Comunicar 39-ingles - Revista Comunicar

94Comunicar, 39, XX, 2012literacy in the family. This project,entitled «Media Education inBooklets», was awarded the 2009Evens Foundation Prize in MediaEdu cation by this Belgian organization,which encouraged us totake this opportunity to bridge thegap identified by the research – theneed for resources in media education(Figure 1).2.2. The «Media Education inBooklets» project: main objectivesBased on the assumptions presented above, themain aims of the project were: 1) to provide materialsto help parents and teachers to mediate young people’sexperiences with media; 2) to empower educationalagents (parents, teachers, socio-cultural facilitators)and children to become critical and demandingmedia consumers; 3) to contribute to the improvementof the level of consumer/ citizen information (consideringthat the quality of the media also depends on thecritical awareness of their public).2.3. Themes and target audienceTo put these ideas into action, the team conceivedthree booklets written in a simple verbal and an attractivevisual language, which would be easy to read andcarry. The entire project was guided by media educationobjectives in the sense given it by Rivoltella (2007:23): «media education, or rather, citizenship education,should provide especially meta-reflective activities,promoting citizens’ capacity of self-analysis thatcontributes to the development of the awareness ofwhat they are doing».Each of the three publications focused on a specificmedium: TV, videogames and the Internet andsocial networks. The choice of these media was dueFigure 2. Main parts of the TV booklet.Figure 1. From research to the field: the need for resources.to their importance in the lives of young people.The TV booklet is organized in three parts (Figure2): the first part reflects TV habits and clarifies somecommon sense ideas about the role of TV in children’slives; part two is mostly dedicated to the mediationprocess, trying to sensitize the parents to this importanttask; the third part proposes some activities to enrichthe experience of watching television. The figurebelow describes these three parts of this booklet in grea -ter detail.The second booklet, entitled «Videogames:Stepping up to the Next Level» was also divided intothree parts, as shown in Figure 3. The first part beginswith a brief history of videogames, types of games, andidentification of the videogame research areas: design,programming, psychology, education. The secondpart reflects children’s and young people’s practicesand perspectives on videogames. It also focuses on thedangers and potential of videogames identified by theresearch and society. The third part presents strategiesfor parental mediation. It also focuses on the place ofvideogames in school and the role of media education.The Internet and Social Networks booklet centerson topics like the social networks most used by youngpeople; new forms of communication and their importancein the process ofyoung people’s socialization;and the significanceof contexts (cultural,social) in the access toand sharing of information.Another topic isdedicated to a brief discussionof the possibleconsequences of exces -sive habitual use and therisk of social isolation.The booklet ends with a© ISSN: 1134-3478 • e-ISSN: 1988-3293• Pages 91-99