I am passionate about information literacy. It is intricately related to media consumption, and most people do not understand how their comprehension of the legitimacy of the media they consume impacts their lives.
For the first blog entry for INSC542, Social Informatics, I have chosen to write about how information literacy impacts society. It is a challenging topic to grapple with or stomach. We are at the mercy of our media, and the discrepancy in creditable information begins with the first newspaper or pamphlet distributed, the first radio broadcast, and the first television flicker. Ultimately, it is up to the consumer to decide if the information is accurate. This entanglement with our media significantly influences what we think, buy, and do. It is crucial to understand the implications of this control. The information seeker needs to fact-check every quote and promise, enabling the busy consumer to grasp the information and verify the text’s validity.
Consider how information delivery has changed since the first fireside story or monk produced by a scribe. Written text began in Sumera in 3200 BCE. (Mark, n.d.) Even then, society was at the mercy of the writer. Advances led to mass production with the letterpress, radio, television, and the internet. The amount of information we process today is crippling for a mind that wants to fact-check every tidbit.
The article Information Literacy: Different Contexts, Different Concepts, Different Truths? by Annemaree Lloyd (2005) argues for diverse definitions of information literacy based on context. Citing a separate definition for education and another for the workplace, I started squirming as I read. According to AL, “To be information literate, then, one needs skills not only in research but in critical thinking” (Information Literacy – Welcome to ALA’s Literacy Clearinghouse, n.d.). The definition does not dwell on an educational arena.
“In an educational setting information literacy is conceived as a tangible process that is contingent upon the individual developing an understanding of information as an objective entity, which is accessible through print or as a digital source. The educational emphasis is on the student acquiring, developing and demonstrating individual skills and competency which will support independent lifelong learning” (Lloyd, 82, 2005).
Lloyd continues to explain workplace information literacy: “In this context, information literacy enables embodiment and transformation by facilitating a connection with institutional, social, and physical information through a range of knowledge sites” (Lloyd, 82, 2005).
Within the study, Lloyd lists the sources of information as textual sources, which facilitate the institutional view of practice; social sources, which create an intersubjective view of practice; and physical and sensory sources for hands-on learning (Lloyd, 85, 2005). These statements do not deviate from an educational context or gaining life skills. Either way, the individual gathers information to evaluate for relevance and accuracy.
The information journey is universal, based on Patent’s cycle. Everyone needs information. They seek the information, evaluate, and use their interpretation (Blandford, 31, 2010). Blandford cites several quantitative studies that reveal data-rich context on how people interact with information in their personal and professional lives, from engineers, lawyers, students, and emergency responders. (Blandford, 29, 2010). The firefighter investigation is not different from any of these.
Blandford (2010) states on page 22, “Looking to the future, what needs to evolve is improved information literacy, for both experts and lay people, and new ways of interacting with and around information as the roles of domain experts and lay people co-evolve with the availability and use of new information resources and new ways of interacting with those resources.”
UNESCO provides the perfect interpretation of what information literacy is today and it is importance in everyday life:
“Information literacy empowers people in all walks of life to seek, evaluate, use and create information effectively to achieve their personal, social, occupational and educational goals. Information-literate people are able to access information about their health, their environment, their education and work, and to make critical decisions about their lives (Information Literacy | UNESCO, 2023). “
Information literacy is critical in today’s high-tech world, marrying media and tech literacy with information seeking. It is taught at the primary school level and above. Taylor and DiGiacomo (2023) present a broad prospectus covering the integration of information literacy into school curricula, providing five variations of conceptualization of information literacy.
Truth Decay is also an excellent source for integrating information, digital, and media literacy. The research published and funded by RAND conveys the urgency of critical thinking in consuming, generating, and sharing information in a real-life, everyday setting. It offers guidelines for communicating information literacy at all levels of education (Countering Truth Decay, 2024). Their publications Exploring Media Literacy Education as a Tool for Mitigating Truth Decay (Huguet et al., 2019) and Media Literacy Standards to Counter Truth Decay (Huguet et al., 2021) provide tools and resources for every walk of life.
Several articles stated that research in “layman” information literacy is lacking—most research orientates toward librarians and higher education pedagogy, considering the need for a moderator in information seeking and assimilation. Blandford (70, 2010) states a clear need for “richer approaches” supporting information interpretation. “There will always be a need for experts who are creating new understanding and interpreting that understanding for use by others,” leaving the door open for the need for information professionals to help find, evaluate, and interpret information. De Paor & Heravi (2020) cover the changing landscape of misinformation and the librarian’s role shift from fact checker to educator. Now more than ever, Librarians must serve as the “gatekeepers” of information, aggregating the threads into cohesive, creditable sources (Finley et al., 2017). Libraries have a crucial role “to disseminate knowledge, education, and literacy to their community” (Abumandour, 193, 2021)
References:
Abumandour, E.-S. T. (2021). Public libraries’ role in supporting e-learning and spreading lifelong education: A case study. Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching & Learning, 14(2), 178–217. https://doi.org/10.1108/JRIT-06-2019-0063
Blandford, A. (2010). Interacting with Information (1st ed. 2010.). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-02189-3
Countering Truth Decay. (2024). https://www.rand.org/research/projects/truth-decay.html
De Paor, S., & Heravi, B. (2020). Information literacy and fake news: How the field of librarianship can help combat the epidemic of fake news. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 46(5), 102218. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2020.102218
Finley, W., McGowan, B., & Kluever, J. (2017). Fake News: An Opportunity for Real Librarianship. ILA Reporter, 35(3), 8–11.
https://utk.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lls&AN=123168599&site=ehost-live&scope=site
Huguet, A., Baker, G., Hamilton, L. S., & Pane, J. F. (2021). Media Literacy Standards to Counter Truth Decay. RAND Corporation. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA112-12.html
Huguet, A., Kavanagh, J., Baker, G., & Blumenthal, M. S. (2019). Exploring Media Literacy Education as a Tool for Mitigating Truth Decay. RAND Corporation. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR3050.html
Information Literacy | UNESCO. (2023). https://www.unesco.org/en/ifap/information-literacy
Information Literacy – Welcome to ALA’s Literacy Clearinghouse. (n.d.). Retrieved June 15, 2024, from https://literacy.ala.org/information-literacy/
Lloyd, A. (2005). Information literacy: Different contexts, different concepts, different truths? – Annemaree Lloyd, 2005. Sage Journals. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0961000605055355
Mark, J. J. (n.d.). Writing Timeline. Retrieved June 14, 2024, from https://www.worldhistory.org/timeline/writing/
Taylor, C., & DiGiacomo, D. K. (2023). Approaches to Information Literacy Conceptualisation in Primary, Secondary, and Higher Education Contexts: A Review of Current Scholarly Literature. Journal of Information Literacy, 17(1), 89–104. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1393746
