Media Literacy

Week of 3/24 - 3/30

I found the videos from this week helpful because since this is a very analytical and reflective course. Therefore, it's essential that we understand how to spot validity and accuracy within the things we read.

Critical Observation Checklist

The critical observation checklist was really useful because I found myself even doing that now when I come across random articles or ads online and Instagram. Some of the best things to pay attention to are the following...

• the architecture and landscape

• clothing

• any visible text, signs, esp. municipal (street, bus route, etc.)

• cloned elements

• shadows and reflections

It shocked me how I didn't recognize the shadow in the example at first where the man was holding up the check (really it was photoshopped. 

Lateral Reading

A new term I learned was "lateral reading". This term refers to going to when you go on a website and see an article you should go on to search up the name of the article page to check its credibility. It's helpful to fact check the site rather than simply taking its information as truth right away. In the example video she showed us how to see that Neman Lab was indeed a website reporting on digital media innovation is a part of Harvard which was a credible institution.