According to the blog, “The importance of media literacy” by Doris Montfort, digital literacy requires the reader to use the same skills to detect manipulation that was once used in print (http://www.ifc.com/makemediamatter/blog/2009/06/the-importance-of-media-litera.php). Today more than ever, people need to question the authenticity of the sources from both books and websites. Historically, people did not have the education or the resources to question the legitimacy of the information they received. They would have to rely on unsavoury sources. Often times, this led to disastrous results. For example, Hitler, during the Second World War, used the printed medium and radio to manipulate the German people. Hitler used pamphlets, radio, and newspapers to operate an effective propaganda machine. In today society, this type of manipulation still goes on because in some parts of the world people do not have adequate education or the capability to access unbiased sources to evaluate the information they are receiving. When I traveled to Cuba two years ago, I saw billboards about Fidel Castro’s achievements, and how the country was better off with him as their leader. Is that true? I don’t think so. When you look around Cuba, people are living in substandard housing without clean water. How would the average person in Cuba know that they are being manipulated by their government? They don’t. They don’t have access to the internet, and when they do, their access is severely restricted. They are not given the adequate resources to question the leaders of their country. So does this happen in Canada? It sure does. Every day, businesses use the internet to find out about their competitors. How do they know whether this information they are gathering is correct? How do they know whether or not they are being manipulated by a person with a hidden agenda? They don’t. Business could be making important business decisions based on erroneous information. This could adversely affect their bottom line. For some businesses, this could spell disaster. That is why; businesses in Canada must check their sources carefully to ensure that they are legitimate. History has taught us how important this is.
This has begun in china as the country's leaders are now denying its people access to the Google search engine. This started with putting strict controls on the information that Google china provided to the people and has now turned to an outright ban of google's services.
ReplyDelete"In the past the person with the largest army held the power, next the largest amount of land and resources. Now, is the age of Information; He who has the most information has the most power." ~ Robert Kiyosaki
The more information a person possesses the more options they should be able to create. China is driven to become a prominent world power. Yet, they
have placed a control on how much information its citizens can access.