{"id":18240,"date":"2022-05-26T08:53:44","date_gmt":"2022-05-26T06:53:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/?p=18240"},"modified":"2022-08-12T11:09:35","modified_gmt":"2022-08-12T09:09:35","slug":"mediasmarts-building-a-digital-media-literacy-strategy-for-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/type\/featured-articles\/mediasmarts-building-a-digital-media-literacy-strategy-for-canada\/","title":{"rendered":"MediaSmarts – Building a Digital Media Literacy Strategy for Canada"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Samantha McAleese & Kara Brisson-Boivin<\/strong>, MediaSmarts, Canada. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MediaSmarts \u2013 Canada’s centre for digital media literacy \u2013 has advocated for a national digital media literacy strategy for over fifteen years. The development of such a strategy is not only of interest to our organization but to key stakeholders and community partners across the country. This endorsement was re-confirmed during an online symposium we hosted in partnership with Digital Public Square<\/a> in February 2022. Attendees expressed their eagerness to move forward on the next steps to realize a comprehensive strategy grounded in equity, inclusion, accessibility and digital well-being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Our latest report, From Access to Engagement: Building a Digital Media Literacy Strategy for Canada<\/em><\/a>, summarizes the discussions that took place at the symposium along with key findings from an environmental scan of existing national and international digital media literacy strategies. The scan included interviews with key informants from Canada and other jurisdictions about their experiences working on digital and media literacy frameworks. For example, we spoke to Dr. Julian Thomas from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society<\/a> about his work on the Australian Digital Inclusion Index<\/a> and a representative from the UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport about their new Online Media Literacy Strategy<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The symposium, held on 9 February 2022, brought together key stakeholders and community partners from across Canada who share an interest in developing and implementing a national digital media literacy strategy. Attendees included representatives from the Canadian Civil Liberties Association<\/a>, DigitalNWT<\/a>, the Neil Squire Society<\/a>, the Nia Centre for the Arts<\/a>, the Rideau Hall Foundation<\/a>, the Samara Centre for Democracy<\/a> and academics from several Canadian universities, among many others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Breakout sessions and discussions allowed attendees to: (1) identify needs and challenges across various priority groups in Canada related to digital media literacy and (2) identify commitments and principles that should be included in a national strategy to address those needs and challenges. What it means to be digitally literate is always-already changing, and therefore it was necessary to hear from partners and collaborators about current challenges and opportunities in the field. Attendees insisted on a ‘nothing about us without us’ approach to digital media literacy and called for a holistic, collaborative, inclusive and community-driven method to develop a national strategy. There was also a reminder that any strategy must remain flexible and responsive to changing needs, challenges and contexts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MediaSmarts identified ten foundational commitments and principles<\/a> to guide the development of a national digital media literacy strategy. These commitments and principles are based on what we heard at the symposium, feedback received through the post-event surveys, information gathered through the environmental scan and our own expertise in the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A national digital media literacy strategy in Canada must:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n