Media literate with MediaNumeric Academy
The digital media landscape is developing rapidly. Not only is there an unimaginable amount of information out there, but AI can process that information into ready-to-use texts and videos. AI can help us, but it is also used to spread misinformation. With MediaNumeric Academy, Inholland University of Applied Sciences wants to teach students and professionals to look critically at data, to show how to collect and analyze data and how to process it in your own communication or storytelling.
From Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision came the question about the current situation regarding data and media literacy. Natalia Berger, researcher at the Inholland research group Inclusion and the Creative Industries, tackled this question together with partners from the field and universities in France, Poland and Estonia. Together they started the research project MediaNumeric, a beautiful Erasmus+ project, in which Inholland cooperated as a knowledge and education partner. Education and research came together perfectly in this project which, in addition to the research report and white papers, resulted in the MediaNumeric Academy. Susannah Montgomery, researcher in the Inholland Media, Technology and Society lectureship, was particularly involved in the creation of the Academy. "My role was having conversations with the field and with students, and then translating that into the course. My job was to flesh out the basic course structure into clear readings, lectures, and activities and manage collecting course materials from the contributing experts."
Natalia Berger on the Need for Media Literacy
According to Natalia, MediaNumeric Academy's course is much needed nowadays. "We need to learn how to deal with data and become proficient in media literacy. Like reading, writing and math, it is a requirement because the influence of online information is unstoppable. It is therefore necessary to be able to value that information. And as a professional, it is additionally important that you know how to collect and interpret reliable data." Still, Natalia notices that many (upcoming) professionals often have little interest about collecting and analyzing data. "But if they in turn share information, and don't do so in a proper way, there is a high risk of misinformation. Therefore, you need to have some understanding of data-driven technologies. And for that you really don't have to be a statistician," Natalia says.
Didi Baas, a Creative Business student at Inholland, attended a training week during a MediaNumeric conference week in Warsaw. The total of three training weeks helped form the basis for the development of the Academy. "Many figures, tables and graphs seem scientific and we therefore often take it for granted, but since the course I have only really realized how much figures are tampered with. Take, for example, a survey with a hundred respondents in the Netherlands. You can't translate that to all Dutch people, but it often does." Didi especially notices that the context in which figures are presented, for example, is often incorrect. "I really look at the news differently now. I no longer rely on one source, I draw conclusions less quickly and I look more nuanced and critical at what appears in the media."
Impact of MediaNumeric Academy on Students and Professionals
Meanwhile, MediaNumeric Academy has been online for a while and is widely used by students and professionals inside and outside Inholland, who are involved in communications. "Actually, data and media literacy are important for everyone," Susannah believes. "Especially since we live in a world where more and more things are happening online. This is also why this free Academy is open to everyone. But for us, the focus is on our students even before they start their working lives. They need knowledge and skills to navigate in this digital landscape, but also to feel confident in it. In doing so, we give them a foundation to be able to make responsible and ethical decisions."
Didi agrees wholeheartedly. "In creative business, some students think that being able to collect and analyze information is not for them, but if you're going to work in marketing, for example, you're going to have to deal with numbers just as much." And Didi has another reason why she thinks that even every course should include MediaNumeric in their lessons: "Now everyone is diving into AI, but AI relies on information that’s already been published before. The question is whether this information is correct because anyone can put information on the Internet. So, you must be able to search and analyze data yourself to know that what you write or create is actually accurate. And that will only become more important in the future."
Dreaming of MediaNumeric Academy 2.0
Currently, only students in the Creative Business programme are offered this course as an extra option in their curriculum. But the intention is for this to become a more permanent part of this study. Ideally, Natalia would like to see all Inholland students receive at least part of this foundation. "Deception and misinformation are of all times, only now it can spread easily and at lightning speed. Anyone can create and share content. You are even inundated with it, which is why data and media literacy is so important."
"And precisely because developments are happening so fast, we especially want to create a mindset with the course," Susannah adds. "That, when you are faced with new developments in AI, you have enough confidence to deal with them. That you can and continue to think critically and have a foundation you can fall back on." Still, she is already dreaming of a MediaNumeric Academy 2.0. "We had just established a rough outline for the course when ChatGPT emerged. And AI is a hot topic. So, I see this course as something alive and not something that will ever be finished." Natalia knows that the partners from the MediaNumeric project would also like a follow-up, but how is not yet concrete. "But sponsors may come forward," Natalia jokes.