Bot Onda/BetaBot Onda/Beta

Media Education · MLI

How do MLI and
Digital Literacy differ?

MLI focuses on understanding, analyzing and critically using media and information. Digital Literacy prioritizes the technical skills to use tools and technological services safely and effectively.

MLI · Media and Information Literacy

Critical capacities regarding media, messages and sources.

  • →Analyze how news is constructed and distinguish opinion from fact.
  • →Assess source credibility and detect native advertising.
  • →Verify with multiple sources and understand biases/algorithms.
  • →Rights: access, authorship, privacy, freedom of expression, fair use.

Practical examples

Detect deepfakes in a campaignIdentify clickbait headlinesVerify authorship and date

Digital Literacy

Technical and operational skills with devices and apps.

  • →Use email, video calls, spreadsheets, file managers.
  • →Configure security: passwords, 2FA, backups.
  • →Manage privacy and permissions on networks and mobile devices.
  • →Resolve basic software/hardware problems.

Practical examples

Enable 2FA on your accountsShare a Drive with permissionsRemove malware from a PC

Comparative table

Dimension by dimension

Dimension
MLI
Digital Literacy
Focus
Critical sense about messages, sources and contexts.
Efficient and safe use of technologies and services.
Guiding questions
Who says it? With what evidence? What intention?
How do I do it? Which button? Which security setting?
Competencies
Analyze, evaluate, verify, argue, informational rights.
Install, configure, operate, maintain, troubleshoot.
Examples
Detect biases; verify an image; recognize disinformation (information integrity).
Create a video call; encrypt a disk; manage passwords.
Desired outcome
Critical thinking and informed citizenship.
Technical autonomy and operational security.

Quick test

Drag each example
to its column

If in doubt, ask yourself: does the example ask you to think about information (MLI) or to use tools safely (Digital)?

Use an image verification tool (OSINT)
Create a video call with calendar and link
Share a cloud document with correct permissions
Set up automatic backup
Cite correctly and respect copyright licenses
Remove malware and update antivirus
Explain how an algorithm biases your feed
Configure two-step authentication (2FA)
Recognize native advertising on a portal
Cross-check a news story with three independent sources

MLI

Drop here →

Digital Literacy

Drop here →

Why does it matter to distinguish them?

Three key reasons

Curriculum design

Balances critical thinking (MLI) with technical skills (Digital).

Public policy

The gap is not only access/use; it is also judgment and verification.

Citizenship

Reducing disinformation (information integrity) requires MLI; reducing fraud requires Digital Literacy.