Caspar libero-sp-media-literacy

Media Competence as a Category of Public Value

Understanding Mediality as a Concept of Social Practice

Thomas A. Bauer, Dr. Univ. Prof.Department of Communication

Faculty of Social Sciences University Vienna / Austria

Universidade Caspar Libero São Paulo 31.8. 2010

1. September 2010 ucl/sp 2010 thomas a. bauer

Constructivism Perspective: Media Society

Societies organize themselves increasingly in the model (communication version) of media:

Media aesthetics: construction of sense and meaning through nws awareness, public presence, visibility, attention, obliviousness, dissipativiness, favourableness

Media Mechanism: construction of reality through technology, standardisation, general connectivity, general accessability, public control, social mechanism of trust (industrial professionalism)

Media Usability: ubiquity, mobility, casuality, individualization (next-to-next-society)


Cultural Theory Perspective: Media Enviroment

In a media- and knowledge society context:understanding the reality needs to understand media:

Medialization of social construction of knowledge and meaning: All what we know, we know from media (Luhmann):media discourse dominates every-day-discourse, as well the milieu-discourse: medialization

Mediatization of social life and social exchange:There is no media-free existence: any experience of self and any organization of self is connected to the symbolic environment


Cultural Studies Perspective : Media Use

The question is not: what does media with people?The question is: what does people with media? Use of media is a part of life style: cultural awareness of lifeFrankfurt School /CS : Adorno,Horkheimer, Brecht, Enzensberger

Restrictive / Repressive Use of Mediasocialized use of media: media use in the interest of media system : (conscious industry) : affirmation of hierarchical discourse and dominating system

Emancipative Use of Media:social use of media: media as a means of realizing personal/individual interests of life: self-realization, self-competence, autonomy, emancipation,


Knowledge Theory Perspective: Communication

Construction of sense as the unification of differencethrough distribution of sociability (sharing of meaning)

Consens and Congruence:In hierarchically constituted societies: interest of unity, exclusion of difference according to characters of majority, organization of truth in the interest of affirmation of the status quo. Burden of proof lies at distinguishable news.

Difference and Diversity:In heterarchically organized societies: interest of diversity, inclusion of difference as a challenge of contingence, contingence as the specimen of what is not impossible, even if not necessary (Luhmann). Burden of proof lies at status quo.


System Theory Perspective : Sociability

Society, Communication, and Culture: 3 Perspectives for one Principle: the experience of sociability:Society is a construct of observation of sociability: how we are thinking and talking about, a communicative constructed model of sociability (normative, empirical, pragmatic)

Analyzing society is analyzing its communication and its culture et vice verse

The anthropological perspective of sociability:it is the destination of human being to be undefined (contingence),communication is the way to define the meaning of experience for social commitment


Methodological Perspective: Understanding

IDEA OF MEDIA COMMUNICATION

normative - critical hermeneutical hermeneutical approach approach

constructivism & cultural studies

MEDIA THEORY----------------------------------MEDIA PRACTICE

structural-functional analysis: funtionalism empirical pragmatic interpretation analysis

MEDIA COMMUNICATION REALITY

Hermeneutical Approach Understanding Media

Use media as a living environment of cognitive, affective and active participation in construction of sociability of life: be part of public discourse and in societal conversation in order to get connected and synchronized with differently based interpretations of meaning of events and decisions that are publicly supposed to be meaningful for personal and public management of life - Distributive Media: Based on professionalism and industrialism (institutional and organizational mechanism of trust)- Connective / Social media: Based on authenticity Use Media as an open source space of taking and giving contributions to the generalized interpretation of experience in order to multiply your and other’s view of world - thus becoming your own actor in constructing the reality (situative mechanism of trust: authenticity)

Functionalism Approach Understanding Media

Media: a structural system in the interest of societal functions: An organizational system in the interest of satisfying needs and desire (entertainment, advertisement, marketing, public relations) A transfer agency of information, knowledge and meaning in the interest of organization of society (journalism, public relations)

A source of effects influencing mind, habitus and behaviour in between of power and accommodation/assimilation

- as a source of experience, of inspiration, of setting agenda- as an organized frame of reference for public knowledge

and public opinion- as a mechanism of trust on professionalism, technology and

satisfaction of need


Understanding CompetenceCompetence Models in general

Competence - a normative term: is directed to social agreements of social and individual values

Competence - a critical term: is directed to distinguish between systems demands and Lebenswelt-consciousness

Competence – a pragmatic term: is directed to the possibility of learning and of development.

Media - Ecology : How to save/preserve the „nature“ of interpersonal communicationbefore technical alienation?

Media Competence: How to use media as an agency of realizing individuality underconditions of a media organized society?

Media Culture: What does say the culture of relation between people - mutually to each other mediated by technology - about the (communicational/cultural) status of the society ?

Media Learning: What attitudes are we able to develop, in order to create an societal learning process out of it?

PERSPECTIVES OF PROBLEMATIZATION


CONCEPTUALIZING GOALS OF MEDIA EDUCATION

Preservation Media-pedagogical concept an a normative philosophical levelCritics: Connecting to a linear model of media effects Analysis: Media educational concept (Consciuousnes building) by making (own) experiencesCritics: cultural- pessimististic subtextSelf-reflection: Competence educational concept by refelcting (own) meaning makingCritics: Individualization and personalization of a societal dilemma

Media Competence in Functionalism Approach

The Concept of Refusal of Acceptance: Competence as a concept of protection against the effects of a second world (early media education concepts)Denying media use keeps related and connected to the (traditional) institutions and their dogmata: church, school, family, dominating cultures

In that interest millions of research works on effects of media during the “process of socialisation”, on personality, identity, dependences –Always following the two-world-theory: the “real life” and the “media life” , while media reality intervenes (destroy) the real life reality


The Concept of Media Literacy: Competence as Compensationthe critical and rational use of media, being aware of technology, media aesthetics, media economy, media technology knowing that being immune against media effects:

Read many newspapers and use all media-sources in order to get best informed (overnewsed, but underinformed) and to get aware of the difference (weakness) in news making in order to build your own opinion

Learn to produce your own media or be part of media production in order to look through the mechanisms of media production (time stress, interview strategies, creating effects, meachanism of writing, camera, cutting, montage or psychological effects)


The Concept of Media Critics: Competence as Emancipation(the concept of critical media education) the critical and rational use of media, being aware of bad effects and getting free from them through critical habitus or to repair socialized effects through consciousness industry (Bewusstseinsindustrie)

Critical analysis of the content of mediaCritical analysis of the immanent interests of power and influenceCritical analysis of mechanism of productionCritical analysis of mechanism in politics, economy in relation to media (public relation)

Media Competence in Culturalist Approach

Where does the concept come from?

Competence is not a natural quality, but is a category of the cultural interpretation of human attitude in relation to the natural, cultural, social, technical and symbolic environment. It supposes that mankind is able and capable to organize its position in relation to the environment in a cultural manner - thus forming personality and individuality in order to become an identifiable part of it.

- cultural-anthropological interpretation- psychological interpretation- educational interpretation


The Concept of Anthropology:

The Competence term represents an anthropological interpretation

of risks and chances of surviving by means that are only given to mankind: making decision by free will and by reflection - using means of intelligence, notion, cognition and consciousness.

Within that tradition Competence is a dimension of human performance of life that has to be supposed to be anyone’s own.Competence values in that frame above all others is: “Vorsprung” privilege.


The Concept of Psychology:Competence of personal life depends to certain extent from different pre-conditions of socialisation: family structure, personality structure, culture of relationship. Media Competence is not a special competence, but more the reflection of understanding one’s personal life styling under socio-cultural frame conditions and social climate.

Values of Competence : authenticity, open mindedness, distinctiveness, reflexivity, critical distance against yourself and critical closeness to others

Development of competence needs a socio-hygienic climate – in individual but also in societal dimensions (Family). Non-hygienic climates lead to strategies of simulation and compensative inscenation of performing one’s own life – maybe in dependeces (Web 2.0 fear)


The Concept of Education and Pedagogy:

Competence always has been a goal for education and pedagogy insofar educational and learning programs aims to bring young people to the state of ability, capacity and responsibility in all socially relevant fields of habit (Bourdieu: generative grammar) and behaviour. Education works theoretically and practically in the direction of an idealtypical assumption of an individual and tries to challenge the learning capacity of individuals according to a system of socialisation.


Concepts behind the Concept of Media Competence

Models of identity are not sacrosanct and could change (cf: J.Habermas)

Models of social order are constructions and could be deconstructed (cf: M. Foucault)

Models of education of intelligence are often focused on cognitive capacities (cf: J. Piaget)

Models of socialisation are often too mechanistic: To compensate the dilemmata of the society on shoulders of individuals of the upcoming generation might be a cynical way to demand competence from youngsters within a social environment with weak competence culture.


MEDIACOMPETENCEa Societal / Public Value

The Media environment is a complex environment: Mediality is the program and the protocol of a media society

technical, cultural, political, social, behavioural and economic structures are mixed and organized to a system for its own quality.

Living with and in media environment challenges skills of distinction, of differentiation and of decision of individuals.

Insofar the society needs a Mediality Concept of social managament: identity, cohesion, social trust, inclusion, integration, equality of chances, diversity managament



The society needs to trust in itself – which is done through its (media) communication competence aspects (professionalism and media awareness as public values in use of media

Ability (to know what operations and how to do them in case of – technical skills)

Capacity (to have the cognitive, affective and active means and preparedness: soft skills)

Responsibility (to be conscious of what it means for the constitution of sociability: consequences and possible effects

Morality (to be aware of the implicated values when making decisions)



Public Media Reflection: enhancing the research on media away from its professional useenhancing public support for media arts

Coordination between academic programs, institutional programs and media company training programs, life long learning for journalists

Systems of recruiting Changes of understanding the professions: New Interpretations of journalism:



Public Media Practice: enhancing community mediaand medialized participation models in politics, education, culture,

enhancing educational programs for migrants – also in resepct to their use of media


BUILDING COMMUNICATION in different society systems

The systems are to a certain extent different The challenges are the same:

- the society lives from communication

and communication lives from society- both need literacy as a cultural tool for a

socio-human behaviour

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www.thomasbauer.at

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