Module 8 Opportunities, Challenges, and Power of Media and Information

At the end of this module, I can:

1. Realize opportunities and challenges in media and information.
2. Classify aspects of media literacy such as audience, content and effects.

As a citizen, not merely of your country but the rest of the world, media and information are
important to you. This is because media and information equip you with the necessary skills to
become more functional and participative in the affairs of your society. When you are exposed to
media and utilize it more effectively and efficiently, you have enormous access to information
that you can use and share. Media and communication technology are all tools at your disposal,
but one thing that will separate you from other potential users of this technology is you being a
media and information literate individual.

In the first seven modules, you have been lead to a path toward greater awareness and
appreciation of media and information literacy by introducing to you essential concepts. Halfway
through your journey to becoming a media and information literate individual, you have been
presented with the available tools and techniques in acquiring media messages as well as
managing these messages as information that may be utilized ethically and legally. Like every
resource, there are challenges as well as opportunities presented to you in your daily dealing with
media and information.

At the beginning of this module, three specific themes are discussed: 1) the prospects of greater
exposure and utilization of new media, with a special interest in the World Wide Web and social
media; and 3) cybercrime. It is also important to be curious about the perspectives on audience,
content, and effects, in relation to the study of media and information.

World Wide Web at the Forefront

Whether you like it or not, you are a digital native. The existence of the World Wide Web has
forced practically everyone to migrate to this realm and be part of the virtual community of
information seekers. Multimedia forms have enriched information through synergy of text,
audio, image, and video. Search engines have made information seeking and retrieval more
sophisticated, thus, satisfying more conveniently your information needs. Social presence in the
online world transcended physical boundaries and cultural differences. Table 8.1 shows you the
relationship of social presence and self-presentation.

New media is interactive and has linked every user to each other through vast networks of
platforms such as e-mail, Internet search, and messaging applications. More opportunities for
interconnectedness are continuously being developed, e.g., the cloud computing technology (or
the technology that involves delivering hosted services over the Internet). Information
dissemination and wider social relationships are due to online social networking dramatically
changing the landscape of generation, access, distribution, and presentation of content. Almost
anyone has limitless power over these activities related to media and information.

Table 8.1. Classification of Social Media by Social Presence/Media Richness and Self-
Presentation/ Self-Disclosure (adopted from Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010)

According to Cheng and Shen (2010), the process of information search that utilizes online
portal is classified into:
- Media document retrieval, or the functionality, i.e., search engines that enable users "to submit
one or more queries in the form of an example rich media object or keyword terms"

- Media content mining, or the techniques employed to extract "implicit knowledge, data
relationships, or other regular patterns," e.g., Boolean logic.

Big Idea

Social media has made the world bigger and smaller at the same time-bigger in terms of your
wider reach that physical distance used to limit; and smaller because of the ways that social
media has narrowed the gaps across cultures and boundaries.

Socialness of Social Media

These days, you can count on the phenomenon of crowdsourcing in distributing information
faster than the blink of an eye. This is the reason why information made available on the Internet
travels at a rate that you cannot even begin to grasp. Media has really gone a long way from the
invention of the Gutenberg press. Social media gas "democratized" the flow of information. This
means that people have more liberal access to thoughts and ideas. This, in turn, has increased the
engagement of people in creating their own content which you usually see in video sharing
platforms and blog sites.
As quoted: Because of the Web, we have seen amazing examples of "nobodies" becoming
"somebodies" overnight, of whiplash-fast events arising in previously obscure corners of the
world. We witness instances of super-empowered citizens, viral phenomena, and the seemingly
instant coordination of protests and celebrations alike. Memes and hashtags zip and proliferate.

-John Whibey (2014)

Wihbey (2014) classified netizens' engagement patterns with information as the following:

1. Media (broadcast) activation-known as the sharing of content among media users through the
different media forms such as television, radio, print media, and other traditional media.

2. Viral (peer-to-peer) - known as sharing of content through online or new media.

3. Hybrid - a combination of media activation and peer-to-peer.

There are challenges and opportunities that you as a netizen face in the midst of your
engagement with social media.
Table 8.2 The Challenges/Opportunities of Social Media
In Terms of In terms of Challenges/Opportunities

Collaborative projects  Projects enable the joint and  The joint effort of many
simultaneous of content by many actors leads to a better
end-users. outcome than any actor
 Wikis – Web sites which allow could achieve individually.
users to add, remove, and change  From a corporate
text-based content e.g., online perspective, firms must be
encyclopedia Wikipedia currently aware that collaborative
available in more than 230 different projects are trending
language. toward becoming the main
source of information for
 Social bookmarking applications – many consumers (e.g.,
enable the group-based collection although not everything
and rating of internet links or media written on Wikipedia may
content be actually be true, it is
e.g., Delicious, which allows the storage believed to be true by more
and sharing of web bookmarks and more Internet users.
Blogs  Special types of Web sites that  Many companies are already
usually display date-stamped using blogs to update
entries in reverse chronological employees, customers, and
order (OECD, 2007 as cited in shareholders on development
 Kaplan & Haenlein 2010) they consider to be
 The social media equivalent of important.
personal web pages and can come  [Risky because] customers
in a multitude of different who turn out to be
variations, from personal diaries dissatisfied with or
describing the author’s life to disappointed by the
summaries of all relevant company’s offerings may
information in one specific content decide to engage in virtual
area complaints in the form of
 Usually managed by one person protest Web sites or blogs
only, but provide the possibility of (Ward & Ostrom 2006 as
interaction with others through the cited in Kaplan & Haenlein
addition of comments 2010), which results in the
availability of potentially
damaging information in
online space.
Content communities  Main objective of content  From a corporate viewpoint,
communities is the sharing of content communities carry
media content between users the risk of being used as
 Exist for a wide range of different platforms for the sharing of
media types, including text, photos, copyright-protected
videos, and PowerPoint materials.
presentations  While major content
communities have rules in
place to band and remove
such illegal content, it is
difficult to avoid popular
videos being uploaded only
hours after they have been
aired on television.
 On the positive side, the high
popularity of content
communities make them a
very attractive contact
channel for many firms.
 Other firms rely on content
communities to share
recruiting videos, as well as
keynote speeches and press
announcements, with their
employees and investors.
Social networking sites  Applications that enable users to  High popularity,
connect by creating personal specifically among younger
information profiles, inviting internet users
friends and colleagues to have
access to those profiles, and
 sending emails and instant
messages between each other
 Can include any type of
information, including photos,
video, audio files, and blogs
Virtual game worlds  Platforms that replicate a three-  Provide the highest level of
dimensional environment in which social presence and media
users can appear in the form of richness of all applications
personalized avatars and interact  Allows for an unlimited
with each other as they would in range of self-presentation
real life strategies
 Probably the ultimate manifest of  Offer a multitude of
social media opportunities for companies
 Virtual game worlds – require in marketing
their users to have according to (advertising/communication
strict rules in the context of a , virtual product sales/e-
massively multiplayer online role- commerce, marketing
playing (MMORPG) research), and human
 Virtual social worlds – allow resource and internal
inhabitants to choose their process management
behavior more freely and
essentially live a virtual life
similar to their real life

Cybercrime in the Philippines

Cybercrime, according to the Department of Justice, is "a crime committed with or through the
use of information and communication technologies such as radio, television, cellular phone,
computer and network, and other communication device or application."

Going after cybercriminals used to be a grueling challenge for law enforcement agencies. But
after years of battling with the lack of laws to penalize crimes committed in cyberspace, the
Philippines finally passed a cybercrime law in 2012. President Benigno Aquino III signed the bill
into law on 12 September 2012, and the newly signed law took effect several days later.

All was not well as some critics found the "libel provision added by Senator Vicente Sotto III
which provided for blocking certain computer data and for longer prison term for libel (Farmer,
2012)" very dangerous to online users. There were petitions submitted to the Supreme Court by
several groups who argued that the law was not clear on how to punish certain cybercrimes.
Some even considered the law "draconian." The Supreme Court eventually released a temporary
restraining order on the implementation of the law.

According to the 2001 Budapest Convention on Cybercrime, criminal offenses in cyberspace

include:

1. offenses against the confidentiality, integrity and availability of computer data and systems;

cyberspace include:

2. computer-related offenses;

3. content-related offenses; and

4. offenses related to infringements of copyright and related rights.

Big Idea

Laws describe the ways in which people are required to act in their relationships with others in a
society. They set requirements to act in a given way, not just expectations or suggestions to act in
that way.

The following are cybercrime-related laws in the Philippines:

 Republic Act No. 10175-Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 (which is currently

suspended due to a TRO issued by the Supreme Court)
 Republic Act No. 9995 - Anti-photo Voyeurism Act of 2009 Republic Act No. 9775-
Anti-child Pornography Act of 2009
 Republic Act No. 9208 - Anti-trafficking in Persons Act of 2003
 Republic Act No. 8792 - E-commerce Act of 2000
 Republic Act No. 8484 - Access Device Regulation Act of 1998; and Republic Act No.
4200 - Anti-wiretapping Law.

Media and Information Literate Audience

You are an empowered audience when you are able to make the most of the media
messages you receive. Information processing involves a conscious filtering and
matching and construction of meanings of these messages. In Table 8.3, there are tasks
that you must be able to perform "to get more out of your media exposure."

Table 8.3. Information Processing Tasks (Potter, 2011)

Task Goal Focus

Filtering Message To make decisions To attend to only Messages in the

about which messages those messages that environment
to filter out (ignore) have some kind of
 and which to filter in usefulness for the
(pay attention to) person and ignore all
other messages
Meaning Matching To use basic To access previously Referents in
competencies to learned meanings messages
recognize referents efficiently
and locate previously
learned definitions for
each
Meaning To use skills in order To interpret messages One’s own
Construction to move beyond from more than one knowledge structures
meaning matching and perspective as a means
to construct meaning of identifying the
for one’s self in order range of meaning
to personalized and options, then choose
get more out of a one or synthesize
message across several

Media Content

According to Potter (2011), people live in two worlds: the real world and the media
world. The challenge is how you as students of media and information literacy are able to
discern the thin line that separates these two worlds. This means "being able to tell the
two worlds apart as the two merge together under pressures from newer message formats
and newer technologies that seem to make boundary lines... very fuzzy." Information
processing is a skill that every media and information literate audience must exploit to
avoid automaticity and normalization.

Media Effect
Media is pervasive. This being the case, you might not notice the subtle ways media
influence your attitude and behavior.
... certain types of messages will lead to certain kinds of opinions and behaviors.... as
individuals, we do not have much power to control the media, but we have a great deal of
power (if we will use it) to control the media's effects on us.

-W. James Potter, Media Literacy

Media has a particular power over audiences that media scholars call the third-person
effect. This is an effect that can make you think that media messages affect others but not
you. This can happen because you are made to think that media content may be too banal
or simple to have any effect on you. You have to remember three basic principles about
media effects (Potter, 2011):

1. Media effects are constantly occurring because of media's constant and direct/ indirect
influence on you;
2. Media work with other factors... in exerting influence; and
3. You can control the effects process in your life.

Big Idea

Message reception is much like pouring a liquid into a container with a small opening.
The human brain can only handle a certain amount of information, thus, siphoning or
filtering content/ messages is a productive act of making sure we only receive the most
important information.

Essential Learning

Media and information present opportunities and challenges for greater involvement and
social presence. Being adept in proper processing of media messages help you avoid
building automatic responses or normalized routines when handling these messages. As
digital natives, you are expected to anticipate and hurdle the challenges and exploit the
opportunities of media and information especially in the Digital Age.

Social media, which is a very crucial driver in social movements, may be utilized to
further the communicative goals of individuals and institutions. Taking the Arab Spring
and the Million-people March as key examples, you have seen how people have been
interlinked and mobilized due to this technology. No one could have expected the extent
of the socialness of social media. On the other hand, social media can also be misused
and abused through offenses committed in the cyberspace. Penalizing cybercrimes is not
as simple and straightforward as it seems; that is why the greater challenge to all exposed
to media and information is how to adhere to cybercrime laws while avoiding to infringe
other peoples' rights.

Other than acknowledging the legal challenges of addressing offenses in the virtual
world, media and information literate individuals must also realize how audiences,
content, and media effects all relate with each other in the aspect of information
processing. Media messages carry with them meanings perhaps powerful ones that can
influence media and information consumers' attitude and behavior.

Challenges are meant for you to explore possibilities and opportunities. In the greater
scheme of things, media and information are so pervasive. You may not be able to
control media, but you can strive to control their effects.