{"id":862,"date":"2021-06-24T12:04:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-24T11:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.medialiteracyireland.ie\/?p=862"},"modified":"2022-11-23T11:09:55","modified_gmt":"2022-11-23T11:09:55","slug":"new-research-from-making-sense-of-media-programme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.medialiteracyireland.ie\/ga\/new-research-from-making-sense-of-media-programme\/","title":{"rendered":"New research from Making Sense of Media programme"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Dr. Alison Preston, Co-Director, Making Sense of Media<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ofcom has a statutory duty to promote media literacy, and the UK Government intends to further strengthen Ofcom\u2019s role in this area with the passage of the Online Safety Bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Making Sense of Media is Ofcom\u2019s programme of work to help improve the online media literacy of UK adults and children, through providing robust research, and collaboration with\/coordination of relevant stakeholders and their activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As well as Ofcom\u2019s foundational research monitoring adults\u2019 and children\u2019s media literacy, they are developing a range of additional ways to understand what people are doing online, what their attitudes are, and how these change over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ofcom also wants to understand how effective media literacy initiatives are \u2013 what works, what is less effective, and which component parts can be transferred into other initiatives as best practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their work will increasingly focus on building this evidence base, collaborating with a range of practitioners to ensure that best practice can be shared and developed: in other words, focusing on \u201cwhat works\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Evidence of people\u2019s habits, behaviours and attitudes are a crucial component of Ofcom\u2019s statutory duties. Such evidence helps them \u2013 and others – to identify trends and to spot emerging issues. Online, there are a multitude of potential ways to understand and measure behaviour, each with their strengths and weaknesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ofcom commissioned three reports, published on Wednesday 9th<\/sup>June 2021 alongside their flagship Online Nation<\/a> report, which collectively address these issues and provide new insights into online behaviour. They offer a contribution to debates around how to collect and synthesise data; how to understand habits and perceptions about misinformation; and what might be most effective in countering misinformation according to reviews of current media literacy initiatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ofcom\u2019s focus on misinformation is an outcome of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the widespread societal concern over the potential role that misinformation has played. They know from their\u00a0Covid-19 news and information tracker<\/a>\u00a0that over the last year, around three in ten UK adults said they came across it each week, and a further quarter of adults were unsure whether or not they had \u2013 indicating some uncertainty about what to trust in terms of news and information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The three publications can be accessed here:<\/p>\n\n\n\n