Media Iliterate

"Media Literacy is a quality, like a tan, which can be achieved." - Neil Anderson, Association for Media Literacy.

What is media literacy? Obviously, when beginning the study of media literacy (or merely just trying to understand it), this should be the first question we ask. A week ago I can honestly say that I had a limited understanding of true media literacy. I defined it as messages from limited, mainly technological sources. After some considerable time studying the matter, my definiton has changed. My new comprehension of media literacy is the ability to understand and sort through all forms of messages encountered every day from mulitiple outlets. I found one article, Expanding the Definition of Media Literacy by Bill Walsh, writer of a weekly column called "Media Watch", to be central to my new understanding. In the article Walsh talks about "expanding the traditional view of literacy, not replacing it." He goes onto explain that no one outlet of media is more important than another: reading, writing, TV,computers, even billboards are all important.

To become media literate we must also ask ourselves the right questions. This was a recurring theme I found in almost all of my studies. Education Specialist Jane Tallim, says that being media literate is "about asking pertinent questions about what's there, and what's not there. And it's the instinct to question what's behind media productions, and to be aware of how these factors influence content." For me those questions are things like: Who was this message meant for? Who benefits from this message? What are their intentions for this message?

I'm still not certain I grasp the full extent of what media literacy is or how to answer the questions that it raises. However, I think just trying to gain a better understanding and knowing the right questions to ask puts me much closer to gaining a better view of the interconnected world that we are all a part of.

Story of My Life

For my first entry I was initially going to try and think of something clever and fun to say about myself. However, after 10 minutes of staring at a blank screen it has occured to me that I'm not that interesting. Guess I'll have to work on that. So for now, I suppose I'll tell you the basic facts of who I am.
I'm Justin. I'm from the big town of Ellijay, Ga. I'm currently writing this on an iPad. A decision which I regret immediately. I'm not your traditional college student. For starters, I'm old, I will be 27 next month. Also, I'm married to a very hot, very frustrating woman, who other than being from Cleveland, OH, and an Indians, and Buckeyes fan has very few flaws. Also she's currently working on becoming a doctor, lucky me. I also have a son, Noah. He's 20 mos old and awesome!... And simultaneously, a terror. Now, I'm sure you are all wondering why such a late start in college, right? Well, for the past many years I have been in the Army. I was an Airborne Infantry Sgt (technically I still am only now it's in the National Guard, so I only kick ass on a part-time basis). I enjoyed the Army and what I did, but I learned quickly that it wasn't the type of life I wanted for my family (I didn't even see my son for the first time until he was 4 mos old), so in June of 2011, when my last contract was over, I got out. Then the whole fam moved from Seattle, Wa., back to the great state of Georgia and here I am at Reinhardt.

Well there you have it, the abridged version of the story of my life. I'm sure that it probably doesn't give you a sense of who I am as person, but if you're that interested, just talk to me.