Journal of Library and Information Studies (Dec 2005)
A Case Study of Canadian Media Education
Abstract
Media literacy is an area of study of great concern to scholars and educators in mass education. The term refers to one's ability to decode and use messages carried through all forms of media (especially visual medium such as photograph, picture, movie, and television.) The concept of media literacy bares great similarities to that of information literacy which the field of library and information science are concerned with. Media literacy and media education receives great attention in the developed nations of the Western hemisphere. European countries are the first to promote media education, with England leading the way. Other English speaking nations, such as United States, Canada, and Australia also put much emphasis on media education. The main purpose of this paper is to study and analyze the Canadian experience of media education, to realize the role of Canadian government and media education organizations plays in the development of media education in Canada, using CAMEO(Canadian Association of Media Education Organizations) as the subject for case study. The study finds that there are four distinct phases in the development of media education in Canada, and that the main focus has been on the concern with the effect of violence on children and helping students understand media. Provincial media education associations and CAMEO plays a major part in the role of promoting media education in Canada. Although the concept of media literacy and information literacy bares more similarities than differences, there has not been much interaction between the field of library and information science and the field of mass media on these issues. However, with recent development of Internet and common concern with the effect of Internet on young children through projects like "Web Awareness Canada" and the "Youth Canadians in A Wired World Research", there seems to be an opportunity for the two fields to merge their interest and develop dialog. (Article content in Chinese with English abstract)
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