Media and Information Literacy recognizes the primary role of information and media in our everyday lives. It lies at the core of freedom of expression and information-since it empowers citizens to understand the functions of media and other information providers, to critically evaluate their content,and to make informed decisions as users and producer of information and media content.
Media are the communication outlets or tools used to store and deliver information or data. The term refers to components of the mass media communications industry, such as print media, publishing, the news media, photography, cinema,broadcasting (radio and television), and advertising.
THERE ARE ALSO FORMS OF MEDIA:
1. Print Media refer to publications like newspaper like newspaper, book, magazines, newsletter, and journals.
2. Broadcast Media includes radio and television- media the initially used the airwaves to reach their audience.
3. New Media is composed of media that use digital technologies like the Internet to distribute or exhibit content.
Functions of Media
- Media act as channels of information and knowledge through which citizens communicate with each other and make informed decisions.
- Media facilitates informed debates between diverse social factors.
- Media provides us with much of what we learn about the world beyond our immediate experience.
- Media are means by which a society learns about itself and builds a sense of community.
- Media function as a watchdog of government in all its forms, promoting transparency in public life and public scrutiny of those with power through exposing corruption, maladministration, and corporate wrong-doing.
- Media are essential facilitators of democratic processes and one of the guarantors of free and fair elections.
- Media are a vehicle for cultural expression and cultural cohesion within and between nations.
- Media functions as an advocate and social actor in its own right while respecting pluralistic values.
QUICK HISTORY OF INTERNET
When we entered the period of industrialization then the age of electricity over 200 years ago, the pace of communication greatly improved. Various innovations came out about, revolutionizing the way people communicated. The idea for the internet began with invention of computer in the 1960s. In the 1980s, Tim Berners-Lee conducted a research which later resulted in the invention of the World Wide Web(www). in the mids-1990s, the internet has become a fixture of any modern society. The internet as increased the power and reach of mass media. We now enter the Information Age. Information is abundant and is spread instantaneously and inexpensively throughout the world.
Traditional and New Media
New Media is digital and Internet media is a big part of this (websites, blogs, wikis online newspaper, and social media). It also includes information delivered through digital devices like video games, augmented reality, virtual reality, DVDs, and CD-ROMS. Because of the on-demand and interactive qualities of new media, some suggest that the more apt term for new media is “open media”.
Traditional Media are those that transmit information without the use of the Internet or any digital platforms. It is also what we used to be collectively known as mass media for their ability to simultaneously disseminate information to a very large group of people. It also control when information can be accessed with their program grids and schedules. Traditional media function within the concept of self-regulation rather than direct government control.
Submitted by:
Joyce Anne V. Dorero
Grade 12(ABM) – Mo. Antonia
Yance's Blog 