The Institute of Communication Studies and IREX, within the USAID supported Media Literacy Project YOUTHINK launched the Glossary of Media Literacy.

This lexicographic edition is the first serious effort for systematisation of the terms appearing in the digital era and the novel ways of communication, media development and the rise of new tools and activities in the online space.

‘The aim for producing this online publication is to complete the gap that media professionals, linguists, communication specialists, teachers and media users have been facing for years. Therefore, we produced this glossary that has two main traits: it is interdisciplinary and is an effort to keep pace with development of new technologies’ – said Aleksandra Temenugova from the Institute of Communication Studies who coordinated the production of this edition.

Mihajlo Lahtov, project director of the USAID Media Literacy Project YOUTHINK, which integrated media literacy in the formal education, said that this resource will serve as a primary linguistic repository for all educators, teachers in primary, secondary and higher education, for journalists, media, pupils and students, parents.

‘When you design teaching curriculum for pupils in primary and secondary education, when you train teachers, conduct trainings for journalists, students and young people, it is paramount to build a unified repository of terms and key entries that will be used in various areas such as for example what is a journalist, medium, disinformation, propaganda, etc.

Emil Niami, the chief editor of the Glossary outlined that it contains interpreting of more than 700 terms in the area of media literacy, communication science, journalism, linguistics, philosophy, anthropology, law, economy etc. It is available as online publication in Macedonian and in Albanian language, and for each entry there is a translation in English language. There is additional information for the largest number of terms (such as historical facts, functional information, frequency of usage, stylistic traits etc.) in order for the users to have a complete picture for each entry. With regard to the fact that it is a specific interdisciplinary material, 15 experienced theoreticians and practitioners from different areas and education institutions were part of its production. ‘The idea is for this publication to be updated and be enriched with new terms in the future. Today’s promotion is just the beginning of a comprehensive and long-term process’, stated Niami.

Simona Gruevska-Madzovska, editor of the Glossary and professor at the Institute of Macedonian Language highlighted that this publication is of immense importance for the domestic lexicography. ‘We tried to exhaust the lexicographic repository as much as possible, but also modernize it having in mind the circumstances that are dictated by the contemporary communication and linguistic processes’ said Gruevska-Madzoska.

Sefer Tahiri, author and editor of the Albanian language version of the glossary, pointed that this resource is truly useful for the academic community, particularly that the interpreting is adapted with examples in Albanian language. The group of authors included the high-school pupil Luka Pavicevic who said that his participation is with the aim for the Glossary to contain terms that reflect the contemporary communication code, typical for the new generation of millennials.

The Institute of Communication Studies coordinated the nearly one-year process of the creation of the Glossary of Media Literacy within the USAID Media Literacy Project YOUTHINK which is implemented by IREX in partnership with the Institute of Communication Studies, the Macedonian Institute of Media and the Youth Education Forum.