Media and Information Literacy Framework.
currently making its way through Parliament. The Strategy’s focus is on media literacy – but the lengthy defini- tion of media literacy set out in both the Strategy and the Bill, with its emphasis on critical approaches to online infor- mation, suggests a significant degree of overlap between media literacy and IL. Moreover, the Strategy makes exten- sive references to IL, particularly in the context of addressing disinformation. Indeed, it is the first time that IL fea- tures so prominently in a national, UK policy document.
The Strategy is far from perfect (CILIP and ILG produced a joint statement (
https://bit.ly/3fY3ocl) in reaction to it, including setting out concerns about its shortcomings), but it has the virtue of providing a strategic framework for fostering a culture where, as set out in the ministerial foreword, users “are able to critically evaluate the content they consume, understand that online actions can have offline consequences, and be able to contribute to a respect- ful and kind online environment”. And crucially, the Strategy, as well as recognising the role of libraries, calls for increased collaboration and coordination between stakeholders with an interest in media literacy and IL, to help overcome a sometimes disparate and duplicative approach to joint working.
January-February 2022
Championing and collaborating This is where the opportunity for MILA arises, and the rationale for the Alliance is very much about bringing together individu- als and organisations to champion MIL and to provide an open platform for collabora- tion and knowledge exchange. Importantly, CILIP and ILG decided from the outset that MILA’s scope should cover both IL and media literacy. They recognised that although historically the two concepts stem from different professional and cultural perspectives – librarianship and information science in the case of IL, and media studies for media literacy – as we have noted, in practice, there is much crossover between the two.
It is clear that, in the UK, media literacy is driving the public policy agenda in this area, and it therefore makes sense for the Alliance’s remit to capitalise on this by tying in IL with media literacy. MILA’s reach and potential influence should benefit correspondingly. Moreover, the idea of associating IL and media literacy is not new: UNESCO brought together the two concepts under the umbrella of MIL sev- eral years ago (
https://bit.ly/3FG04wB), and its own world-wide MIL Alliance – formerly known as GAPMIL, Global Alliance for Partnerships on Media and Information Literacy – goes back to 2013. MILA therefore mirrors what has been going on internationally.
MILA is in its early days and there
remains much to be defined about its organisation, membership and programme of activities, but it has already succeeded in attracting interest from a variety of organi- sations. In the first instance, it has got into a valuable dialogue with DCMS and with the UK media regulator, Ofcom, whose statutory responsibilities include research- ing and promoting media literacy through its Making Sense of Media programme (
https://bit.ly/3AgI8rm). Other bodies with which the Alliance has started engaging include, among others, the Centre for Excellence in Media Practice at Bournemouth University, JCS Online Resources, the National Literacy Trust, Newsguard UK, the NHS Library and Knowledge Services, the Patient Information Forum, the Guardian Foundation, WEA and Wikimedia UK. That list is growing by the week and MILA is now looking at ways of formally associating organisations and individuals within the structure of the Alliance. And though CILIP and ILG are the founders and initial co-sponsors of MILA, it is clear that, to be successful, it will need be ‘owned’ by a wide and diverse collection of players, with an organisational set-up that enables it to work effectively on a colle- giate basis. Since October, the Alliance has its own website,
https://mila.org.uk/, which although still in a basic form, is helping with outreach and promotion. In addition to starting a dialogue with multiple stakeholders, MILA has
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