An international media literacy research symposium was held in Lisbon, Portugal April 20, 2018,at the beautiful Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian. This is the second time the symposium will take place–the first one was held at Fairfield University in Connecticut, USA on March 21, 2014.
A view of the streets and trolleys in LisbonAttendees from over twenty-five countries shared their latest research and best practices for advocating for media literacy in various different panels and workshops. Sherri Hope Culver spoke at two different sessions at the symposium.
Sherri Hope Culver first presented in a session exploring MIL practices in North America and Europe where she shared information about the Center for Media and Infomation Literacy at Temple University, and her work with the UNESCO MILID university collaborative.
In the afternoon, she spoke about different topics:
Keeping it Private: A Global Study on Privacy + Media Literacy
This presentation shared the research findings detailed in a new publication as part of UNESCO’s Internet Freedom series, titled “Survey on Privacy in Media and Information Literacy with Youth Perspectives” (2017) Sherri shared data from the global survey conducted with the MILID group, which investigated privacy in MIL education environments globally. Data was gathered from 231 respondents in 33 countries. The respondents were from various education environments, including: K12, higher education, out-of-school or after school programs, and civil society, including NGOs and non-profits.
The report aims to provide conceptual, developmental and policy recommendations to foster privacy in MIL. It seeks to provide clarity on the complex issue of how MIL and privacy intersect.
Sherri Hope Culver with fellow attendees Natasha Casey, Paul Mihailidis, and Julie Frechette.Messages About Media in Popular Children’s Television
Sherri also shared her latest research on children’s media in this presentation, which shared the results of a research study that evaluated the inclusion of media literacy concepts in two global children’s media brands: Nickelodeon and Disney Channel. Episodes were coded along four key definers of media literacy according to the definition of media literacy from the National Association for Media Literacy Education: access, analyze, evaluate, create. For decades, content producers have used children’s proven interest in media as a storyline, recognizing children’s fascination with the media they consume and create. This study analyzed the opportunities for characters in children’s media to explore the roles and responsibilities of media in their lives.
The event included Paul Mihailidis and Nico Carpenter as plenary keynote speakers, and author Douglas Rushkoss as the keynote. Belinha S. De Abreu, NAMLE board member, co-hosted the event along with media literacy scholar Victor Tome.