MEDIA4ALL: Developing Basic Skills with Participatory Media Production

The situation currently experienced due to the COVID-19 pandemic has led to the lockdown of the most of the EU population, who have spent more time at home and therefore more time online. Misinformation, fake news and cyber-security are increasingly dominant topics in an environment of disquiet and uncertainty where information proliferates that can cause not only social but also public health damage. According to a study carried out in the EU and USA, people with low levels of formal education are much less likely to say that they rely on news organisations for news and information about coronavirus, and more likely to rely on social media and messaging applications. Researchers also found that marginalised communities in every country did not engage with news and with government advices and, in turn, often know less about the crisis.

The media landscape has undergone through profound changes in recent decades that irreversibly affected education, culture and the economy, having a great impact on citizens'daily lives. Just as literacy is the ability to read and write, media literacy involves not only the ability to analyse and evaluate media messages, but also the ability to create them. The fast technological development and spread of digital media, especially the Internet, has resulted in multiple access points to information that does not reach us directly from its source -it is mediated for easy consumption. Since media literacy is a matter of inclusion and citizenship in the contemporary information society, the MEDIA4LL project aims to promote the development of digital and media literacy skills in an embedded learning perspective, while supporting adult and community educators, and professionals from the arts and culture sectors in the development of media literacy skills of low-skilled adults and marginalised communities. This will be done through media-based methodologies (storyboards, video storytelling and photo-voice) and a participatory community approach.

They key actions to achieve the aims of the project are:

• The development of an engaging Toolkit of Embedded Digital & Media Literacy Resources that will support low-skilled adults to develop basic digital and media literacy skills through storyboards, video storytelling and photo-voice.
• The development of a tailor-made In-Service Training Programme that aims to train adult and community educators, and professionals from the arts and culture sectors in the development of basic skills of low-skilled adults. 
• The development of an innovative Handbook of Participatory Methodologies for Community Engagement in Media Literacy (IO3) which aims to explore the potential of media production for community empowerment and provide a set of recommendations for the implementation of media education activities with participatory methodologies.
• The development of the MEDIA4ALL MOOC (educational platform) which will enable full access of results;
• The development of a thought-provoking Policy Paper that will provide a set of operational and policy recommendations based on the analysis of the results of the transnational project, for decision and policymakers in the and adult education, arts and culture sectors.