Community Engagement on Media Literacy (Ce: Ml) Ecosystem: Towards Quintuple Helix Collaboration and Rural Sustainability

Abstract

Current development in the usage of media and the Internet proved that community members are increasingly exposed to various gadgets and media applications, which undoubtedly can have positive and negative impacts on their lives. Yet, despite interest in and the emergence of examples of inspirational community engagement and the increasing usage of media among citizens, relatively little is known about the scale as well as the ecosystems of the emerging media literacy of Malaysian rural citizens. The objective of this research is to identify the important elements in conducting community engagement on media literacy programs in the rural community. A program which is called “Community Engagement on Media Literacy” (CE: ML) has been designed to assist the community members in utilizing the media in their daily lives. This program is a collaboration between faculty members and students of a university and committee members of a mosque in the northern district of Malaysia. The community selected is one large community area in the northern state containing about 3,000 members. This area is unique since it covers rural and sub-urban areas containing seven villages and five structured residential areas of low-to-middle-income families. Researchers were directly involved with the media literacy program, hence get a better chance to observe the processes of CE: ML. The program took two months to be completed, from February until April 2019. Altogether, 18 activities have been conducted, which mostly involved school children and youth ranging from 6 to 18 years old. Based on observation method, 15 elements of CE: ML ecosystem have been identified, namely Coordination, Communication, Contents Creation, Stakeholders Support, Location, Supporting Facilities, Targeted audience and their willingness to participate, Funding and Costing, Risk, Scheduling, Spirit of Volunteerism, Development of Soft skills, Multi-racial and International Unity, Training of trainers and Visibility and promotion of programs. At the time of the implementation, CE: ML was designed on double helix collaboration, merging two actors – university and the local community. Hence, based on the actual experience, CE: ML program can be improved to be extended to “quintuple helix” collaboration involving the university, government, private sector, local community, and the environment.