BU team receives government funding to evaluate the difference media literacy makes to people鈥檚 lives
A research team from the Centre for Excellence in Media Practice (CEMP) at 天美传媒 (BU) has received funding from the UK government to provide a new media literacy evaluation framework.
The funding has been awarded by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) as part of the government鈥檚 , which aims to empower people to stay safe online by being able to critically evaluate what they see and read on the internet.
Building on previous projects for the British Council, BBC Media Action and the Global Challenges Research Fund,聽CEMP will work with the聽聽(MILA),聽using聽a theory of change to measure聽the difference media literacy makes to people鈥檚 lives.
This will include the way people engage differently with media, changes to their media behaviours, and how they use their media literacy for positive actions in the world.
A key shift in thinking, this recognises that reducing online harms in the UK needs not only a more media literate population, but also for media literate citizens to take positive actions in the digital environment, thereby improving the health of the media ecosystem - in a similar way to how a vaccine reduces the danger of a virus.
Professor of Media and Education Julian McDougall, who is leading the project, said: 鈥淚t is very important that media literacy has been recognised by DCMS as a frontline response to online harms and misinformation and CEMP are delighted to have been awarded this funding.聽
鈥淥ur theory of change and evaluation framework will go further than any media literacy metrics in the UK have before because our four elements can account for the who, why, what and how of media literacy and, crucially, with what results for society?
鈥淲e will, as a result, be able to聽work with MILA to聽deliver a transferable and sustainable framework and methodology that can not only be used to measure the impact of media literacy projects across the country but also to inform their future design.鈥�
More than 拢1 million has been granted to 17 UK organisations by DCMS to pilot new ways of boosting media literacy skills.聽
Research shows some people struggle to engage and benefit from the range of media literacy education on offer, due to limited experience or overconfidence in using the internet, as well as a lack of awareness of how to access resources and their unavailability outside of schools and colleges.聽
Digital Secretary Michelle Donelan MP said: 鈥淲ith the rise of online disinformation, teaching people to identify fact from fiction has never been more important to public safety.聽
鈥淎s well as bringing forward new laws to tackle the root causes of these problems, we are funding organisations to give people the skills to stay safe online so everyone can benefit from all the internet has to offer.鈥澛�
