Automated Media: Challenges and Opportunities for Media Literacy Education

Authors

Arnaud Claes, UCLouvain
Jerry Jacques, UCLouvain
Antonin Descampe, UCLouvain
Victor Wiard, UCLouvain

Document Type

Research Article

Abstract

This paper offers a theoretical reflection on the evolving landscape of automated media, focusing on how automation and so-called Artificial Intelligence (AI) are reshaping traditional mediarelated practices and the competences required for media literacy. It examines how automated media technologies, such as recommendation algorithms and generative AI, might reshape the critical skills necessary to navigate a complex digital ecosystem. By framing AI-driven media practices through a social-action perspective and treating media as human activities, we argue that media literacy models should encompass competences related to the operation of computational automata, particularly through the management of inbound and outbound information flows. We propose three categories of operative tasks: implementation, orchestration, and evaluation. In the remainder of this article, we apply the aforementioned theoretical framework to discuss significant challenges for media literacy education. By doing so, we aim to underscore how automated media are reshaping user agency, content creation, and human-machine interaction.

Recommended Citation

Claes, A., Jacques, J., Descampe, A., & Wiard, V. (2025). Automated Media: Challenges and Opportunities for Media Literacy Education. Journal of Media Literacy Education Pre-Prints. Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/jmle-preprints/43

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.