MEDIA AND INFORMATION

LITERATE INDIVIDUAL
BETTERECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES
IMPROVEDLEARNINGENVIRONMENT
MORE COHESIVE SOCIAL UNITS

BETTERECONOMIC
OPPORTUNITIES

Knowledge economy,competitiveness andchoice:ina

marketeconomy increasingly basedoninformation,oftenina
complex andmediatedform,mediaandinformation-literate
individualis likely to have more to oer andso achieve ata
higherlevelinthe workplace,anda mediaandinformationliterate society wouldbe innovative
andcompetitive,sustaining aricharray of choices forthe
consumer.

Informationliteracy is crucialto theeconomic wellbeing

as the economybecomesincreasinglyinformationintensiveanddependentuponskilled knowledge workers
working inknowledge-basedindustriesThe skills of
informationproblemsolving,creativity,innovation,co
llaborationandcritical thinking inaninformation
intensive economy are alllinkedtothe
developmentofinformationliteracy.

The productionofnewknowledge and innovation,uponwhichthe

future economy depends willrequire an informationliterate
workforce.While e-commerce is partofthis,there is aneed
toradically improve the skillbase andattitudes towards the
eective use of information.There is evidence thatbusiness has
notgivensucientattention to the value ofinformationinthe
pastandnewtechnologywillnot automatically improve the
eective analysis anduse ofinformation.

IMPROVEDLEARNINGENVIRON
MENT

Whenpeopleunderstandmediaandtechnology,theyare
abletoaccess, analyze,evaluate,andcreate
messagesina wide variety ofmedia,genres,and forms.

Medialiteracy educationprovides tools tohelppeople

critically analyze messages,oers opportunities for learners to
broadentheirexperience of media,andhelps
themdevelopcreative skills inmaking theirownmedia
messages.

Lifelonglearning,culturalexpressionandpersonalfulllment:sin
ce our highly reexive,heavily mediatedsymbolic
environmentinforms andframes the choices,values
andknowledge thatgives signicance to
everydaylife,mediaand informationliteracycontributes to the
criticalandexpressive skills that supporta
fullandmeaningfullife,andto aninformed,creative andethical
society.

Inthis media-saturatedsociety,informationcomes notonly

throughthewrittenwordsbutalsothroughtheimages,videos,
andsounds.Medialiteracycan allowstudents to uently
readandwrite audio/visuallanguage wouldhave more
competitive powerto betterthrive inourmultimedia culture

Lifelong learning means educationresulting fromintegrationofformal,nonformal,andinformaleducationsoas to create ability for continuous lifelong
developmentofquality oflife.Lifelong learning covers the whole range of
learning.Thatincludes formalandinformallearning andworkplacelearning.It
also includes the skills,knowledge,attitudes andbehaviors thatpeople acquire
intheir daytodayexperience. Itenables learners to
mastercontentandextenttheirinvestigations to become selfdirected.Informationliteracy aims todevelopbothcriticalunderstanding and
active participation.Itenables students to interpretandmake
informedjudgmentsasuserofinformationsources;butitalsoenablesthem to
become producers ofinformationintheirownright,andthereby to become
more powerfulparticipants insociety.

MORE COHESIVE SOCIAL

UNITS

Democracy,participationandactive citizenship:ina democratic

society,mediaandinformation-literate individualis more able
togainaninformed opiniononmatters ofthe day,andto be able
to express their opinion individually andcollectively
inpublic,civic andpoliticaldomains,while
mediaandinformation-literate society wouldthus
supportasophisticated, criticalandinclusive public
sphere

Medialiteracy is crucialfor the developmentofcitizenshipskills

neededto promote a thriving democracy.Politicalcampaigns
andissues are primarily conveyedthrough30secondtelevisionads or,atbest,half-hournews interviews
onSunday mornings.Withso little attentionpaidto issues
fromour primary forms ofmedia consumption,itis imperative for
people to learnhowtreadthe messages theyare
bombardedwithandrecognize the reasons and decisions
behindwhatis being presented to them.

italsorestore trustingovernmentandprovide
strongsocialservices Thecurrentworkon

e-governmentandtheemphasisonincreasing
participationwillalsorequire emphasis onthe
social,culturalandcommunity issuesaround informationand
communicationbehaviorand skills which extends
beyondfacilitating participationthroughthe provisionofthe
physical andtechnicalinfrastructure.

The success of e-government will also require a population who are

not only ICT literate but information literate in the broader sense
outlined.