{"id":48087,"date":"2026-07-23T14:53:06","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T12:53:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/?p=48087"},"modified":"2026-07-23T14:53:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T12:53:10","slug":"media-literacy-for-everyone-what-we-learned-by-starting-with-inclusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/subject\/lifelong-learning\/media-literacy-for-everyone-what-we-learned-by-starting-with-inclusion\/","title":{"rendered":"Media Literacy for everyone: what we learned by starting with inclusion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Zara Mommerency<\/strong>, Mediawijs\/BENEDMO, Belgium. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Mediawijs<\/a>, the Flemish Knowledge Centre for Digital and Media Literacy, we developed two inclusive media literacy tools as part of the European BENEDMO project. Everyone should be able to participate confidently and consciously in today’s mediated society. That “everyone” became the starting point of this work.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we think about news and information literacy, we often focus on teaching people how to recognise misinformation, verify sources or critically evaluate online content. These are essential skills, but we realised that an important question comes first: are our materials actually accessible to the people who need them most?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within BENEDMO<\/a>, we focused on vulnerable adults, particularly adults with low literacy skills and multilingual backgrounds. These groups are often very vulnerable to misleading or false information, but many existing resources assume a level of language proficiency, digital confidence and background knowledge that not everyone has.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To develop materials tailored to these vulnerable groups, we first listened to professionals working with these audiences and then co-created solutions together with the people themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Listening before designing<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Together with our Belgian and Dutch BENEDMO partners VRT<\/a>, Sound & Vision<\/a> and Netwerk Mediawijsheid<\/a>, we organised focus groups with more than forty professionals from adult education, community organisations and neighbourhood centres. Their daily experience helped us understand the needs of these target groups and where existing media literacy materials often fall short.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their message was remarkably consistent. Theoretical concepts such as disinformation<\/em>, algorithms<\/em> or fact-checking<\/em> are often too abstract to serve as a starting point. Their target groups are often most worried about something very practical: phishing. Scam messages, fraudulent emails and fake text messages are the digital risks these people encounter most frequently in their everyday lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We also learned that meaningful conversations emerge when people can begin with their own experiences. Personal stories naturally open the door to broader discussions about online information and critical thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These insights shaped what followed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Co-creating with the people we wanted to reach<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Instead of developing materials behind our desks, we spent more than a year visiting neighbourhood organisations in Ghent, Antwerp and Brussels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We organised conversation sessions with participants about their digital habits, the way they consume news and the challenges they experience online. Early prototypes were tested repeatedly. Even seemingly small choices\u2014such as the order of questions or the style of an illustration\u2014turned out to influence whether people felt comfortable participating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We deliberately co-created the illustrations together with participants. Carefully designed visuals help reduce language barriers and allow people to recognise themselves, familiar situations, people and environments, making the materials feel relevant to their own lives rather than something created for someone else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout the process, the professionals and community workers who participated in the focus groups also reviewed the prototypes, continuously improving the materials after every testing round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two tools, one conversation<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The project resulted in two practical conversation tools that professionals can immediately use in informal learning settings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nieuws in Beeld<\/a><\/strong> (“News in Pictures”) uses illustrated memory cards to help small groups talk about news and information. Guided by a facilitator, participants reflect on where they get their news, how they consume it, who they discuss it with, and which information they trust.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Digitale Praat<\/a><\/strong> (“Digital Talk”) starts from participants’ everyday digital lives. Through illustrated conversation cards, people exchange experiences about smartphones, social media, online safety and digital information. Instead of testing knowledge, the tool encourages dialogue, reflection and peer learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Both tools help create meaningful conversations in which people build confidence, exchange experiences and gradually strengthen their media literacy while also supporting language development. Since the launch in May, 400 copies of each tool have been printed and distributed to around 20 cities and municipalities, neighbourhood organisations and socio-cultural organisations. All printed copies have already been claimed, and several other organisations are currently waiting for a new print run. The strong interest in both tools confirms that they address a real need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A broader lesson for media literacy<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

For BENEDMO, the development of Nieuws in Beeld<\/em> and Digitale Praat<\/em> reminded us that media literacy is ultimately about participation. People are far more likely to engage critically with information when they first feel included in the conversation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Working with vulnerable adults reminded us that people engage more critically with information when they first feel seen, heard and represented. That is perhaps the most important lesson we hope to share beyond the BENEDMO project: if we truly want everyone to become more resilient to misinformation, we must first ensure that everyone can participate in learning about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next steps<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

During the Digital Week in Flanders in October, we will once again showcase both tools alongside new BENEDMO resources. The tools will also be presented at the Flemish-Dutch Benedmo Inspiration Day on 29 October (Dutch-speaking event). Pre-register here.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Find more information on Iedereen mee: nieuwe tools rond mediawijsheid voor laaggeletterden | BENEDMO<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Author<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Zara Mommerency<\/strong>\u00a0works in the Critical Thinking team as an expert in news and information literacy. She works on educational teaching materials for, among others,\u00a0Nieuwswijsneuzen<\/strong>\u00a0(primary education), Nieuws in de Klas<\/strong>\u00a0(secondary education), and various EDUboxes. She is a member of EDMO BELUX and co-developed the teacher training No Cap. Furthermore, Zara contributes to writing the thematic dossiers for the website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Zara Mommerency, Mediawijs\/BENEDMO, Belgium. At Mediawijs, the Flemish Knowledge Centre for Digital and Media Literacy, we developed two inclusive media literacy tools as part of the European BENEDMO project. Everyone should be able to participate confidently and consciously in today’s mediated society. That “everyone” became the starting point of this work.\u00a0 When we think […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":48089,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,276,272],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-articles","category-lifelong-learning","category-media-literacy"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/files\/2026\/07\/Copy-of-now-available-in-8-languages-8.png","author_info":{"display_name":"Chlo\u00eb P\u00e9t\u00e9","author_link":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/author\/chloe-pete\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48087"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48087\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48092,"href":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48087\/revisions\/48092"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}