Comunicar 39-ingles - Revista Comunicar

97(Livingstone, 2011: 417). The choice of the booklet asthe format for the creation of these resources in an ageof digital media was intentional. The aim was to cre -ate a resource accessible to all, easy to use and carry,whether at home, at school, or anywhere. The visuallanguage was intended to capture the attention of children,arousing their curiosity, imagination and a desireto read it, by themselves or with their parents or teachers.We also wanted these resources to involve digitallyinfo-excluded people, giving them the opportunityto reflect on children’s experiences with the media.A less positive or underachieved dimension of theproject was the difficulty in following-up on the receptionand use of the booklets within families, schoolsand libraries. In some way thiswas due to the fact that theteam was not able to monitorthe distribution of the bookletsonce distributed further thanexpected. Some testimoniesreceived were sent in voluntarilyand spontaneously by readers,which may explain theirextremely positive tone. Wereceived feedback from manyparents and teachers who acknowledgedthe importanceand need for such resources,as shown by the extracts transcribedbelow. The scarcity ofmedia literacy resources inPortugal may also explain thebooklets’ positive reception. Infuture research on media educationcontexts, experiencesand resources, the teamexpects to evaluate more rigorously the impact of thiskind of material on building media awareness.• I liked the text, I found it accessible and clear. Itis not a moralistic text (mother).• Everything in this booklet is relevant (mother).• The document in general seems very well done;it is methodical in the presentation and in the recommendations,ending with concrete information onlegislation and contacts (father).• This work is very important and useful forparents. More than this, it is urgently needed!(parents).• The contents seem to me to have relevant anduseful information, with practical recommendationsthat are possible to achieve (father).• It is clear and accessible, and can be helpful toparents who worry about these matters, or even awarning to those who do not care (father).• This document is very important for educators,works well as an orientation guide! I hope this text iswidely publicised (mother).• I considered it extremely important, especiallybecause in daily life we don’t think much about theseissues and a booklet is a way to check our responsibilitiesas educators, not just in relation to television butalso for greater interaction with our children (mother).The team also had positive feedback from expertsand researchers, but the project needs to receive abroader range of opinion in order to make a more profoundevaluation of the project’s impact. It would beIt is important to provide resources that give citizens theopportunity to think about their relationship with the media,which allow them to think about the importance andmeaning of the media in their everyday lives, particularly intheir children’s lives. It is with this perspective that the teamhopes to continue producing materials that contribute to thepromotion of media education, in particular, enlarging thecollection of booklets to take in other media and topics,including advertising, mobile phones and citizen’sparticipation in the media, among others.invaluable to monitor the use of the booklets byparents, teachers and children, and in contexts such asfamilies and schools. Nevertheless, conclusions fromother studies that evaluate practices in schools after thedistribution of media material kits present favorableresults. For instance, Susanne Krucsay (2007: 118),Director of the Department of Media Pedagogy and ofProduction Services at the Federal Ministry of Edu -cation, Science and Culture in Austria, stated that studiesconducted after the distribution of support materialsin media education for teachers show that «thereis a significant positive correlation between the frequencyof media use in education in school practiceswith relevant material».The added value of this project is not only the productsbut also the process that took place to produceComunicar, 39, XX, 2012© ISSN: 1134-3478 • e-ISSN: 1988-3293• Pages 91-99