mlec@uic.edu.cn

What does media literacy education entail? If we look at literacy for language, it means being able to communicate effectively in writing and orally to a certain standard.

For media literacy it is different. It does not necessarily involve being able to create media: to use the ‘language’ metaphor, media literacy is more like ‘linguistics’ than writing or presentations skills.

Media literacy emphasizes understanding how media is made and consumed:

1. What pressures and constraints media producers face,

2. How this affects the texts they make, both in topics they cover, how groups are represented, and language choices, and

3. The different ways in which audiences understand the media texts.

Topics

Therefore, in the UIC MLEC, we need to focus on exploring all three of those areas. This includes the production of multi-media content dealing with, but not limited to, the following issues:

1. Production

1. Behind-the-scenes view of media companies, looking at how they function, interviews with multiple professionals

2. Interviews with individual media producers about their job and career

3. Examinations of controversies involving media professionals, especially concerning ethics

2. Texts

1. Looking at language choice in media texts (i.e. terrorist vs freedom fighter) in a critical or comparative approach

2. Looking at the range of topics covered in recent media (movies, TV, news, etc), and what affects that

3. Looking at reasons for representation of different groups (i.e. nationality, race, gender, class, hobby)

4. Analyzing recent controversies and discussions in the media about language, media agenda, and representation as well.

3. Audience

1. Small discussions, vox pops, etc, with audience members about their understanding of how media works and recent controversies, including issues such as trust, fact-checking, bias, or anything else the public thinks about media

2. Issues about prosuption, self-media, audience feedback mechanisms, etc

Scope

The MLEC is student-centered, faculty-supervised, well-funded, public-facing, and educational, informational, and entertaining. This means:

1. Projects are to be conceptualized and scripted by students, with feedback from IJ/MCOM/PRA faculty member(s) to ensure suitability

2. Projects are to be researched, filmed, and edited by students

3. Student helpers will lead with the organization and completion of projects, ensuring quality

4. Funding is available (upon successful application) for reasonable costs and the labour involved

5. Videos will be distributed via social media and other methods.

6. The content will be aimed at educating and informing the public about media literacy topics in an entertaining way

Content

All multimedia content created for the MLEC should follow the following criteria when possible

1. Be professionally produced

1. Good camera work

2. In-person or high-quality virtual interview footage

3. Consistent sound (use lapel and boom mics, etc)

4. Clear editing and tight structure

5. Concise scripts

2. Be created in a way which clearly mimics modern digital media forms (i.e. video chat, horizontal orientation, TikTok videos, etc) but is not necessarily super high-quality

3. Be in English as much as possible (unless interviewees, etc, cannot speak English well) and have bi-lingual (Chinese and English) subtitles

4. Contain a mix of newly recorded video and suitable graphics (data, maps, animations, etc) and when appropriate properly-attributed archival footage

5. Modern and well-designed titles, transitions, intertitles, and credits that fit the theme of the video

²  Alternately, MLEC can develop a standard aesthetic that videos have to adhere to (i.e. coherent colour scheme, font, theme music, etc)

1. As mentioned above, delivered in an educational, informational, and entertaining way, while not dumbing the content down.