Navigating the Infodemic with MIL: Media and Information Literacy

"Internet platforms and intermediaries exercise a power that is not rooted in public interest standards and does not treat information as a common good."

This book shares the experiences of work being done in media and information literacy (MIL) with a particular focus on Argentina. Published by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Public Defender's Office of Audience Rights in Argentina (Defensoría del Público de Servicios de Comunicación Audiovisual), the articles in the book look at what MIL is and how it can be used to promote citizenship during and after the COVID-19 pandemic by fighting disinformation. The objective of the book is to inform MIL actions that advocate information as a common good at the national and regional level and to serve as a guide for other countries in the region, as well as for other continents. It is intended for educators, researchers, students, governments, entrepreneurs, startups, journalists, communicators, influencers, artists, and ordinary citizens.

The collection of articles is the outcome of the Conference on Digital Literacy, Citizenship and Disinformation in Times of Pandemic jointly organised by UNESCO and the Public Defender's Office of Audience Rights. The purpose of the conference was to bring together researchers, academics, public policy managers, and community and private organisations to: share experiences and knowledge on MIL; synthesise experiences on MIL development, disinformation, and hate speech in pandemics; systematise the effects of the pandemic on the education system; and prepare proposals for the development of future public policies.

The conference was inspired by the Declaration of Windhoek +30, which defines information as a common good to which everyone has a right. As explained in the book's preface, in the context of the current situation where people are being bombarded with disinformation and subjected to information manipulation, more needs to be done to ensure information for the public good - and MIL is seen as one component of three key components required to challenge the infodemic. The first is media viability for independent media, the second is the transparency of internet platforms, and the third is citizens' MIL capabilities, which "enable people to recognize, value, and above all, defend and demand information as a common good." Looking into the future, "We can see that in addition to the 'traditional' demand for press freedom, independence, and pluralism to guarantee information as a common good, we must now add the empowerment of citizens with MIL as an essential requirement to inhabit a just world in the future."

To support MIL, the essays in the book look at issues such as: the need to increase investment in research; teacher training; the urgency of working with new digital technology companies; MIL as an autonomous discipline; the institutionalisation of MIL policies; the need for metrics and evaluations; and the importance of working with all diversities and transcending cultural barriers imposed by gender and age differences. It shows the theoretical bases, policies, strategies, and experiences carried out in Argentina and other countries to solve these challenges.

The book has two parts. The first part presents the essential theoretical and epistemological foundations of MIL, especially in the chapters by Divina Frau-Meigs and Tessa Jolls, as well as articles related to conceptual interventions and examples of MIL policies and methodologies in different Iberic-American countries. The second part shows concrete experiences of MIL projects in Argentina, with potential application in other contexts.

The contents are as follows:

Preface: Citizenship and Digital Literacy in Times of Disinformation. The Challenges Beyond the Pandemic, by Rosa María González

Initial Considerations: Overcoming the Prophecy. Media and Information Literacy to Face Economic, Social, and Gender Inequalities, by Miriam Lewin

Introduction: Digital Literacy and Citizenship, by Felipe Chibás Ortiz

First Part - Principles and Theoretical Bases of MIL

• Media and Information Literacy (MIL) in the Pandemic: Challenges and Opportunities to Fight Radicalization and Polarization of Audiences and Citizens, by Divina Frau- Meigs
• Five Core Concepts about Media Literacy, by Tessa Jolls
• School and the Transmedia Universe: A Brief Statement about Fear, by Hugo Muleiro
• Rethinking the Educational Interfaces in Times of Pandemic, by Carlos Scolari
• Citizenship and Digital Literacy: A Pedagogical Approach, by Adriana Puiggrós
• The Challenge of Media Literacy in the Age of Digital Noise: 17 Projects to Learn to "Look" in Times of Pandemic, by Santiago Tejedor
• Public Policies the Face of Challenges of Post-Pandemic Schooling, by Verónica Piovani
• Public Policies on Communication and Education. The Challenge of the Pandemic, by Dolores Espeja and Luis Lázzaro
• Pandemic Challenges for Public Educational Media: The PakaPaka Experience, by Cielo Salviolo
• Educ.ar: Educational and Pedagogical Sovereignty for Educational Equality, by Laura Marés
• Communication and Education: Rights in the Pandemic, by Silvia Bacher
• Considerations to Advance in More Comprehensive Diagnoses of the Processes of Building Digital Citizenship, by Rosalia Winocur
• Education and Communication from an Educational Policies Perspective, by Monica Pini
• Digital Literacy: Challenges of Teacher's Training to Foster Critical Citizenship, by Mercedes Leal
• The Pandemic as an Educational Laboratory. From Instrumental Knowledge to Reflection on Pedagogical Practices, by Mariana Landau
• Hyper-Focus, Digital Culture, and Disinformation in the Pandemic. Media and Information Literacy as a Response, by Andrea Varela
• MIL and Disinformation: An Urgent Schedule from Alice's Land, by Amparo Marroquín Parducci
• The Evolution of Media Education: From Protection to Critical and Creative Promotion, by Dr. Julio-César Mateus
• Digital Citizenship: A Response to Disinformation, by Roxana Morduchowicz
• Communicational Environment, Technologies, and Educational Challenges. In Search of a Critical Paradigm, by Eva da Porta
• The Role of Media Facing Disinformation Processes in the Pandemic, by Andrés D'Alessandro
• Considerations on Digital Literacy in the Pandemic: The Experience of Wikimedia Argentina, an Education and Human Rights Programme, by Luisina Ferrante and Florencia Guastavino

Second Part - Experiences, Examples, and MIL Cases in Argentina

• #Orson80, a Transmedia Education Project, by Mariana Ferrarelli
• The Adventure of Teaching for Responsible Digital Citizenship, by Pamela Vestfrid, Maria Victoria Martin, Julieta Cane, and Aylén Alba
• Educommunication in the Classroom. A Coordinated Experience Between the University and Elementary Schools in the City of La Rioja, Argentina, by Leila Moreno Castro and Fernanda Romina Gómez
• Provincial School Radio and Media Program, by Nora Evelyn Santos
• Some Approaches to the Critical Reading of News Involving 6th and 7th Grade Children in the City of Buenos Aires, by Germán Freiberg
• Pedagogical Transmedia Narratives, by Viviana Murgia and Exequiel Alonso
• Incorporation of Pakapaka's Audiovisual Series in the Field of Language and Literature Practices, by María Agustina Sabich
• Online School: A New Challenge for Educational Practices? by Claudia Burgos, Daniel Carceglia, Jerónimo Galán, and Luis Sujatovich
• Traces of a Peculiar Time, by Andrés Habegger, Débora Nakache, and Gabriela Rubinovich
• Knowmad Pedagogies and Narratives in (Convergent) Studies of Social Communication in Patagonia, by Laura De La Torre and Horacio Avendaño
• The Voice of Teenagers, by Virginia Luco and Virginia Giacosa
• TECHNOFEM, by Flavia Fernández
• Young Media Observatory. Reading Media in Times of Infodemic, by Andrés Habegger, Débora Nakache, and Gabriela Rubinovich
• Smile Again (Volver a sonreír) Group. CIUNSA Research Project Type BN° 2538: "Power Devices in the Context of Liberty Deprivation. Trans Women in Salta. (2018-2020)", by Ramón Burgo, Yamila Gómez Lujan, María Guadalupe Macedo, Deborah Sabrina Mendoza, and Fernanda Carolina Vaca Carrió
• School Radio as a Way to Democratize Content, by María Gabriela Giambroni Orbe
• With Voice on Air and Feet on the Ground. Notes on "Making Radio" at School, by Diego Bogarin
• Critical Reading of Media News in School Contexts, by Flora Perelman, Débora Nakache, Gabriela Rubinovich, Patricio Román Bertacchini, Vanina Estévez, Jimena Dib, and Diana Grunfeld