Presentation by Ricardo Castellini da Silva at the CILIP Ireland and Library Association of Ireland Joint Conference 2021

1. Fighting misinformation through
media literacy: from technical
skills to critical, political and civic
practices
Ricardo Castellini da Silva
MediaAware
CILIP Ireland/LAI Joint Conference, April 2021

2. Media Literacy and Misinformation
Dr Ricardo Castellini da Silva
Fighting
misinformation
through media
literacy: from
technical skills to
critical, political and
civic practices
Dr Ricardo Castellini da Silva
Media Literacy and Misinformation

3. Media Literacy and Misinformation
Dr Ricardo Castellini da Silva
Historical Context
The place of Media Literacy in the 21st Century
- A long history as a field of study;
- At the margins of the curriculum;
- In the (dis)information age, it acquired a new status.
ML is an indispensable tool to promote citizenship (UNESCO, 2016)
UNESCO (2016) Empowering Citizenship: Media, Dialogue and Education

4. Media Literacy and Misinformation
Dr Ricardo Castellini da Silva
Historical Context
Internet
New digital
technologies

5. Media Literacy and Misinformation
Dr Ricardo Castellini da Silva
Historical Context
MEDIA LITERACY
A ‘remedy’ against misinformation
Digital Literacy News Literacy
Information
Literacy

6. Media Literacy and Misinformation
Dr Ricardo Castellini da Silva
Misinformation: an urgent problem
- The issue with misinformation requires a quick and immediate solution;
- Misinformation is seen mainly as a digital and technical issue;
- For digital and technical problems, digital and technical solutions.
Digital Solutions

7. Media Literacy and Misinformation
Dr Ricardo Castellini da Silva
Digital Solutions
Fact-Checking
Content Verification
Tools
Online Search
Investigative Tools Online Games
ML is still mainly seen as a set of neutral technical skills and
competencies

8. Media Literacy and Misinformation
Dr Ricardo Castellini da Silva
Media Literacy Model

9. Media Literacy and Misinformation
Dr Ricardo Castellini da Silva
Holistic Approach
Misinformation crisis: beyond a
techno-fix solution
Political
Citizenship
Business
Model
Structure
and Design
Civic
Engagement

10. Media Literacy and Misinformation
Dr Ricardo Castellini da Silva
Psychological Traits
Looking inside ourselves:
understanding our mind and behaviour
The consumption of media content is not purely
rational. It involves emotion, desire, illusion,
imagination etc. We all have some psychological traits
that get in the way of a more objective and rational
analysis.

11. Media Literacy and Misinformation
Dr Ricardo Castellini da Silva
Media Studies
Comprehensive Critical Approach to
Media Studies
- Verification and fact-checking are very important tools, but they are
unfeasible for the everyday digital media consumption;
- We need to develop healthy habits based on a critical approach to Media
Studies;
- Key concepts: representation, meaning-making, ideology, audience,
narrative.

12. Media Literacy and Misinformation
Dr Ricardo Castellini da Silva
False Binary*
Misinformation vs The Media
- It is important to break this dichotomy between fake news and the
media;
- Fighting misinformation is not simply about teaching young people
about what is real and what is fake;
- It is actually about being inquisitive about and resilient to all media
forms.
*Julian McDougall (2019) Fake News vs Media Studies - Travels in a False Binary

13. Media Literacy and Misinformation
Dr Ricardo Castellini da Silva
Workshops
A world made of
stories
1
Information Literacy
Do we live in a bubble? Photo Manipulation
2
3 4

14. Media Literacy and Misinformation
Dr Ricardo Castellini da Silva
Example of Script
Example of Storyboard
A World Made of Stories

15. Media Literacy and Misinformation
Dr Ricardo Castellini da Silva
A World Made of Stories

16. Media Literacy and Misinformation
Dr Ricardo Castellini da Silva

17. Media Literacy and Misinformation
Dr Ricardo Castellini da Silva

18. Media Literacy and Misinformation
Dr Ricardo Castellini da Silva

19. Media Literacy and Misinformation
Dr Ricardo Castellini da Silva
Technical Skills
• Learn how to search online;
• Assess content validation;
• Check reliability of sources;
• Perform reverse image search;
• Manipulate images and video.
Knowledge, Competencies and Skills

20. Media Literacy and Misinformation
Dr Ricardo Castellini da Silva
Knowledge, Competencies and Skills
Critical Approach to
Media Studies
• Understand that all stories are constructed;
• Be aware of and confront our own bias;
• Understand how algorithms shape our online experience;
• Reflect on the triggers that drive our online behaviour;
• Understand concepts of representation, ideology,
audience and narrative.

21. Media Literacy and Misinformation
Dr Ricardo Castellini da Silva
Dun Laoghaire Libraries

22. Media Literacy and Misinformation
Dr Ricardo Castellini da Silva
Dun Laoghaire Libraries
VIDEO 1 – Introduction + the basics about old versus new media and
the information age.
VIDEO 2 – Looking inside us: how we deal with information and
knowledge.
VIDEO 3 – Inside the system: how the internet and the digital
platforms work.
VIDEO 4 – Toxic content: bad producers, bad consequences.
VIDEO 5 – The news industry: is journalism in crisis?
VIDEO 6 - Fake news/disinformation: the multiple narratives for our
reality.

23. Media Literacy and Misinformation
Dr Ricardo Castellini da Silva
Thank you