-YYTgvWtHTKaDlMqV\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/exploring\/chapter\/media-are-constructions\/\">Select this link to access a video description for people who are blind or low-vision<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>We instinctively see media as being like <em>windows<\/em>, allowing an unfiltered view of the world. In fact, though, media are <em>frames<\/em> that select and direct our attention. Media works are <strong>created <\/strong>by individuals who make choices about what to include, what to leave out and how to present what is included.<\/p>\n<p>Every aspect of a media work is the result of a choice, but not all choices are free or conscious. Decisions are based on the creators\u2019 own point of view, which will have been shaped by their opinions, assumptions and biases \u2013 as well as media they have been exposed to. As a result of this, while we instinctively view many media works as direct representations of what is\u00a0real, media works are never entirely accurate reflections of the real world: even the most objective journalist or documentary filmmaker has to decide what footage to use and what to cut, as well as where to put the camera. The fact that we see a puppet as a person, for instance \u2013 even when we see the puppeteer \u2013 shows how much our minds see media as reality. The instinct to see them as real, even when we see evidence they aren\u2019t, is why it\u2019s so important to ask critical questions about the realities that media show us.<\/p>\n<p><em>Sample questions to ask: <\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Who created this media\u00a0work?<\/li>\n<li>What is its\u00a0purpose?<\/li>\n<li>What assumptions or beliefs do its creators have that are reflected in the content?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong> Media have commercial implications<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"oembed-4\" title=\"Media Minute: Media have commercial implications\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/RdkH0GwJy6A?list=PLC-psp4a5OptHCIH-YYTgvWtHTKaDlMqV\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/exploring\/chapter\/media-have-commercial-implications\/\">Select this link to access a video description for people who are blind or low-vision<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Most media production is a business and must, therefore, make a profit. In addition, media industries belong to a powerful network of corporations that exert influence on content and distribution. Questions of ownership and control are central \u2013 a relatively small number of individuals control what we watch, read and hear in the media. Even in cases where media content is not made for profit \u2013 such as YouTube videos and Facebook posts \u2013 the ways in which content is distributed are nearly always run with profit in mind. However, commercial pressure is not just one-way: \u201cthe professional production of media follows an industrial logic, with a highly structured and routinized production pipeline and process, while at the same time undergoing constant change to accommodate fickle audiences that are increasingly less likely to congregate as a \u2018mass\u2019 around content.\u201d As well, the conventional wisdom in an industry may be more influential than the actual commercial reality: for instance, despite the fact that films that have at least two Black directors, producers or screenwriters earn an average of ten per cent more than those that don\u2019t, Black people are still heavily under-represented in Hollywood \u2013 at an estimated cost of $10 billion dollars US per year.<\/p>\n<p>Understanding the business model of a media work\u2019s maker is key to analyzing it. For instance, while news outlets may be influenced by the views or interests of their owners, their content is much more affected by a commercial consideration: the views of their audience. News outlets can appeal to audiences by providing news that is accurate, news that is entertaining, and news that affirms and reinforces audiences\u2019 identities. Most outlets provide at least some of each of these, but understanding which one most affects a particular outlet\u2019s bottom line is key to critically engaging with them: the more people know about how the news industry actually works, for instance, the less likely they are to believe in conspiracy theories.<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, understanding the business model of an online platform such as a search engine or social network is vital to recognizing what implications using it might have for your privacy and what purposes their algorithms might have been optimized for. For example, a search engine that is optimized more for <em>relevance <\/em>\u2013 giving you the information it thinks you want to see \u2013 will deliver different results than one that weights <em>accurate and reliable <\/em>results more heavily. Similarly, nearly all social networks and entertainment sites are optimized to keep you <em>engaged <\/em>with the site, encouraging you to stay on them longer and return more often.<\/p>\n<p><em>Sample questions to ask:<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What is the commercial purpose of this media work (in other words, how will it help someone make\u00a0money)?<\/li>\n<li>How does this influence the content and how it\u2019s\u00a0communicated?<\/li>\n<li>How did considerations of cost influence how the work was made (casting, special effects, coding, etc.)?<\/li>\n<li>How do those purposes influence the content and how it\u2019s\u00a0communicated?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Media have social and political\u00a0implications<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"oembed-5\" title=\"Media Minute: Media have social and political implications\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YZi6s22yktw?list=PLC-psp4a5OptHCIH-YYTgvWtHTKaDlMqV\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/exploring\/chapter\/media-have-social-and-political-implications\/\">Select this link to access a video description for people who are blind or low-vision<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPoets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world.\u201d <em>Percy Bysshe Shelley<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Whether and how media affect us is one of the oldest and most contentious questions in media studies. While few scholars still believe that media will affect everyone in the same way, research has shown repeatedly that they do influence us. In some cases the impact is direct: one study found more than half of Americans had done something based on seeing something in a movie or TV show, and one-third had looked for more information about an issue after seeing it handled in fiction. More often, though, media effects are more indirect: media convey ideological messages about values, power and authority.<\/p>\n<p>Who or what is absent in media may be more important than what or who is included. These messages may be the result of conscious decisions, but more often they are the result of unconscious biases and unquestioned assumptions \u2013 and they can have a significant influence on what we think and\u00a0believe.<\/p>\n<p>As a result, media have great influence on politics and social change through what is called <em>agenda-setting<\/em>: as political scientist Bernard Cohen put it, media \u201cmay not be successful much of the time in telling people what to think, but is stunningly successful in telling its readers what to think <em>about<\/em>.\u201d TV news coverage and advertising can greatly influence the election of a national leader on the basis of image; representations of world issues, both in journalism and fiction, can affect how much attention they receive; and society\u2019s views towards different groups can be directly influenced by how \u2013 and how often \u2013 they appear in\u00a0media.<\/p>\n<p>As with commercial considerations, social and political implications often work in both directions. The political leanings of news outlets, for instance, are more influenced by their audience than their owners, and audiences on both sides typically feel that media are biased against them. As a result, it\u2019s not generally worth giving too much attention to media makers\u2019 <em>motivations<\/em> for social and political implications. No text is neutral: while the creators\u2019 intentions are not irrelevant, there is very little difference between the impact of a representation intended by the creator and one that is an unconscious product of their assumptions, their sense of what the audience wants, commercial considerations, industry conventional wisdom and so on. In fact, unintended implications can be more powerful because they are less obvious, and therefore less likely to trigger the audience\u2019s critical thinking.<\/p>\n<p>This concept and the previous one are good examples of how different concepts may be in tension. While advertisers have their own political goals, most often these act as a counterbalance to the partisan leanings of a news outlet. A good gauge of a news source\u2019s reliability, therefore, might be \u201cHow far outside of the audience\u2019s political comfort zone is an outlet willing to go in the name of accurate reporting?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Sample questions to ask:<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Who and what is shown in a positive light? In a negative\u00a0light?<\/li>\n<li>Why might these people and things be shown this\u00a0way?<\/li>\n<li>Who and what is not shown at\u00a0all? What voices, perspectives, and experiences are missing?<\/li>\n<li>What conclusions might audiences draw based on the above?<\/li>\n<li>What are the views of the expected audience? How might those influence the media work?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong> Audiences negotiate meaning<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"oembed-6\" title=\"Media Minute: Audiences negotiate meaning\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/goyXz1VmhWA?list=PLC-psp4a5OptHCIH-YYTgvWtHTKaDlMqV\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/exploring\/chapter\/audiences-negotiate-meaning\/\">Select this link to access a video description for people who are blind or low-vision.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The meaning of any media work is not created solely by its producers but is, instead, a collaboration between them and the audience \u2013 which means that different audiences can take away different meanings from the same work. Just as media works are never neutral, the way we read them is not neutral either:<\/p>\n<p>Each time we read, write, or create, we draw from our past experiences and understanding about how the world works\u2026 If you agree with a text, it is easy to read it sympathetically and hard to read it critically. However, if you find a text offensive, it is hard to engage with it. But we have to do both: we have to engage with texts on their own terms \u2013 both to learn from them and to critique them \u2013 and we have to recognize that our identities shape how we consume and produce texts.<\/p>\n<p>The interaction between this key concept and the previous one was well summarized by Kathleen Hall Jamieson of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania: \u201cProlonged exposure to media messages\u2026 has an impact on attitudes, but viewers also come predisposed to certain beliefs, and\u2026 producers are attuned to what their viewers want to hear.\u201d Media literacy encourages us to understand how individual factors, such as age, gender, race and social status affect our interpretations of\u00a0media.<\/p>\n<p>However, it is important not to overstate the freedom that we have in negotiating meaning. Audiences, especially those from groups that have traditionally been marginalized in media industries, do engage in \u201cresistant reading,\u201d interpreting works in ways that are directly contrary to the generally received meaning; it is nevertheless true that, as bell hooks put it, \u201cwhile audiences are clearly not passive and are able to pick and choose, it is simultaneously true that there are certain \u2018received\u2019 messages that are rarely mediated by the will of the audience.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In other words, while we don\u2019t automatically accept the surface meaning of media works, most of us will take away a meaning that is fairly close to it. Only a small number of people, mostly those whose identity or experience lead them to a resistant reading \u2013 such as women, racialized or 2SLGBTQ people and others that have historically been mis- and under-represented in media \u2013 will have a significantly different interpretation. Until members of these groups have more meaningful participation in the media industries, however, neither the portrayals nor the mainstream audience\u2019s interpretation of them are likely to change.<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, some works are more congenial to resistant readings than others: in most video games, for instance, \u2018resistant play\u2019 \u2013 choosing actions other than the ones the designers assume you will take \u2013 will prevent you from progressing very far in the game. This illustrates the connection between this key concept and the next, that each medium has a unique aesthetic form.<\/p>\n<p><em>Sample questions to ask:<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>How might different people see this media work differently?<\/li>\n<li>How does this make you feel, based on how similar or different you are from the people portrayed in the media\u00a0work?<\/li>\n<li>How were the media makers influenced by their perception of the intended audience?<\/li>\n<li>What alternative readings are possible?<\/li>\n<li>How does the medium or genre influence how easy or hard it is to \u201cread against the text\u201d?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Each medium has a unique aesthetic\u00a0form<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"oembed-7\" title=\"Media Minute: Each medium has a unique aesthetic form\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/d76X-uCy7No?list=PLC-psp4a5OptHCIH-YYTgvWtHTKaDlMqV\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/exploring\/chapter\/each-medium-has-a-unique-aesthetic-form\/\">Select this link to access a video description for people who are blind or low-vision<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><em>The content of media depends in part on the nature of the medium. <\/em>This includes the technical, commercial and storytelling demands of each medium: for instance, the interactive nature of video games leads to different forms of storytelling \u2013 and different demands on media creators \u2013 than what are found in film and\u00a0TV. Different media require different levels of \u2018literacy\u2019 to understand them, as they rely on codes and conventions to communicate meaning. Some, such as television, are made to be as accessible as possible, while others like film or comics may use techniques that take more familiarity to decode, and a few (such as video games) require you to master specialized skills to see all of their content. (Many <em>genres <\/em>have specialized codes and conventions, as well.)<\/p>\n<p>All media and genres have \u2018rules of notice\u2019 that creators use to direct our attention (such as cuts and close-ups) and inflect our experience (such as angles and music), which we can learn to recognize and analyze. Learning the \u2018language\u2019 of a medium is necessary to gather evidence to support an interpretation, but it can have more immediate applications as well: for example, learning to recognize the surface features which most of us use to judge the reliability of a website \u2013 as well as knowing that spreaders of misleading information deliberately use those features to fool us \u2013 is an essential part of learning to recognize what <em>is <\/em>true online.<\/p>\n<p>Since \u201cchannel surfing\u201d became the norm in the cable news era, the media experience has shifted from <em>show <\/em>to <em>flow<\/em>, and on platforms such as YouTube, Netflix and TikTok that is now the default. This means our analysis of form, codes and conventions must be applied not just to specific media works but to the entire medium: TV ads, for example, were relatively easy to confront because they interrupted the show, but today\u2019s influencer ads don\u2019t interrupt the flow.<\/p>\n<p><em>Sample questions to ask:<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What techniques does the media work use to get your attention and to communicate its\u00a0message?<\/li>\n<li>In what ways are the images in the media work manipulated through various techniques (for example: lighting, makeup, camera angle, photo\u00a0manipulation)?<\/li>\n<li>What are the expectations of the <em>genre<\/em> (for example: print advertising, TV dramas, reaction videos, Instagram stories) towards its\u00a0subject?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Digital media are networked<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"oembed-8\" title=\"Digital Media Are Networked | Digital Literacy 101\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/b-HXiObDDnA?list=PLC-psp4a5OpuMPbF9PKwE_MwbA23vY8eB\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/exploring\/chapter\/digital-media-are-networked\/\">Select this link to access a video description for people who are blind or low-vision<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In traditional media, content only flowed one way: producers created it, then sold or licensed it to distributors who then brought it to you. In digital media, by contrast, you\u2019re no longer the final link in a distribution chain but a node in the middle of an infinite network. You can share content with other people as easily as a producer or distributor shares it with you. Collaboration and dialogue are the norm, rather than solitary creation and\u00a0broadcasting, and sometimes change the content that we see.<\/p>\n<p>For a medium to be networked it must have three characteristics:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>All nodes must be <em>connected<\/em> or connectable (though there may be many intervening nodes)<\/li>\n<li>It must be possible to send (and receive) messages to and from <em>multiple <\/em>nodes at once (many-to-many)<\/li>\n<li>Connections must be two-way: it must be possible for nodes to <em>interact<\/em> (though that interactivity may be made asymmetrical \u2013 people on Twitter don\u2019t automatically follow you, for example. As well, networked platforms can limit your ability to interact; your options for consciously interacting with Netflix are limited, but information \u2013 such as what you like to watch \u2013 still flows back to them on their terms)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Power in networks is not hierarchical, but neither is it evenly distributed: it rests in the nodes with the most \u2013 and most asymmetrical \u2013 links. This means that those who had gatekeeping power in the old media environment have had their influence reduced, but not eliminated. Power in networks can be imagined in terms of <em>betweenness<\/em> and <em>closeness<\/em>: betweenness \u201cmeasures the control a node has over what flows in the network,\u201d while closeness \u201cmeasures how easily a node can access what is available via the network\u2026 A combination where a node has easy access to others, while controlling the access of other nodes in the network, reveals high informal power.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>These links are always at least two-way, even if you\u2019re not aware of the ways you\u2019re sending data. This means that everyone and everything is linked to everything else. As a result, the barriers to participation are much lower than in traditional media and anyone can publish content and find an audience. This means that there is a much greater range of choice for media consumers,\u00a0 but this choice can be overwhelming. As a result, consumers have largely moved from letting their media experiences be curated by book publishers, movie studios and television networks to having them curated by recommendation algorithms \u2013 with the difference being that this curation mostly happens without our knowing it. This is why understanding how our media experiences are curated and being able to take a more active role in choosing and engaging with media is a fundamental digital media literacy skill. In the old media environment, the main focus of media literacy was on how different groups were represented; while this remains important, it is now equally important to consider how and to what extent different groups are able to <em>participate<\/em> in networked media.<\/p>\n<p>The networked nature of digital media also means that users can interact with peers and celebrities at the same time, and also has important implications when we need to authenticate information or recognize a source\u2019s bias and point of view. The networked nature of digital media also makes it possible for formal and informal communities to develop online, and for the members of those communities to shape their norms and values.<\/p>\n<p><em>Sample questions to ask:<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Where does this work sit in the network? What networked tools can you use to help interact with or interpret it?<\/li>\n<li>Who has control over what passes between nodes of this network? Who has influence?<\/li>\n<li>What is easy to access through this network? What is more difficult?<\/li>\n<li>How are you expected to interact with this message?<\/li>\n<li>How might the expected interactions influence how it was made?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Digital media are shareable and persistent<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"oembed-9\" title=\"Digital Media Are Shareable and Persistent | Digital Literacy 101\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0YCiVpfRBkU?list=PLC-psp4a5OpuMPbF9PKwE_MwbA23vY8eB\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/exploring\/chapter\/digital-media-are-shareable-and-persistent\/\">Select this link to access a video description for people who are blind or low-vision<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Digital content is permanent: everything that is transmitted is stored somewhere and can be searched for and indexed. When considered together with the concept that digital media are networked, this means that most of this content can also be copied, shared or spread at a trivial cost. Even things that are apparently temporary (like Snapchat photos) can be copied, and are almost always stored on the platform\u2019s\u00a0servers. However, some networks are more open to sharing than others, and networks often make some things easier to share more widely (typically through sorting and recommendation algorithms) and add <em>friction <\/em>to make some things harder to share.<\/p>\n<p>Because it\u2019s persistent, digital content is mostly consumed asynchronously: we typically react or reply to something at a time other than when it\u2019s posted, and reactions to our reactions will also come at a later, usually unpredictable time. This can make digital media hard to turn off, since a reaction \u2013 or a chance for us to respond to something \u2013 may come at any\u00a0time.<\/p>\n<p><em>Sample questions to ask:<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>How did this work reach you? Was it because you are mutual friends with the maker, because you follow the maker, because someone else shared it with you, or because you found it in a different\u00a0way? How did the architecture of the platform (such as a recommendation algorithm) influence how it was delivered to you?<\/li>\n<li>What might make it easier or harder to share this message?<\/li>\n<li>If you made the work, how did you share it? How did that influence how you made\u00a0it?<\/li>\n<li>Was the work meant to be shared widely? If so, what did the maker do to encourage others to share it? If not, what did the maker do to try to limit people\u2019s ability to share or copy\u00a0it?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Digital media have unexpected audiencezs<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"oembed-10\" title=\"Digital Media Have Unexpected Audiences | Digital Literacy 101\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZsOTTBY5c9o?list=PLC-psp4a5OpuMPbF9PKwE_MwbA23vY8eB\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/exploring\/chapter\/digital-media-have-unexpected-audiences\/\">Select this link to access a video description for people who are blind or low-vision<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Because digital media are networked and digital content is shareable, what you share online may be seen by people you didn\u2019t intend or expect to see it. Your ability to control who sees what is limited: both content creators and traditional gatekeepers and distributors have much less power to control what happens to it once it\u2019s posted. This can make it difficult to manage audiences, and there is always a risk of <em>context collapse<\/em> when what was intended for one audience is seen by another. As well, you may be sharing content that you\u2019re not aware of with audiences you don\u2019t know about, such as cookies and other tracking tools that record information about who you are and what you do when you visit a\u00a0website.<\/p>\n<p>The networked nature of digital media means that it is also easy for users to be unexpected audiences and see content that wasn\u2019t intended for them \u2013 or that they didn\u2019t want to see. Rather than seeking out content, frequently our task is now to <em>limit <\/em>what content we are exposed to. (In fact, young people are primarily concerned with <em>avoiding <\/em>upsetting content online rather than seeking it out.) Recommendation algorithms can also deliver unwanted or unexpected or unexpected content, which may sometimes include misinformation or hate material. Who is \u2013 and isn\u2019t \u2013 shown what content can have serious impacts on opportunity (for instance, by showing a job ad to some people and not others), income (by offering a higher price based on what operating system you are using, for example), society (such as reinforcing stereotypes by training an algorithm on biased data) and liberty (subjecting some people to more surveillance than others, for example, or downranking particular kinds of content.)<\/p>\n<p>Because digital media is networked, it also means that each of us is a node in the network, with the ability to share content with the people connected to us. This means that there is always an <em>ethical <\/em>aspect to what we do online \u2013 which demonstrates the connection between this concept and the next one.<\/p>\n<p><em>Sample questions to ask:<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Who was the intended audience for the work? How did the intended audience influence how it was made? (For example, how would a photo you post for your friends to see be different from one for your parents, or a romantic\u00a0partner?)<\/li>\n<li>How might the work be interpreted differently if it was seen by an audience other than the one it was meant\u00a0for?<\/li>\n<li>Were you the intended audience for the work? If so, how did that affect how you responded to it? If not, how did the work reach\u00a0you?<\/li>\n<li>How might the networks have made this work more or less likely to reach you?<\/li>\n<li>Which users or messages are <em>whitelisted <\/em>(exempted from being deleted, downranked or fact-checked) by default, and which are <em>blacklisted<\/em>?<\/li>\n<li>How might the creators or distributors of this work have made it more or less likely to reach you?<\/li>\n<li>What things are you <em>not <\/em>being shown as result of recommendation algorithms?<\/li>\n<li>What might happen if the work was seen by unexpected audiences, now or in the future?<\/li>\n<li>What responsibilities do you have as a sharer of networked content?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Interactions through digital media can have real impact<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"oembed-11\" title=\"Interactions Through Digital Media Can Have a Real Impact | Digital Literacy 101\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/V2mrvhMY4QA?list=PLC-psp4a5OpuMPbF9PKwE_MwbA23vY8eB\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/exploring\/chapter\/digital-media-experiences-are-shaped-by-the-tools-we-use\/\">Select this link to access a video description for people who are blind or low-vision.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Being networked means that all digital media are, to at least a certain extent, interactive: we are never just passive viewers but always a part of what\u2019s happening. That means that what we do has a real impact on other people, because we are actually interacting with them. We often respond to things online as though we are really there, but most of the cues that tell us how we and others feel are absent. One result of this can be <em>empathy traps<\/em>, features of networked interaction \u2013 such as a feeling of being anonymous, or the absence of cues such as tone of voice or facial expressions in the people we interact with \u2013 that prevent us from feeling empathy when we normally would, and these traps can make us forget that what we do online can have real consequences. For the same reasons, it can be very difficult to determine someone\u2019s actual meaning and motivation when interacting with them online.<\/p>\n<p>Partly because of this, and also because of the lack of physical presence online (we may not even entirely feel we\u2019re \u201cin\u201d our bodies, as we\u2019re usually sitting and immobile when using digital media), it\u2019s easy to forget that laws, morals and rights still apply online. The norms and values of the online communities we\u2019re part of can also affect our own personal norms and values, as the values of our offline communities do, but because we don\u2019t always know how many people are in the community we are especially susceptible to the \u201cmajority illusion,\u201d in which a small number of loud voices can seem like they\u2019re speaking for the group. Taken together with the lowered barriers to publication discussed above, this can also mean that the people and images we interact with online impact us as much or more than images in traditional media because they are (or seem to be) our peers. The images of ourselves we create online have an extra impact on us because they embody who we imagine (or wish) ourselves to\u00a0be.<\/p>\n<p>But there are important positive aspects to this, as well. The interactive nature of networked media allows everyone, even youth, to be fully engaged citizens online, and to take part in shaping the norms and values of our online communities \u2013 and to use networked tools to make a difference in our offline communities.<\/p>\n<p><em>Sample questions to ask:<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What are the norms and values of your online communities? Do I agree with them? If not, what can I do to shape them?<\/li>\n<li>What are the possible moral and ethical consequences of different online actions?<\/li>\n<li>How can we remind ourselves to feel empathy for people we\u2019re interacting with online? What strategies can we use to moderate conflict?<\/li>\n<li>How can we use networked tools to make a difference in our online and offline communities?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Digital media experiences are shaped by the tools we use<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"oembed-12\" title=\"Digital Media Experiences Are Shaped by the Tools We Use | Digital Literacy 101\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8AXiTZ6LQfs?list=PLC-psp4a5OpuMPbF9PKwE_MwbA23vY8eB\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/exploring\/chapter\/digital-media-experiences-are-shaped-by-the-tools-we-use\/\">Select this link to access a video description for people who are blind or low-vision.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>One of the most fundamental insights of media literacy is that the form of a medium influences how we \u201cread\u201d or experience a text. While this remains true in digital media, the network effect means that the architecture of a platform \u2013 everything from the user interface we interact with to the algorithms that determine how it delivers content to us \u2013 affects not just the meaning and message of digital media but also our own behaviour when using them. These can be analyzed in terms of <em>affordances <\/em>(what a tool enables you to do) and <em>defaults <\/em>(what is easy and expected to do with it.) The two of these combine to create <em>choice architectures <\/em>that make some uses possible or easier, others harder or impossible, and steer the user\u2019s behaviour by <em>requesting, demanding, encouraging, discouraging, refusing and allowing <\/em>certain actions.<\/p>\n<p>Though it is possible to make \u201cresistant\u201d use of a networked tool \u2013 either by changing or \u201chacking\u201d its affordances, or by using it in ways outside of its defaults \u2013 in general the vast majority of people adopt the default use; for this reason, defaults can be as (or more) important than affordances. There is, as a result, a constant tension between the user\u2019s desires and the affordances of the platform: the less the platform was designed with you in mind, the greater the tension. Teens may choose to post casual photos on Snapchat and more formal ones on Instagram, for instance, based on how they see the two platforms serving their purposes differently, but they are also being influenced by the structure of those platforms: Snapchat, where photos are temporary by default, creates an expectation of being casual and \u201cfun,\u201d while Instagram\u2019s persistent feed promotes the careful maintenance of a public-facing profile.<\/p>\n<p>As the historian of science Melvin Kranzberg put it, different technologies are neither inherently good nor inherently bad, but neither are they neutral: they reflect the beliefs, unconscious biases and unquestioned assumptions of their creators. Sometimes these values will be consciously applied: if a platform\u2019s designers consider freedom of speech their top priority, then protections from hate speech and harassment will probably be an afterthought at best \u2013 which will influence who feels free to speak and what kinds of conversations happen. But unconscious attitudes can be at play, too, such as an \u201cengineering mindset\u201d that sees no problem with showing different job listings for Black and White users, or with delivering an ever-narrower feed of news that you\u2019re likely to agree with if that\u2019s the most efficient and effective way to advertise to you. As is almost always the case, commercial considerations are also key: a platform that makes money from user engagement will naturally encourage interactions that produce the most intense engagement, no matter the content or tenor of those\u00a0interactions.<\/p>\n<p><em>Sample questions to ask:<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What tools were used to make and distribute a work? What tools are we using?<\/li>\n<li>Who made the tool? Who were the expected users? How did that influence its design?<\/li>\n<li>What are the tool\u2019s <em>affordances? <\/em>What are its <em>defaults? <\/em>How do these combine to constrain, steer, and enable particular actions?<\/li>\n<li>What uses have people put the tool to that its makers didn\u2019t anticipate? How do they change how it\u2019s used?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"menu_order":2,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"front-matter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-25","front-matter","type-front-matter","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/exploring\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/front-matter\/25","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/exploring\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/front-matter"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/exploring\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/front-matter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/exploring\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/exploring\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/front-matter\/25\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":626,"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/exploring\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/front-matter\/25\/revisions\/626"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/exploring\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/front-matter\/25\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/exploring\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"front-matter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/exploring\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/front-matter-type?post=25"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/exploring\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=25"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/exploring\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=25"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}