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Media as Maps
This curriculum is designed to be a short introduction to media literacy as a tool for understanding media as cultural and social maps. Media literacy has many meanings, but on a most basic level it is having the ability to detect the bias of media producers and to formulate some kind of response, either in the form of analysis or by creating some kind of media (see "Culture Jamming" on the left-hand side menu). You will find the following resources:
- PDF worksheets for classroom use (see below)
- Media Concepts: This is a short overview of some basic principles for understanding media.
- Visual History: This is a general introduction to looking at media as maps.
- Culture Jamming: Here are some suggestions for doing a class project.
- Shakira: This is an example of a media deconstruction. This comprehensive examination of a Pepsi television commercial features Colombian rock star, Shakira. At the end there is a detailed analysis of the ad.
- Street Theory: This visual essay combines some of the different intersections between, art, media and public space. It's presented as an example of how to use new media as a form of commentary.
Deconstruction, the taking apart of media in order to understand their meaning, is the most common tool of media literacy. The following PDF files can be used for doing media deconstruction projects.
Instructions:
Take a media sample, such as a print ad or TV commercial, and answer the questions in the "Deconstruction Key" worksheet. You can use the "Attention Getting Hooks" worksheet for a list of rhetorical techniques used in ads. "Media Fundamentals" is a handout for general concepts about media.
Media Literacy Resources:
Deconstruction Key (A Primer on How to Deconstruct an Ad)
