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34. Key to the success of our early work in promoting media literacy and defining future priorities is to develop an evidence base of research to identify the issues, to direct our work and inform progress towards achieving our goals.

35. Research^(-1-) carried out by the ITC, BSC and others found that “little research on adults’ awareness and understanding of the new and changing media and information environment has been conducted, so much remains to be discovered and understood, this being crucial as increasing responsibility for accessing content is being devolved to the public.

“Clearly, a well-defined vision - of the key dimensions of consumers’ skills and abilities, of the minimum and desired levels of literacy required, of the population sectors which risk being left out, of the most appropriate means of both promoting and evaluating media literacy - must be debated and agreed if media literacy is to reach satisfactory levels across the whole population.”

36. In consultation with other interested parties we will conduct research to begin to answer some of these questions and inform future policy debate. Our research will focus on gaining a greater understanding of the levels of media literacy in all sections of society. Some groups, such as children, young people, parents and older people may have particular needs. Some may be vulnerable or risk being disadvantaged. This research will identify which sections of society are at risk and where Ofcom needs to focus its resources.

37. We will explore barriers to greater media literacy. If access is a prerequisite to gaining competence and confidence in the use of communications technologies, we need to know what physical, learning, social, economic or technical barriers exist. And which sectors of society are at greatest risk of being excluded? This research will help identify which stakeholders are best placed to help overcome barriers to greater media literacy.

38. We will consider people’s attitudes and expectations when viewing and listening to materials. This work will help content providers to supply information about the nature of materials so as to reduce the chance of causing harm or offence.

39. There are tools available to help viewers access and control content including electronic programme guides (EPG) and filtering tools for internet content. Our research will help producers of both hardware and software to focus clearly on the needs of the users and help them to produce tools that are effective and easy to use.

40. Research will also make a valuable contribution to understanding the higher order levels of skills particularly related to critical viewing. Where appropriate, Ofcom will contribute to research initiated by others that will help our understanding in key areas.

41. Our research will include long running studies of people’s changing attitudes and expectations of content delivered on different platforms. In particular, we want to know about emerging media literacy and protection issues such as the impact of personal video recorders, 3G mobile internet access and location based services.

42. In particular we will try to identify potential barriers to the evolution and use of effective access tools particularly on mobile internet platforms.

43. We also propose to undertake research to direct the two other main strands - Connecting, Partnering & Signposting and Labelling of audiovisual content.

Responses to the consultation

44. There was universal support for Ofcom’s proposal to undertake research into issues relating to media literacy. Most stakeholders agree that little was known about the level of media literacy in the UK. Several respondents proposed that a review of existing research should be undertaken as a first step. Several respondents (Media Literacy Task Force, Institute of Education and others) suggested key questions that should be addressed by our initial research. Some stakeholders offered access to research they had commissioned. The BBC and BT commented that our research should not be driven by the academic community but should offer practical information to direct action.

45. A number of important research issues were discussed at a stakeholder consultation meeting in July. Members of the Media Literacy and Market Research teams were in attendance to capture stakeholders comments.

Ofcom’s response

46. Ofcom’s research will form the basis of our early work to promote media literacy. The core of this research will be to complete an audit of media literacy skills across the UK, including core media literacy skills, knowledge and understanding across media platforms, thereby gaining a picture of varying levels of media literacy. The aim is to understand different types of media literacy.

47. We envisage this research will identify issues and concerns requiring further, more focussed research. Examples of emerging issues that may require further research could include:

• Children’s use of new generation mobile phones and the content and service issues that arise (such as access to adult content and the use of location based services);
• Attitudes towards potentially harmful and offensive content and services obtained via the internet (e.g. extreme websites promoting suicide, and race hate) and user understanding of and attitudes to existing controls in this area; and
• Barriers to use of online services, including abuse of personal information (e.g. identity and bank detail theft), spam, system security, and experience of firewalls and virus protection software.

48. Two literature reviews of academic research in the areas of children’s and adult media literacy are underway and will be published later this year.

49. Our research will also include qualitative projects on discrete areas of media literacy.

50. Many of the elements of media literacy will be tracked over time to assess the impact of any media literacy programmes.

51. We will invite stakeholders to form a Media Literacy Research Forum. We will ask representatives of broadcasting; the internet and mobile industry; education and academia to join with consumer organisations and representative of the Nations in establishing the Forum. They will provide expert comment on our research plans and indicate where they see future research as being of value.

Research principles

52. Ofcom’s research principles will be to:

• involve the industry and stakeholders in developing Ofcom research methodologies through the setting up of a Media Literacy Research Forum;
• make a priority of those research areas which can give practical, operational guidance to Ofcom and industry stakeholders;
• respond to emerging issues; and
• monitor all relevant research from other sources.

Footnote

1:- Assessing the media literacy of UK adults, a review of the academic literature. Sonia Livingstone with Nancy Thumim,
March 2003. ITC, BSC and NIACE

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