Resumen de Theorizing Media andInformation Literacy: EmotionalCommunication through Art forYoung People during UnusualLife Experiences
Masatoshi Hamada, Alton Grizzle, Kofoworola Oyeleye
This study applies the new social change theory called Media and Information Literacy Expansion(MILx), as developed by Grizzle and Hamada (2019), to the UNESCO Media and Information Literacy(MIL) Cities framework (UNESCO, 2019). MILx considers MIL competencies, acquisition, and applicationby individuals, groups, and institutions simultaneously. MILx also models the potential multiplieroutcomes of this approach when MIL is integrated with other social competences. MILX proposesthat we cannot reach optimal social value proposition, value enhancement, and value expansionif MIL interventions only focus on individuals. The study also explores the likely positive changesin outcomes when MILX is united with emotional competencies as another variable in the model.Specifically, this paper focuses on MILX incorporating “emotional literacy” (Singh & Duraiappah, 2020)and the interaction that occurs in the selected target group of children and youth, their peers, theirfamilies, and the institutions with which they engage. A practical design of MILX demonstrates howMIL can correspond with efforts to counter disinformation and misinformation with deeper changesin mindset (Cinzia et al., 2015). It theorizes how, with MILX, emotional communication through art creates a synergistic effect on individuals, groups, and institutions. Art is widely used for psychologicaltherapy because it can identify relationships between physical and psychological states. We usedan art-based research methodology to theorize communication from the individual to society basedon empirical analysis. Data from youth and children’s responses to the 2011 tsunami catastrophearea in Ishinomaki, Japan, were analyzed in this context. Further research is required to strengthenthe findings to actualize the strong emotional dimensions that exist in people’s engagement in theinformation ecology toward and beyond the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals.
