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Media Education International Symposium
Korean Society for Journalism and
Communication
October 2, 2003
Shin Mizukoshi
Associate Professor of Media Studies,
Interfaculty Initiative in Information
Studies, The University of Tokyo
- About the
MELL Project
The MELL (Media Expression, Learning and
Literacy) Project is a loosely knit,
networked research project intended to
conduct practical research into expression
and learning via the media, and research
into media literacy.
In the information society of East Asia,
which continues to present a chaotic face as
digitalization and globalization both
advance simultaneously, how should people
gain an understanding of media literacy? How
should expression and learning via the media
be developed? How should citizens
independently design their own diverse modal
media systems? To take on topics such as
these, the MELL Project began as a
cooperative research project of a brand new
type of graduate school, the Interfaculty
Initiative in Information Studies, which was
established in the 2000 school year at the
University of Tokyo to fuse the areas of
information studies in liberal arts, social
science, natural science, art and design.
Activities of the project, which officially
began in January 2001, are taking place over
a time frame of five years.
The MELL Project is simultaneously advancing
on several fronts, through several
subprojects and more loosely related
affiliated projects. The primary subprojects
and affiliated projects are introduced
below.
The first project is the Media Literacy
Project of the National Association of
Commercial Broadcasters in Japan (NAB). This
project links commercial broadcasters with
children in their areas, enabling children
to produce their own television programs.
Through activities that enable studying
media literacy and media expression
together, conducted by creators and viewers
in these regions, this project is enjoying
wide-ranging success. Pilot projects are
underway in four regions: Miyagi, Nagano,
Aichi, and Fukuoka. The next project is the
Tokyo project. This project is progressing
in all areas of Tokyo, preparing a media
literacy program that can be conducted using
community centers and museums instead of
schools.
Other activities cover a wide range of
subjects, including the Book Building and
Media Literacy Project; the Asia Image
Network, for practical research into the
Asian media; the play "NEWS NEWS: What are
they Saying on TV?," which covers the themes
of inaccurate reporting in the mass media
and human rights issues; the Media
Expression Research Conferences, which
conduct theoretical research into the new
area of media expression; and others.
Members of the MELL Project may be
classified into three types, based on their
degrees of connection to the project.
(1)the project leaders: Katsumi Ichikawa
(television producer), Mariko Sakai (museum
director), Akiko Sugaya (journalist), Naoya
Hayashi (high-school teacher), Shin
Mizukoshi (media studies researcher), and
Yuhei Yamauchi (education researcher).
(2)the MELL members: those who conduct
research as part of the project
(approximately seventy members). Primarily
staff and graduate students of the
Interfaculty Initiative in Information
Studies, this group is made up of
schoolteachers, persons involved in the mass
media, journalists, persons involved in
social education, information designers,
citizen activists, librarians, museum
curators, persons involved in online
industries, and others.
(3)the MELL supporters: those who receive
project information via the project mailing
list and other means. As of April 2003, this
group numbers approximately 450 members.
In addition, although these educational
research projects take place within a system
separate from the MELL Project (a
cooperative research project), the courses
we teach at the Interfaculty Initiative in
Information Studies, Information Literacy
Studies and Media Practice are both deeply
linked with the research practiced in the
MELL Project.
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Characteristics of Japan's media environment
and media literacy topics
The genesis of the MELL Project is
intimately linked with the characteristics
of Japan's media environment and topics
connected with media literacy in Japan.
Without an understanding of this background,
it may be impossible for readers in North
America and other countries to understand
fully the significance of the MELL Project.
These topics are briefly explained below:
(1) A massive and systemized mass-media and
a frail citizens' media
In the mass media that developed in Japan
following World War II, newspapers and
television particularly have flourished,
becoming extremely large-scale industries
and developing intricate systems. Similar
tendencies can be seen in the U.S., the
U.K., and many other developed countries.
However, Japan perhaps has the most
centralized national mass-media system of
these countries. The beginnings of this
system can be seen in the policies for
suppression of speech enacted from the early
20th century through World War II. These
policies encouraged the oligopolization of
the media business. This system became
settled in postwar industry developments.
On the other hand, Japanese citizens' media
and regional media are, broadly speaking,
weak. A major reason for this situation is
the establishment of the centralized
national media since the Meiji Era, as part
of the process of Japan's modernization as a
nation. This involved the gradual
elimination of regional, indigenous, and
anti-Tokyo media
Japanese became passive consumers enjoying a
mass media that had developed domestically
in peace, without open cultural
encroachments from overseas or any major
changes to the nation's political system. In
these kinds of circumstances, it would be
pointless for example to introduce
Anglo-Saxon-style media literacy studies
as-is. However, discussing and putting into
practice media literacy studies in Japan's
historical and social contexts is no simple
task.
(2) Media literacy movements: difficult to
link
Education and practice regarding the media
and literacy may be classified into three
lineages. The first of these is traditional
media literacy studies, conducted through
critical analysis of the popular culture
arising from the mass media. This has
primarily developed in the fields of social
education, adult education, and citizens'
movements. The second of these lineages is
that of media education in the field of
school education. This has developed
continually from pre-World War II radio
education and film education through today's
computer education. The primary goal of such
education is effective utilization of the
media to promote many aspects of children's
education. The third is the field of
information education and computer literacy,
intended to develop technical skills for
using information devices, in line with
recent advances in information technology
(IT). The background for this field involves
the state and the IT industry, both of which
see a need for workers for new industries.
Although this situation may be found in all
countries to some degree, these three
lineages have not been well linked in Japan.
Japanese schools have tried to exclude
popular culture, so that activities such as
popular cultural criticism are generally not
conducted in the classroom. Many reach the
hasty conclusion that media and information
are subjects of technical education. On the
other hand, traditional media literacy
studies, which have emphasized the analysis
of the media primarily through critical
thinking, have been introduced in Japan
largely through somewhat hysterical
anti-television movements, strongly rooted
in enlightenment ideologies. These have not
been fully reconciled with the rich
understanding of popular cultural criticism
influenced by cultural studies. In light of
the interconnectedness between Japan's
political culture and the media in around
1990, this movement was in danger of a
careless connection with the movement to
restrict speech for the cause of protecting
youth, promoted by groups such as the ruling
Liberal Democratic Party and the inherently
conservative national PTA. This has been the
situation in Japan until recently.
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Perspectives of the MELL Project
Obviously, such broad-ranging views are not
easy to reconcile. With these kinds of
difficulties, how feasible are the continual
development of media literacy studies and
citizens' expression through the media in
Japan? The MELL Project was born in response
to this question.
(1) Media literacy: the cycle of expression
and reception
In today's Japan, where citizens' media is
frail and school culture is strictly
controlled, we believe that putting into
practice one-sided media literacy that leans
toward critical reception of the media will
likely not take root, but will be welcomed
by the establishment as a simple anti-mass
media movement. In order to fully train
citizens' critical thinking, a program that
activates the dormant communication
abilities of citizens and actively promotes
lively expression is required.
The two aspects of expression and reception
have not been sufficiently linked in media
literacy practice in the past. Those who
emphasize critical analysis have insisted
that education in critical methods is more
effective than media creation. Those who
emphasize expression have tended to place
little importance on critical thinking and
to teach only techniques of expression.
However, in the end these two purposes need
to be unified. The vital topic in education
is not which of these aspects to learn, but
how to create an interconnectedness between
the two. To this end, we have created the
expression-reception spiral model, a
learning model intended to unify these two
aspects.
By repeating this expression-reception loop
numerous times, enabling students to move up
the expression-reception spiral, the
students gradually learn to analyze and
express themselves, taking into
consideration higher-level content, such as
cultural, social, and economic factors. This
enables deeply critical thinking backed up
by practical expressive activities, and
strong, high-level media expression
supported by critical thinking.
(2) Media play as the foundation for media
literacy
Media literacy evokes the image of "correct
ways" of reading the media and media
expression. This may be related to the
enlightenment tinge of the word literacy. Of
course, the fact that media expression
includes various overlapping codes fostered
by human beings over many years must not be
ignored. It is vital to study what kinds of
expressions to make, and what meanings will
be attached to these expressions by
receivers.
However, these must not be taken as
absolute, fixed matters. Since such codes
have been created by human beings, they may
change independently in response to various
circumstances. Adherence to canonical,
inflexible codes is an act not of literacy
but of propaganda.
In Japan, the state of the mass media and
the educational system are currently uniform
and regimental, and accordingly, people tend
to show these characteristics as well. It is
difficult convey the fact that media
literacy possesses critical aspects that are
playful and "hard fun", such as satire,
humor, and parody.
In these kinds of circumstances, the MELL
Project has emphasized the importance of
media play as well as media literacy, as
means of enabling citizens to learn the
variability of media codes. Play, as used
here, does not refer to the mass
entertainment offered as products by the
media. It refers to experimental trials
conducted by encouraging the human
imagination, such as freely creating and
interpreting media codes and readjusting the
interconnectedness between the media and
human beings. In Japan, this kind of media
play leading to a dynamism that generates
new meaning for the media must be considered
a basis for supporting media literacy, and
promoted as such.
(3) Media practice as an intent of media
literacy
Media literacy itself is not the goal.
Rather, like the larva for the butterfly,
media literacy results in media practice.
Through media practices, such as promotion
of public access, bridging the digital
divide, extension of information technology
to depopulated areas, and workshops using
museums and community centers, citizens must
be able to enrich their own communication
activities and change the information
society. If not, then learning about the
media serves no purpose.
In Japan in recent years, media literacy has
become a kind of fad. However, many of these
movements have proceeded without adequate
curricula and teaching materials, leading
them to become simple criticisms of
newspaper articles, criticisms of television
programs, and vague criticisms of the
information society (such as statements that
information technology will lead to a
breakdown of humanity). We need not only to
receive knowledge concerning media literacy,
but also to get to work in society himself
or herself, to gain practical experience
opening up new roads of communication. This
is especially vital in Japan, where
citizens' media is frail.
As described above, media literacy, media
play, and media practice share a cyclical
relationship. Restoring this cycle in
Japan's media environment is the perspective
of the MELL Project.
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Development of the NAB Project
The National Association of Commercial
Broadcasters in Japan (NAB) is an industrial
organization of Japan's commercial
broadcasters. The organization felt the need
to respond to criticism from authorities and
from citizens over scandals that have
occurred in succession among member
broadcasters since about 1990. In addition,
it became aware of the danger posed by the
development of digital television, which had
been proceeding with its focus mostly on
technology. For these reasons, the NAB has
recognized the importance of media literacy
as a means of building bridges connecting
the media with citizens. This is an epochal
change, even when compared with the
situation of the organization's American
partner, the National Association of
Broadcasters.
In order to develop activities on a fuller
scale, the MELL Project conducted practical
research on behalf of the NAB Project over
the two-year period beginning in the 2001
academic year. The goal of the NAB project
was to enable local broadcasters and schools
to learn about media literacy, through the
process of producing television programs.
These programs are actually broadcast on NAB
member stations as segments of evening
variety programs.
Through producing television programs
together with local broadcasters, schools
can learn about the characteristics of
broadcast media and the processes of
constructing a television program. The local
broadcasters can attain media literacy from
the creators' side, through rethinking their
own impact by reviewing the media expression
process in putting their activities into
words.
Even in the past, broadcasters gave their
viewers short lessons in video techniques
and broadcast videos produced by their
viewers. However, these recent trials are
original in that they combine these
activities to study media literacy.
The projects conducted in Nagano and Aichi
in the 2001 academic year developed further
in the 2002 academic year. In addition, in
Miyagi and Fukuoka, a new pilot study
advanced, not through the schools but
through relationships with local children
and NPOs. Although we do not have room to
discuss these in detail here, the MELL
Project is currently receiving a great
number of requests to continue these types
of activities, not only from commercial
broadcasters but also from public
broadcaster NHK, from local cable television
providers, and from other media
organizations, as well as from schools and
social education institutions nationwide.
The success of the NAB Project was in
providing a strong feel for the
possibilities of media literacy studies
conducted in cooperation between media
creators and educational organizations.
However, at the same time many issues
remain. Here we will look at three of these
issues, and provide an indication of the
future directions of our projects.
(1) Repeating the expression-reception loop
(2) Connecting with journalist education
(3) Increasing the diversity of the media
and education organizations
The ideal goal for the NAB Project is
construction of a type of media biotope,
redefining the currently divided groups of
media creators and receivers into media
practitioners and media expressers who live
together in a diverse culture, and
connecting these groups in a cycle. A
biotope is a small, man-made ecosystem.
Learning media literacy is one of the
cyclical principles of this media biotope.
References
- Mizukoshi,
Shin and Yuhei Yamauchi. Perspectives on
Japan's Media Environment and the MELL
Project, Duncan, Barry and Tynar, Catherine,
Visions/Revisions, National Telemedia
Council,2003.
- Mizukoshi,
Shin. Shinpan dejitaru media shakai (The
digital media society: A new edition).
Iwanami Shoten, 2002.
- Mizukoshi,
Shin and Shunya Yoshimi ed. media purakutisu.
(Media Practice). Serica Shobo, 2003.
- Sugaya,
Akiko. Media riterashii: Sekai no genba kara.
(Media literacy: On location around the
world). Iwanami Shoten, 2000.
- Tokyo Daigaku
Joho Gakkan MELL Project ed. MELL no wa :
Media hyogen manabi to riterashii (The
Circle of MELL : Media expression, learning
and literacy).Transart, 2003.
- Yamauchi,
Yuhei. Dejitaru shakai no riterashii: 'Manabi
no komyuniti' wo dezain suru (Literacy in
the digital society: Designing a 'learning
community'). Iwanami Shoten, 2003.
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