Why Information and Media Literacy?

I have put together a short video clip based on President George Bush’s speech after the events of September 11, 2001. The intention of the clip is a discussion starter. If we go back 60 years ago, much of the current information was delivered by radio. Newspapers were also delivering content but not as current. Television brought the opportunity for people to see events as well as see the person giving the news. Step forward to the present Web2.0.

Now we are no longer just consumers of the information that is delivered to us, we are also the producers of information and mashers of others information.

My video is a mash of different forms of media. The value is not so much in my clip, rather in my contribution. I have become a producer.

The spark for this was listening to Marco A. Torres when he came to speak in Surrey November 2006. He shared a similar story with words of a speech, the voice, then the video. He shared Martin Luther King and “I have a dream...”

With the resources available to me and students, I was able to take that idea and produce something more. I was inspired to go further and create something along the same lines that is even more relevant to our students - such as Canadian Troops in Afghanistan. (That is a work in process)