Abstract
The media play an important role in modern democracies by providing a space for deliberation and for creating and exchanging meaningful discourse. They contribute to a better understanding of the world and enable citizens to participate in society's debates. International guidelines for acquiring "media competence" grounded in the functioning of the media have been drafted. In the digital age, when everyone is a producer of information, it seems more important than ever to create university-level courses that foster deeply critical approaches to deciphering information and thereby help reduce social and cultural inequalities. In a hyper-informed, hyper-connected world, its citizens need to learn how to assess the credibility of mediatized information and the relevance of data on the Internet. It has become obvious that the media do not necessarily describe reality, and the Internet is far from being a mere repository of knowledge. This paper explores some of the methodological tools that could help students cultivate their ability to detect "superficial objectivity" and "deceptive knowledge" by understanding the complex nature of data, information and knowledge. Gaining access to information is clearly not the same thing as acquiring knowledge. By examining the evolution of information systems whose concepts of exponential growth, real time and "infotainment" do not always yield well structured, valid data, this paper addresses one of the important challenges of our time - creating "info-literate" citizens and supporting the emergence of an "intelligent society" through which all cultures are enriched.
Author Information
Mireille Carrere, Consultant, France
Paper Information
Conference: IICEHawaii2016
Stream: Higher education
This paper is part of the IICEHawaii2016 Conference Proceedings (View)
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