Media and Information Literacy in Critical Times: Re-imagining Ways of Learning

Deadline for proposals: 08, May 2017

The Media and Information Literacy and Intercultural Dialogue (MILID) Yearbook 2017 is currently seeking proposals of articles. The MILID Yearbook is a peer reviewed academic publication and a joint initiative of the UNESCO-UNAOC University Cooperation Programme on Media and Information Literacy and Intercultural Dialogue. The cooperation programme was launched in 2011 within the framework of the UNESCO University Twinning Programme (UNITWIN). The MILID University Network now consists of 19 universities from all regions of the world. The MILID Yearbooks 2013, 2014 and 2015 were published in cooperation with the Nordic Information Centre for Media and Communication Research (NORDICOM) and since 2016 directly by UNESCO.

The objectives of the Yearbook are to:

• Strengthen and deepen the knowledge concerning MILID on global, regional and national levels including in the frame human rights, dialogue, democracy and peace.
• Widen and deepen the collaboration and exchange between academics and partners on media and information literacy.
• Visualize and stimulate research and practices within as well as outside the UNITWIN Network in the field of MILID while promoting a more holistic perspective of MIL.

Theme of the Yearbook 2017:

The year 2017 comes with a lot of challenges and major alterations taking place worldwide in the realms of politics, economy and social life. It has become more challenging than ever before to make sense of the abundance of information charged with agendas, hidden messages, fake news and leading frames. This does not concern only media but all forms of information including research findings on which important policy and decisions are based. Thus, understanding the media and making meaning of the information environments become an essential constituent of the learning process.

Perceived as a fundamental citizenship competency in the 21st century, MIL contributes to helping people understand how they come to know or learn, transforming information into acquired knowledge based on which decisions can be made.

Learning and information environments are giving more autonomy to learners, and all people, coupled with flood of information which is hard to verify. This difficulty of verification calls attention to the major issue of the immediacy of dissemination opposed to the quality of information. This challenge is further amplified when taking into account the interplay of sensationalism and propaganda, fake news and alternate facts for influence. The implementation of corrective measures through MIL for all necessitates equal access of women and men to MIL related capacity building.

We live in an era in which traditional approaches to learning and education are outdated. Synchronization between the rapid technological evolution, which shapes the environments of children and youth, and how they perceive and learn, has proven itself existent. Current education should prepare tomorrow´s critical citizens who are to make informed decisions. Hence, acclimation of the mindsets of teachers, educators and academics emerges as a precondition to reinvent and transform the ways of learning in the current information environment. With the massive alterations educational frames are undergoing in our current societies, tweaking curricula and teaching methodologies accordingly to integrate the required skills becomes a necessity. With the objectives of and competencies provided by Media and Information Literacy, and the significance of its pedagogy, its integration to education comes to be inevitable as demonstrated impactful in the learning route.

Hence, MIL is believed to be transforming, reforming and reinventing the dynamics of learning in many countries and contexts. Intending to delve deeper and explore the main aspects of this change, “Media and Information Literacy in Critical Times: Re-imagining Ways of Learning” has been selected as the main theme for the MILID Yearbook 2017.

Deadline for proposals: 08, May 2017

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