Empowering Communities With Media Literacy : The Critical Role of Young Children

This book details the project "Digital Citizenship Education for Democratic Participation" involving approximately 400 pre-school and primary school children, their families, teachers, and community members in a Lisbon locality. The research presented aims to answer the following question: To what extent can a local (and replicable) digital media literacy program empower preschool and primary-school-aged children to become active and effective citizens in the digital era? Through this book, the authors share the steps taken during the project, including the main difficulties faced and the solutions found to overcome them as well as the project’s sustainability.

Vitor Tomé holds a PhD in media education (University of Lisbon) and a 6-year post-doctorate in communication sciences (UAlgarve-Faro, CLEMI-Paris and Catholic University of Milan). He is an expert of the Council of Europe and of the European Commission, a lecturer (Autonoma University of Lisbon), an invited researcher (ISCTE-University Institute of Lisbon), a teacher trainer (Directorate-General of Education), and a freelance journalist (CP1524-A) who is involved in several international projects such as IBERIFIER – Iberian Media Research and Fact-checking.

Belinha S. De Abreu, PhD is a global media literacy educator who received her doctorate from the University of Connecticut. She is the founder of the International Media Literacy Research Symposium and the World Media Literacy Forum. She serves as the president of the International Council for Media Literacy (IC4ML). She is the author of Teaching Media Literacy (2019) and Mobile Learning through Digital Media Literacy (Peter Lang, 2017) among other publications. De Abreu is the recipient of the 2021 National Media literacy Education Research Award.