This thesis addressed the production of media literacy practices in physical environments. It reflects a specific trajectory through a design space. The work is founded on four studies including design sessions and expositions in primary schools and in an art museum. The focus is on how to devise practices and make sense of media literacy tasks. the thesis addresses research problems of interaction design and media studies by:(a)configuring interactive tangibles and audiovisual media, to give different perspectives on media literacy within the same physical environment; (b) developing a set of practices which are attuned to how participants collaborate when accessing and producing media texts; (c) developing the design method by employing practical knowledge from theatre practices. The thesis tackles some specific design problems. One is that the qualities of the practices and qualities of the tools need to be addressed at the same time. Also, aesthetic and technical aspects often are indistinct. The thesis seeks help in some specific traditions in the performing arts. Some terms such as 'participatory theatre' and 'masked performance' are redefined in order to address both aspects of practices and tools. Terms such as 'gendre', 'framing', 'packaging', 'authoring', 'deconstruction', 'media agenda setting' are also redefined frm literature on media studies, through the production and study of collective activities. The thesis aims to contribute to the integration of findings in interaction desugb abd nedua stydues by (1) applying advances from interaction design for the support of new media literact practice in the physical environment; (2) applying the perspectives on media literacy which emerge from these integrations in order to contribute to current reesearch on interaction design. The thesis applies practices from the performing arts in order to enable a participatory design of physical environments for media literacy. The focus is on the role played by audience groups when they adopt media contents and artifacts.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Nevada, Reno, 2008. / "December, 2008." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 103-109). Online version available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Texas, Dec., 2008. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--York University, 2006. Graduate Programme in Communication and Culture. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 208-217). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:NR29511

The purpose of this study is to test the effectiveness of the Dove Evolution film as a one-shot media literacy treatment to change sociocultural attitudes toward appearance. Four speech classes at the University of Central Florida were used in a Solomon four-group design. Group 1 received a posttest; Group 2 received a pretest and a posttest; Group 3 received the treatment and posttest; and Group 4 received the pretest, treatment and posttest. The treatment consisted of the Dove Evolution film, a viral video introduced in 2006 by Dove as part of its Campaign for Real Beauty. The film has received 19 million views on the Internet in 2.5 years. A modified version of the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire (SATAQ-3) was administered as a pretest and posttest, measuring four variables such as awareness and internalization of the media ideal, pressure to achieve the media ideal, and desire to be athletic. It was hypothesized that the treatment would raise awareness but lower internalization, pressure and desire to be athletic. Although none of the hypotheses were supported, there were statistically significant changes. Contrary to expectations, the awareness measure decreased and the pressure score increased. The results and implications are discussed.

Den digitala utvecklingen och de digitala verktygen i undervisningen ställer krav på att elever genom undervisningen ges möjlighet till att utveckla kompetenser i att hantera det innehåll de varje dag möter. Syftet med denna studie är därför att, med vetskapen om den ökande digitalisering som sker i svensk skola, undersöka vilka uppfattningar och kunskaper lärare har om media literacy och de två kompetenserna att söka och kritiskt värdera information i svenskundervisningen i årskurs 4–6. Utifrån syftet har två frågeställningar formulerats: Hur definierar lärare behovet av att undervisa om media literacy-kompetenserna att söka och kritiskt värdera information i svenskundervisningen i årskurs 4–6? Hur arbetar lärare med media literacy-kompetenserna att söka och kritiskt värdera information i svenskundervisningen i årskurs 4–6? Materialet har samlats in genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med fem verksamma svensklärare i årskurs 4–6. Denna studies teoretiska utgångspunkt är pragmatismens teori om lärande. Resultatet i denna studie visar att lärare definierar behovet av att undervisa om kompetenserna att söka och kritiskt värdera information som stort då skolan måste rusta eleverna till att kunna fungera i det framtida, digitala samhälle som väntar dem. Resultatet i denna studie visar också att lärare arbetar både planerat och oplanerat med kompetenserna och att de oplanerade tillfällena kan leda till autentiska situationer som kan möjliggöra för eleverna att lättare koppla skolans innehåll till det verkliga livet. / The digital development and the digital tools in the education requires that the student through education gets opportunities to develop skills so that they can handle the content they meet every day. Therefore the purpose of this study, with the notice of the increased digitalization that happens in the Swedish schools, is to see what comprehension and knowledge teachers have about media literacy and the two competencies to search and critically evaluate information in the Swedish-education in grade 4–6. Based on the purpose two question formulations have been made: How do teachers define the need of teaching about the media literacy competences to search and critically evaluate information in the Swedish-education in grade 4–6? How do teachers work with the media literacy-competences to search and critically evaluate information in the Swedish-education in grade 4–6? The material has been collected through semi structured interviews with five active Swedish-teachers in grade 4–6. The theoretical starting point of the study is the pragmatism theory of learning. The result in this study shows that teachers define the need of teaching about the competences to search and critically evaluate information as big because the school have to prepare the students so that they can function in the future, digital community that they will be a part of. The result in this study also shows that teachers work both planned and unplanned with the skills and that the unplanned situations can lead to authentic situations that can enable the students to easier connect the content in school with their everyday life.

The United Colors of Benetton is a high-end clothing company that has been deemed as an iconic brand because of their non-traditional print advertisements. From the late 1980s to the early 1990s, the Benetton campaign used photographic images to symbolize social (and sometimes controversial) messages pertaining to race, gender, religion, sexuality and multiculturalism. Benetton claims that their advertising campaign sought to promote diversity, worldwide. However, others believed that their true motive was to gain revenue by placing sensitive social, political cultural issues and messages into an exchange system. The varieties in opinions about Benetton’s motives are highly dependent on how consumers interpret their advertisements. This paper will not only examine the ways in which consumers encode and decode social messages in Benetton’s print advertisements, but will also attempt to understand the process of attitudinal change through a theoretical approach by using discourse analysis. Further recommendations will be given that detail the importance of how consumers can become more active in their participation of encoding and decoding messages by the use of media literacy. / text

This thesis is an exploratory study of media production classes in Austin, Texas. Through examination of Texas state standards, lesson plans, and interviews with educators, I construct a picture of the content and trajectories of media production education in Austin public high schools. The standards, teachers, production tools, and end products structure the classes toward vocational training, industrial practices, and discourses of digitality and newness. The structures avoid more traditional media study areas, such as history, criticism, and analysis. Despite some concerns about student’s vulnerability and desires to empower them, the teachers also largely avoid discourses of media literacy. This study lays a foundation for further exploration of the ways in which media production education structures students’ understanding of media, as well as for reflection on the necessity of more direct media education and media literacy intervention in young people’s highly productive and media-rich lives. / text

Master of Science / Curriculum and Instruction / Thomas Vontz / Discourse analysis (DA) explores the relationships between discursive practices and wider social and cultural structures, relations, and processes. In this paper I explore, through a qualitative DA of education reporting in the Topeka Capital Journal (January 2014- January 2016), state press releases, and gubernatorial state speeches, how notions of fiscal crisis, both material and narratively cultivated, function to underscore the logic of neoliberalism. While considering potential context specific properties of local reporting and the cultural, geographical, and historical context of the region, I connect my findings with the larger, scholarly body of work pertaining to these issues. Connecting media language and policy discourse across local and global dimensions adds to a growing theoretical and qualitative understanding of the facets of education restructuring and reform within the framework of the global movement and adds material resources in the form of analysis as tools for educational practitioners and grassroots organizations working to craft alternatives to the neoliberal doctrine.

Eftersom vi lever i ett samhälle där informationen flödar, är det svårt att veta hur man ska sålla bland all information. Hur ska man veta vilka källor som är trovärdiga och vad som är sant? I gymnasieskolans läroplan finns direktiv att elever ska ges möjlighet att utveckla dessa färdigheter, som i denna uppsats kallas mediekompetens. Syftet med detta arbete är att undersöka om två läroböcker i svenska ger tillräckligt med stöd för lärare och elever i sitt arbete att utveckla en mediekompetens. Metoden för arbetet har i huvudsak varit jämförelser mellan Skolverkets kursmål i svenska 1 och innehållet i de två läroböckerna. Enligt min tolkning av resultatet kommer jag fram till att innehållet i båda böckerna stämmer ganska väl överens med kursmålen med endast några få undantag. Den nyare boken av de två läroböckerna är något utförligare i sina beskrivningar och behandlar medier som en större helhet och förklarar tydligare de bakomliggande mekanismer som styr mediernas innehåll.