Online Media - How Does it 'Get' You?

Hi! 

Recently I had Year 7 English class that looked at the Media and how ideas are represented within it. It was a very relevant unit of work in light of our society's growing concerns with fake news, toxic online cultures, and the need to increase diversity both in front and behind the screen. It was also quite a useful topic as it allowed me to explore a broad range of ideas and activities while we try to get students back into some sort of meaningful routine after a prolonged lockdown.

The lesson idea below was created afterwards while I was reflecting on the unit. It focuses on targeted online media and the way that it interacts with users. Year 7 students have varying degrees of online literacy and are often experts at operating a range of apps and devices. There are, however, very few who understand the 'back end' of online technology. The rise of smooth smartphone-friendly user interfaces has meant that it's no longer all that necessary to understand the nature of an internet browser cache, what HTML is, or even how web addresses work.

At least, that is to say, it's not necessary if you're a casual user who relies upon social media to navigate the online world. 

But it is perhaps this lack of digital literacy that is ultimately letting our society down and opens some people up to exploitation. The Stage 4 English syllabus can assist our students here with outcomes and content dot points that look to address some of the issues around this. Some examples of how this lesson links to the current syllabus:

Outcome 2: A student effectively uses a widening range of processes, skills, strategies and knowledge for responding to and composing texts in different media and technologies EN4-2A

• Recognise and practise responsible and ethical digital communication
• Analyse and explain the effect of technological innovations on texts, particularly media texts

Outcome 7: A student demonstrates understanding of how texts can express aspects of their broadening world and their relationship within it EN4-7D

• Draw on experience to consider the ways the 'real world' is represented in the imaginary worlds of texts, including (...) media and multimedia texts.

The following lesson looks at how cookies are used to track our activity online and the ways in which this leads to targeted advertising. 

1. Students start off by completing this worksheet - Tracking Activity.

During this activity they outline and describe what they were doing at set points throughout the previous afternoon and the morning before the lesson. This is then put aside, with the teacher explaining that this information will become relevant at the end of the lesson.

2. The teacher then leads students through a PowerPoint with some questions that combine comprehension and critical thinking skills. During this PPT, students learn about online cookies and the way in which advertisements online target individual users. 

PowerPoint Here - Online Media.

3. The final part of the PPT brings students back to the tracking sheet, which they swap with a partner. Each student must then use the information provided to gather information about the 'user' and then design an advertisement to target this person. 

I think it would be a useful activity in the sense that it allows for students to learn about online tracking without having to actually go online (which I often find a logistical problem - EG. Tracking down laptops for classroom use, monitoring and locating student passwords to get onto school network, relying on functionality of wifi). It's also useful in a more abstract sense as it helps students understand what it means when a website asks them to 'accept cookies', how their search history can be financially exploited by advertisers, and why advertisements seem to specifically apply to just them.

Disclaimer: All of the above material was created specifically for this blog in my own spare time.