Information, Digital, and Media Literacy-Post #2


In our current digital age, we are positively swimming in information; on top of this, anyone who has a mind to can post online for the world to find. Creating websites is no longer limited to digital professionals, and Wikipedia is always listed on the first page when I submit a query on google or yahoo. The amount of content that is readily available is daunting. Learning how to navigate the information morass takes a set of skills that help to clarify the information-seeking process. 


The Framework for Information Literacy for higher education published by the ACRL tackles defining the core concepts that gird information literacy. These concepts are divided into six frames, one being that information creation is a process. “The iterative processes of researching, creating, revising, and disseminating information vary, and the resulting product reflects these differences” (ACRL, 2015). When the information seekers are within an academic setting, the research is often done through the use of online databases. Creating a query that will bring the desired results is the first step of the process. According to a video released by the Krueger library, the optimum amount of keywords for the query is between two and four, to get a good amount of responses, not too many and not too few ( [Krueger Library - Winona State University], 2016). The next step is determining whether the query produced the information needed. Databases are reliable sources with articles that have undergone an editorial process, but finding the one that fills the information need is the challenge.


Alternatively, if the research is done on the world wide web, then the core value frame to consult is the one on authority. The researcher must determine the information creator's “expertise and credibility.” The Liturgists Podcast addresses authority and media literacy in the episode Fake News and Media Literacy. They point out that readers need to be really conscientious about investigating the source of their information, media and otherwise. You need to know who wrote it, what their credentials and potential biases are, who published it, and if there is a review process. Avoid sources that vaguely allude to research but don’t cite any. However, the framework point out that authority is often attached to privilege and discounts other valid viewpoints-” Thus, novice learners come to respect the expertise that authority represents while remaining skeptical of the systems that have elevated that authority and the information created by it” (ACRL, 2015). 


Information Literacy describes being smart about the process that fills a knowledge gap and creates knowledge within the learner that they can then pass on to others. When the gap is filled using online sources and then shared, an understanding of digital literacy becomes essential. The online world creates the environment for a secondary persona. A person’s online persona may be a good digital citizen who follows the same social rules as they would in the three-dimensional world, or they could be a bad digital citizen and use the facelessness of the internet to negatively impact others. When it comes to information literacy, if the learner shares information, as a good citizen they would make sure that it is accurate and they are not just irresponsibly sharing “click-bait” or sensationalistic content. 


It is a strange world that we are living in now, though, and the isolation and uncertainty that we’ve endured due to the pandemic have certainly affected us. Personally,  when the pandemic first hit I was hungry, desperate for all of the information on the subject to temper my anxiety. I triangulated reports from the CDC,  the White House as well as global news sources. However, as my pandemic fatigue manifested, so did my information fatigue. Hence my current information diet is passively, maybe even subconsciously. I know this is bad form for a future librarian and I should be more vigilant and the information that I allow to be absorbed. 






Framework for information literacy for higher education. (2015). Chicago: Association of College & Research Libraries.

Gungor, M., & Johnson, C. (2017, March 7). Fake News and Media Literacy.

[Krueger Library - Winona State University]. (2016, August 19). Selecting & Using Keywords [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved September 9, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6kjt2Mt_4w

News & Media Literacy 101. (2022, June 24). Common Sense Education. Retrieved September 10, 2022, from https://www.commonsense.org/education/articles/news-media-literacy-101

Comments

  1. Tiffany BarrSeptember 11, 2022 at 8:37 AM

    Meg,

    You are right. There is no limit on who can post online anymore. I've always been taught through various courses on being cautious of using Wikipedia as a source especially since so many can access and edit that. Many students often use that resource because it is often the first thing that will pop up when their doing their research. It is vital that they continue to search for better sources that are more reliable and credible. My information diet as a future librarian is not as good at the moment for myself either but I intend to work on that knowing that students are often going to look to us for those good practices. It is a challenge but we can show them that we often make mistakes too when trying to do our research and being cautious of fake news.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Little Lou LibrarySeptember 11, 2022 at 12:40 PM

    Hi Meg,
    Thank you for being so open and honest about your personal information diet. I also feel like I need to reevaluate and adjust my media intake and become more considerate when searching through sources. It is nice to see that there are other future librarians that share this goal. I also thought you made a great point about online content creation. Nowadays, anyone can truly post anything online, so learning the skills and processes for determining authority and credibility are becoming more important than ever. Thanks for sharing!
    -Christina Lunetta

    ReplyDelete
  3. Whitney TylerSeptember 11, 2022 at 8:34 PM

    At times we all can be passive in our information consumption. I know I have "space out" watching TikTok or go down a rabbit hole on Facebook. We are fed information all the time and we can get information anytime. Because of this it is easy to get overwhelmed with information. Just as we'd like our students to question what they find online, we should do the same.

    ReplyDelete

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