2013: “12 good practices that will inspire you”
After almost five years of work in the field of media education, after reading about hundreds of projects that seek to increase media literacy in Europe, visiting dozens of them and getting directly inspired by their energetic work and dedication, we decided it was time to create a platform for a selection of these practices. We wanted to share what we had discovered so that more people would be inspired by the great work of these projects, learn from them, and even integrate some elements in their own work.
To give this publication a solid basis, it was necessary to do some additional research, making sure the projects meet certain criteria, collecting extra information about them, editing the presentations, etc. To help realize this project, the Evens Foundation cooperated with Susanne Eggert from JFF – Institute for Media Research and Media Education (also the laureate of the Evens Prize for Media Education in 2011). To enlarge our knowledge we set up an advisory board composed of experts in media literacy from different European countries: Dag Asbjørnsen, policy officer of the European Commission (Norway), Evelyne Bevort, delegated director of Clemi (France), Kathrin Demmler, head of the JFF – Institute for Media Research and Media Education (Germany), Ike Picone, research professor at the Department of Communication Sciences of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium), Ida Pöttinger, president of the Association for Media Education in Germany (GMK) (Germany) and Patrick Verniers, president of the Master’s in Media Literacy at IHECS (Brussels journalism and communication school) (Belgium). The Evens Foundation warmly thanks all members of this group for their generous commitment to this project, their valuable advice, and the insights they shared with us.
This advisory board not only helped us with the final selection of the 12 projects; members also wrote a personal recommendation for each, explaining why it was chosen and what is remarkable about it. The projects in the publication did, of course, have to comply with certain criteria: to use media and teach media literacy, and be innovative, sustainable and transferable. We ensured a good geographical spread, and selected just one project from any particular country. We sought to show that there are good projects run in schools as well as in non-school contexts, for all kinds of target groups, and with different kinds of media.
We don’t claim that these are the best practices in Europe, but they are all good practices; all have their own particular merits and deserve to be highlighted. As we grew familiar with the projects and the people involved, these projects began to take a place in our hearts. We also felt vindicated in the belief that it is important to present the variety of good ideas and projects in Europe for teaching media literacy. So we hope that, with this publication, we are passing on great ideas on how to increase media literacy, and also initiating an intensive exchange between those who are engaged in this field all over Europe.
We hope you will enjoy reading it. Don’t hesitate to share your comments with us!