WE need to have
due concern for this matter. We are now in
a fast-moving-and-evolving digital world and we cannot
afford to be
ignorant and illiterate in its ways. We have to level up.
As described by
Wikipedia, the purpose of being
information and media literate is to engage in a digital
society.
Thus, “one needs to be able to understand, inquire,
create,
communicate and think critically. It is important to
effectively
access, organize, analyze, evaluate and create messages
in a variety
of forms.”
Wikipedia
continues: “Information and media literacy
enables people to interpret and make informed judgments
as users of
information and media, as well as to become skillful
creators and
producers of information and media messages in their own
right.”
From the
UNESCO, we have the following description:
“Empowerment of people through Media and Information
Literacy (MIL) is
an important prerequisite for fostering equitable access
to
information and knowledge and promoting free, independent
and
pluralistic media and information systems.”
It continues:
“A particular focus will be on training
teachers to sensitize them to the importance of MIL in
the education
process, enable them to integrate MIL into their teaching
and provide
them with appropriate pedagogical methods, curricula and
resources.”
Even Moscow has
issued a declaration defining MIL as “a
combination of knowledge, attitudes, skills, and
practices required to
access, analyze, use, produce, and communicate
information and
knowledge in creative, legal and ethical ways that
respect human
rights.”
This is, of
course, an overwhelming challenge. The
technical aspects involved in this matter alone can
already pose a
formidable challenge. In this area, things are developing
at
warp-speed. But it is more in the moral and ethical
aspects where the
real challenge lies. And sadly, this latter concern is
lagging behind
miserably.
That in this
matter everything has to start and end with
God is hardly felt by people in general. It would even
seem that God
is regarded as a persona-non-grata here. But what is
worse is when we
start talking about the concrete guidelines and limits so
that we can
indulge in this task with prudence and temperance that
would not
compromise boldness and creativity!
I imagine that
more than speaking of general principles,
we have to accumulate a lot of lived experiences in this
area before
we can come out with effective guidelines that are
adapted also to the
peculiar and unique conditions of individual persons and
not just a
class of people.
Unfortunately,
many people nowadays hardly make any
reference to God in their growing ventures into the world
of
knowledge, sciences, technology. They seem competent to
tackle the
challenge simply by using their increasingly growing
technical
knowledge and skills. This is a big challenge to face.
They have
forgotten what St. Paul said in this regard:
“Knowledge puffs up while love builds up. Those who think
they know
something do not yet know as they ought to know. But
whoever loves God
is known by God.” (1 Cor 8,1-3)
Maybe what
should be done is to come out with a network of
agencies and other relevant institutions that will
continually monitor
the developments in this world of the media and
information. This
network should cover and be represented by all levels,
classes,
sectors of society.
It definitely
would involve technical people, but more
than them, it should involve our spiritual leaders,
parents, teachers,
government, etc. There should be representatives from the
legal field
as well as from that sphere that studies social
developments. There
should be interdisciplinary approach to all this.
From there, we
need to have an army of mentors who can
personally attend to every individual person, especially
the young
ones. Of course, everyone should strive to be a mentor
too, even if he
himself needs also to be continually mentored. We have to
remember
that all of us are meant to be both sheep and shepherd,
mentee and
mentor.
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