(Reprinted from Digital Citizen Summit)
By David Ryan Polgar, summit organizer
The Digital Citizenship Summit is excited to announce our partnership with Media Literacy Now. Coupled with our partnership with the National Association for Media Literacy Education, the Digital Citizenship Summit is recognizing the tremendous level of overlap and shared goals with digital citizenship and media literacy advocacy.
Media literacy, as defined by the Media Literacy Project, is “the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and create media. Media literate youth and adults are better able to understand the complex messages we receive from television, radio, Internet, newspapers, magazines, books, billboards, video games, music, and all other forms of media.”
A digital citizen should be able to apply their media literacy skills to determine the legitimacy, credibility, and importance of information. The Internet has created a massive positive opportunity to easily access highly valuable information, but it also requires sharpened skills in order to adequately sift the proverbial wheat from the chaff.
What we need is an increased focus on media/digital literacy.
Media Literacy Now is the leading national advocacy organization for media literacy education policy that argues, at a state-by-state level, for comprehensive media literacy education. Through its state chapter/affiliate structure, they have recently been able to introduce a bill in Connecticut (home of the Digital Citizenship Summit) that would require a focus on media literacy for K-12.
The Summit, with its focus on shaping the national conversation and moving forward with solutions, aligns with the values and objectives of Media Literacy Now.
Registration now open! We hope you will be able to join us on Saturday, October 3, 2015 at the University of Saint Joseph (West Hartford, CT) for an incredible day focused exclusively on digital citizenship. This ALL DAY event will gather a diverse range of leaders from around the country to discuss digital citizenship and push forward bold new ideas.
This can’t-be-missed summit will include a continental breakfast with networking, a panel discussion, breakaway sessions, lunch, more break away sessions and a social event to connect with all the fascinating big thinkers across the country who are pivotal in shaping digital citizenship.
