Capability of Monitoring Media Related Competences of the Public in Estonia

Abstract

The study provides a systematic summary of the available knowledge concerning media related competences in Estonia. The goal was to focus on four information-related research questions: (i) What information about media competences is collected? (ii) How is this information analysed? (iii) What knowledge is created and published? (iv) Where are the main information and knowledge gaps? For this study, a four-dimensional model was created, which enabled us to get an overview of those aspects of media-related competences that gain either more or less attention (and money) in Estonia. Four types of information sources were used: academic articles, reports, the bibliographical database produced by the Mediadelcom project, and web pages (for EU and national policy documents).The results show that, in Estonia, political as well as academic attention is focused on digital competences, both theoretically and empirically. Estonia’s research interest and knowledge production is biased towards children and young people; but parents, and parenting, the influence of home is also put in focus of the empirical research. EU-financed projects influence the research agenda. The EU has initiated reports on media literacy initiatives in Estonia and therefore descriptive knowledge on various activities and projects as well as the agents behind these projects is accessible.