As the media increases in use as our prime source for information and values, there is a great need to impart methods to critically evaluate all aspects of film, television, the Internet, advertising, radio, and print media. Silverblatt, Ferry, and Finan's innovative text offers various critical methods and approaches to media literacy, including autobiographical, ideological, nonverbal, and mythic approaches. Each chapter presents in detail a full description of the approach followed by an essay applying the approach to an analysis of a media presentation.

By joining bodies of research in media theory, cultural studies, and critical pedagogy, Developing Media Literacy in Cyberspace offers a vision of learning that values social empowerment over technical skills. An inquiry into the existence and range of models equipped to cultivate critical teaching and learning in the Internet-supported classroom, this new study argues that media literacy offers the best long-term training for today's youth to become experienced practitioners of 21st-century technology. Author Julie Frechette helps educators develop and provide concrete learning strategies that enable students to judge the validity and worth of what they see on the Internet as they strive to become critically autonomous in a technology-laden world. Part of this effort lies in developing a keen awareness of the institutional, political, and economic structure of the Internet as a means of communication that is increasingly marketing products and targeting advertisements toward youth. Values on the Internet are discussed constantly both by the major media and by the private sector, with little regard for the pervasive interests and authority of profitable industries staking out their territory in this new global village. Unlike other studies that provide a broad sociohistorical context for the development of theoretical uses of new technologies in the classroom, Developing Media Literacy in Cyberspace lays the groundwork for establishing critical thinking skills that will serve students' interests as they navigate this vast and complicated cyberterritory.

The ^IDictionary of Media Literacy^R is a reference work that contains key concepts, terms, organizations, issues, and individuals of note related to the field of media literacy. Media literacy is an international movement, with many countries developing media literacy programs. This work significantly contributes to the study and understanding of this new and evolving field. In that we all live in a world in which we are inundated by information conveyed through the channels of mass commmunication, this dictionary will be a resource for scholars, students, and individuals seeking to understand information delivered in this context.

The Internet, World Wide Web, and digital devices have fundamentally changed the way people communicate, affecting everything from business, to school, to family, to religion, to democracy. This textbook takes a well-rounded view of the evolution from media literacy to digital literacy to help students better understand the digitally filtered world in which they live. The text explores digital literacy through three lenses: * Historical: reviews snapshots of time and space to delineate how things were in order to lend context to how they are; * Cultural: explores how values and ideals are constructed and conveyed within a given cultural context - how humans absorb and share the informal rules and norms that make up a society; * Critical: illuminates how social changes - particularly rapid ones - can put certain people at a disadvantage. All three angles are helpful for better understanding the myriad ways in which our identities and relationships are being altered by technology, and what it means to be a citizen in a society that has become individualized and is in constant flux. Written in a conversational and approachable style, the text is easy to navigate, with short chapters, short paragraphs, and bullet points. Comics and images illustrate complex topics and add visual interest. The text is ideal for media literacy, digital information literacy, and technology courses that seek to integrate human impact into the mix. It is also a good starting point for anyone wanting to know more about the impact of communication technologies on our lives.

Critical media literacy is a necessary part of young people's education and can foster the space for a more thoroughly informed and involved citizenry. In order to make critical media literacy sustainable in K-12 classrooms, learning and application of it must begin with teachers, preferably during their formal schooling. Educating Media Literacy is a manifesto for the inclusion of media literacy in teacher education and, by extension, in K-12 classrooms. Through a discussion of critical media literacy's aims and the role of teacher education in the United States, this book argues for the inclusion of critical media literacy in teacher education. Educating Media Literacy addresses two separate topics - teacher education and media literacy - and illustrates how they are intertwined: The United States struggles simultaneously with how best to train and retain prospective teachers and how to foster a better understanding of mainstream media. These two struggles can join forces and move towards a solution through the following: The inclusion of critical media literacy in teacher education programs.