What is Media Literacy Week?

Media Literacy Week aims to promote digital media literacy across Canada and highlight the important role that media literacy education plays in our lives. Taking place annually in October, this year Media Literacy Week falls between October 21 to 25. During this time, educational and community oriented institutions such as schools, libraries, and community groups will organize events and activities to help develop various media literacy skills.

What Is Digital Media Literacy?

Digital media literacy encompasses the skills required to be able to effectively find, understand, and use digital media such as information from the internet and electronic devices. With the amount of digital technology surrounding us, it is more important than ever before that people of all ages understand how to effectively and safely navigate as well as create digital media. Digital media literacy ensures that people are able to recognize potential dangers online and protect themselves and their accounts. It goes hand in hand with personal cybersafety and what it looks like to be media literate digital citizens.

In honour of Media Literacy Week, check out these 3 ways for you to improve your media literacy and cybersafety skills!

3 Easy Ways To Stay Safe For Media Literacy Week

1. Make sure your devices are connected securely

Whether you’re at home, school, or any other public setting, it is important to make sure you are connecting to secure wifi networks. Unsecured networks are an easy way for hackers to gain access to your personal devices and information, so stay alert on what wifi networks you’re using and where. A good rule of thumb is to avoid accessing things to do with your personal information such as banking accounts while connected to public wifi networks in places such as coffee shops, malls, and airports, as they likely lack the encryption necessary to protect your information.

Additionally, for any parents out there, check out our resource page tailored specifically for parents to properly secure their home networks in order to keep young kids and teens safe!

2. Learn to recognize misinformation and explore multiple information channels

With it being so easy to immediately publish content to the internet, oftentimes the media you are consuming may be inaccurate, missing important details, or purposely fabricated. One way to make sure you are thinking deeply about the content you’re consuming and not blindly trusting sources is to conduct the C.R.I.S.P. Scan, a technique that forces the user to think critically about online information to prevent being tricked by disinformation. C.R.I.S.P. stands for ‘Consider the source’, ‘Read beyond the page’, ‘Investigate the clues’, ‘Scan for bias’, and ‘Proceed with caution’. Keeping C.R.I.S.P. in mind keeps readers alert!

Another great way to double check your information is to fact check it against multiple sources. This can look like verifying information across multiple online sources, with people in your life or trusted authority figures, or even making a trip to your local library and double checking with a physical source or a librarian. Libraries are also a great way to gain more knowledge on improving your media literacy in general as they are often hosting events, courses, and seminars specifically geared towards helping people protect themselves online.

3. Protect yourself from social engineering and scams

One popular tactic cybercriminals use to target people is through social engineering scams. This can look like someone impersonating authority figures, using extortion, emotional manipulation, and many other methods meant to gain your trust and and fall into their trap. Stay alert when dealing with unexpected messages or emails, and always exercise caution to verify the information.

For more information on how to protect yourself online and practice cybersafety, be sure to check out our comprehensive ‘Cybersafety For Everyone’ online course that covers a wide range of topics to provide a well-rounded understanding of digital media literacy and safety.

What We’re Doing at KnowledgeFlow

Every year at KnowledgeFlow, we are dedicated to celebrating Media Literacy Week by providing resources for all learners to gain skills that will allow them to verify online information and stay protected. The 3 skills provided here are just the tip of the iceberg, and there are many more steps we can all take to deepen our understanding of digital media and be more alert to our own cybersafety. We offer a wide range of free, self-paced online courses through our Cybersafety Academy that are specially designed to increase your personal cybersafety skills! Visit this page for a more comprehensive list of some of the courses that we offer, tailored for K-12 level education in digital media literacy.

For More Resources

Below, we’ve provided a few extra resources to cover all your digital media literacy and cybersafety needs:

• For a master list of all our available resources: Essential Resources | Your Ultimate Cybersafety Library
• For teachers, you can search our resources by grade level and curriculum strand: Cybersafety Curriculum Alignment
• For anyone interested in reading more about KnowledgeFlow’s events and activities: KnowledgeBytes

We hope everyone enjoys a happy and safe Media Literacy Week!