The Communication Initiative
Development action with informed and engaged societies
The Communication Initiative
After nearly 28 years, The Communication Initiative (The CI) Global is entering a new chapter. Following a period of transition, the global website has been transferred to the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in South Africa, where it will be administered by the Social and Behaviour Change Communication Division. Wits' commitment to social change and justice makes it a trusted steward for The CI's legacy and future.
 
Co-founder Victoria Martin is pleased to see this work continue under Wits' leadership. Victoria knows that co-founder Warren Feek (1953–2024) would have felt deep pride in The CI Global's Africa-led direction.
 
We honour the team and partners who sustained The CI for decades. Meanwhile, La Iniciativa de Comunicación (CILA) continues independently at lainiciativadecomunicacion.com and is linked with The CI Global site.
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Small Scale Study to Map the Implementation of Media Literacy and Image Education in Ireland, the Netherlands, UK

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Summary

The purpose of this project is to "identify and analyse existing and possible approaches to developing and/or implementing media literacy and image education in Ireland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom."


Introduction


Image education and media literacy are relatively new educational fields in European societies, yet the primacy of visual culture in these societies has been noted for quite some time. Since the post-war development of national broadcasting systems the trend has been for regulatory rather than educational measures, motivated by a public service ethos, a sometimes dismissive attitude towards the artefacts of popular culture, and assumptions regarding the social reception of media. Within the public systems of the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Netherlands, broadcast media have been regarded as potential instruments of education, central contributors to a public sphere which fosters and informs active citizenship.


Project Objectives:

  • to identify organisations and initiatives in the formal and non-formal education sectors which are debating, researching and monitoring media literacy, and/or initiating media pedagogical experiments
  • to identify approaches, methods and activities currently in use or development in educational media literacy work
  • to identify and analyse trends in media literacy work, undertaken in formal and non-formal learning environments
  • to identify and analyse ideas and visions for the future from those currently working in this field

The research methodology for this project includes action research and participative appraisal. The methodology is "cyclical, participative, qualitative, reflective and responsive." The cyclical elements of this research are "action, observation, reflection, and planning" with the desired outcome that this will lead to the next cycle starting again with "action."


The deregulation and globalisation of media offer a variety of images and representations of realities and cultural contexts "outside of their own." According to the authors, within Ireland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, "the increasing development of ideas and practices of media literacy is "not just of the centrality of media as agents of socialisation" but as a "crucial facet in evolving frameworks of citizenship education."


One topic of debate, according to the author, is the educational aspect of public service broadcasting in a digital era and what this means for new types of access.


Click here to go to this report.

Source

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