information literacy for 21st century life
DESCRIPTION
This presentation was given by Sheila Webber at the Oeiras a Ler conference held at Oeiras Municipal Library, Portugal, on 20 May 2010 ( http://oeiras-a-ler.blogspot.com/search/label/Encontro%20Oeiras%20a%20Ler). I identify some of the different ways in which various groups of people experience information and information literacy (IL) in the 21st Century, with reference to 21st Century research. I go on to discuss some of the key aspects of IL that need more attention. I see these elements as evolutionary development of IL as a 21st Century concept, not as something completely new and different.TRANSCRIPT
Information
Literacy for 21st
Century life
Sheila Webber,
Department of Information Studies: the iSchool
University of Sheffield, UK
Oeiras a Ler conference
May 2010
Pictures and photo copyright Sheila Webber unPictures & photos copyright Sheila Webber unless otherwise stated
Sheila Webber, May 2010
Information
Literacy for
21st Century
life
Sheila Webber, May 2010
Information
Literacy for
21st
Century
life
Sheila Webber, May 2010
“Information literacy is the
adoption of appropriate
information behaviour to
identify, through whatever
channel or medium, information
well fitted to information needs,
leading to wise and ethical use
of information in society.”
Definition by:
Johnston &
Webber
International Information
Literacy logo: http://infolitglobal.info/logo/en/home
Sheila Webber, May 2010
information behaviour
whatever
channel or medium
information needs
wise and
ethical use of information
in society
encountering
linking
searching
creating
browsing
people web
journals
sound
pictures
text
education
workfamily
citizen
fun
spiritual
Sheila Webber, May 2010
Behaving with information in an
information literate manner….
But what is information?
Information: preteens
Other young
people
Adults
Instant Message
Telephone
Television
Radio
Books
Magazines
Websites
Search engines
Organisations
Meyers, E. Fisher, K. and
Marcoux, E. (2009) “Making
sense of an information
worlds: the everyday life
information behaviour of preteens.” Library Quarterly, 79 (3), 301–341
“a tween might
consult a peer, who
recommends a
Web site, which is
vetted by a parent,
and ultimately they
together consult a
store professional.”
(p317)
“in nineteen of twenty-
five [searches] …
tweens used another
person as the primary
or secondary source of
information” (p317)
school , bus, shopping mall, sports fields, parks, home, churches , libraries , restaurants, shops
Information: ambulancemen
Lloyd, A. (2009) “Informing
practice: information
experiences of ambulance
officers in training and on-
road practice.” Journal of
Documentation, 65 (3),
396-419
• training manuals
• books,
• written rules
• protocols
•Colleagues
•Trainers
Bodies/ people/ environment
• Sound
• Speech
• Touch
• Appearance
• MovementPatientsTe
xt
“you don’t really know what’s happening until you get your hands on the patient and can see breathing, feel a pulse, what’s the blood pressure, are they pale?” (p409)
Pics: Microsoft clip art
Sheila Webber, May 2010
"An information literate person has a deep
awareness, connection, and fluency with the
information environment. Information literate people
are engaged, enabled, enriched and embodied by
social, procedural and physical information that
constitutes an information universe. Information
literacy is a way of knowing that universe."
Lloyd (2004: 223)
Information: SL
Virtual World (Second Life (SL):
My students have researched
people’s information behaviour in SL
• Sound
• Speech
• Appearance
• Movement
See: Webber, 2010
“a wiki might give an
example of a piece of code,
but a blog may tell us a
story of how the author
came up with it” (Interviewee3 08/09)
“Much of my information came from talking to people, asking questions, finding what they had done” (I3 07/08)
People
Instant Message
Discussion list
Face to face in SL
Face to face outside
Information: SL
• Books
• Journals
• Websites
• Wikis
• Blogs
• Search
engines in SL
•Search engines
outside SL
• Your own files
• SL Shops
Sheila Webber, May 2010
Information literacy … and graphic novels
Neill, M. (2008) Graphic
novels: a young man’s
superhero or the library’s
contemporary villain. MA
thesis. Sheffield: UoS.
“The text is a lot easier, simpler, short,
snappy, but you are looking at the
pictures and making sense of them,
applying the language to them. It sets
you thinking a bit more. “ (Interviewee 9)
Another Masters
student (Caddy,
2009) found that
most UK public
libraries arranged
graphic novels and
comics in no
particular order!
Sheila Webber, May 2010
Information Literacy … and computer games
Gumulak, S. (2009) Video
games: the way to attract
teenagers into the library.
MA thesis. Sheffield: UoS.
“I learned all about
camping, how to
light a fire. “
(Interviewee IIb12)
“ye I go back and
start the level again
to see if I missed
anything then I
read it is it says
anything for help. “
(Interviewee
XIIg12)
• Text boxes
• Game
environment
• Non player
characters
• Game booklet
& box
• Friends and
family
• Walkthru sites
(last resort)
•Review sites
•Search engines
•Forums
•Websites
Players try hard to
work out the
answer without
googling for a
walkthru
Browsing, searching,
evaluating, applying
Sheila Webber, May 2010
Information literacy … and schoolchildren“The pupils became aware of the
importance of developing effective
research skills and evaluating both
information and their completed
piece of work.
The pupils learned about a world
religion.
They were sensitive to the religious
and moral issues of a religion.
They were also aware of the various
religions within the class and used
their peers as educators.”
Source: Learning and Teaching Scotland. (2009) Craigholme
Primary - Researching world religions. Glasgow.
http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/informationliteracy/
sharingpractice/index.asp
Sheila Webber, May 2010
Information literacy … and schoolchildrenInformation literacy for children who
cannot yet read e.g.
• Told they must answer a question
“why is dark necessary”
• Told a story about an owl (which
contains the answer)
• Children draw pictures to answer
the question
• Choose an animal that comes out
at night
• Teacher reads out information
about chosen animal
• Children decide which fact is most
interestingSource: Irving, C. (2010) Begin at the
beginning - Information and Critical Literacy in
Curriculum for Excellence Early & First Level
(Nursery & Primary Schools).
http://www.slideshare.net/cirving/begin-at-the-
beginning-information-and-critical-literacy-in-
curriculum-for-excellence-early-first-level-
nursery-primary-schools
Sheila Webber, May 2010
Information literacy … and school librarians
• Shahd Salha’s PhD research
• Syrian school librarians’ conceptions of IL
• Life & spiritual conception for some
Sheila Webber, May 2010
Information Literacy … with and for other people
• Lay Information Mediary Behavior (LIMB) (Abrahamson , 2008) “those who seek information in a non-professional or lay capacity on behalf or because of others, without necessarily being asked to do so, or engaging in follow-up.”
• People work in teams in their jobs and in education;
+++ therefore +++
• Library patrons need to develop skills for their everyday lives:
– Being good at identifying, and articulating, information needs
– Collaborating without cheating (for school/ university work)
– Managing information flows between themselves and others
– Creating shared documents and shared information spaces
http://pewresearch.org/
millennials/quiz/intro.php
It appears
that I am
“millennial”
I’m not sure
that all my
“millennial”
students are
millennial …
High use of
facebook,
low use of
blogs, online
gaming
Not just technology
Example 1: Man sacked for
sending tweet saying he
would blow up an airport
(when angry and stranded at
an airport)
Wilson, C. (2010) “Top ten twitter disasters: a lot can go wrong in 140
chaarcters as this lot found out.” Mirror . 10 May.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-10s/2010/05/10/top-10-twitter-disasters-a-
lot-can-go-wrong-in-140-characters-as-this-lot-found-out-115875-22248690/
Example 2: Facebook users
could see the chat sessions of
their friends through a
facebook error.Perez, J. (2010) “Facebook blunder lets friends get too close: IM service taken down
before bug is patched.” Computer world UK. 6 May.
http://www.computerworlduk.com/management/online/new-
media/news/index.cfm?newsid=20145
But
technology
can grab
people’s
attention
Sheila Webber, May 2010
Summary: Key themes
• Importance of people sources: knowing how to be
information literate with people
– When to trust people as information sources
– Good ways to “search” and “browse” different kinds of
people (e.g. teacher, friend, employer, unknown expert)
– Comparing people sources with other sources
– Working with people to share and create information
Sheila Webber, May 2010
• Web 2.0 may be “hook” to attract, but people
need “old-fashioned” face-to-face skills too
• More education for collaborative information
literacy e.g. co-creating documents and
websites; working on
information tasks together;
“family” information literacy
sessions
Sheila Webber, May 2010
Key themes
• People are following complex paths to find their answers
– Moving between people, websites, print media, physical spaces (shops or libraries), broadcast media etc.
– Includes using technology to ask questions and contribute opinions
– Are there good paths for particular kinds of information need?
– Path includes steps where people create as well as consume
Pic
s: M
icro
soft
clip
art
Sheila Webber, May 2010
Key themes
• Helping people see the information literacy in everyday situations
• Drawing out and developing skills in gaming & in reading “visual” texts
• “Learners do not separate out vocational learning from personal social development” (Scottish public library study, Crawford 2010)
• Learning to “read” information through all the senses (like an ambulance worker, or a person in a virtual world, or a child who cannot read …)
Sheila Webber, May 2010
Not just employability and literacy
• Information literacy
for having a good life
(whatever that means
to you)
• More than
empowering
people to be “good
citizens”
Quotation from interview for research
by Webber, Boon & Johnston
Sheila Webber, May 2010Quotation from interview for research by Webber, Boon & Johnston
Sheila Webber, May 2010Quotation from interview for research by Shahd Salha
Sheila Webber, May 2010
Sheila Webber
http://information-literacy.blogspot.com/
http://www.slideshare.net/sheilawebber/
http://adventuresofyoshikawa.blogspot.com/
Sheila Yoshikawa
References• Abrahamson, J. et al. (2008). “Lay information mediary behavior uncovered: exploring
how nonprofessionals seek health information for themselves and others online.”
Journal of the Medical Library Association, 96(4), 310-323. See also
http://ibec.ischool.washington.edu/limb/
• Caddy, E. (2009) An investigation into the opinions of public library staff on how and
where a graphic, comic, and cartoon collection should be shelved. MA thesis. Sheffield:
University of Sheffield• Crawford, J. (2010) Information literacy in employability training: the experience of
Inverclyde Libraries: evaluating a training programme. Presentation from LILAC conference. http://www.slideshare.net/cirving/information-literacy-in-employability-training-the-experience-of-inverclyde-libraries-evaluating-a-training-programme
• Erdelez, S. (1999) “Information encountering: it's more than just bumping into information.” Bulletin of the American Association for Information Science [Online], 25 (3), 25-29. http://www.asis.org/Bulletin/Feb-99/erdelez.html
• Gumulak, S. (2009) Video games: the way to attract teenagers into the library. MA
thesis. Sheffield: University of Sheffield
• Learning and Teaching Scotland. (2009) Information Literacy: sharing practice.
Glasgow. http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/informationliteracy/sharingpractice/index.asp
References• Lloyd, A. (2009) “Informing practice: information experiences of ambulance officers in
training and on-road practice.” Journal of Documentation, 65 (3), 396-419
• Lloyd, A (2004) “Working (in)formation: conceptualizing information literacy in the workplace” In Proceedings of 3rd International Life Long Learning Conference, 13-16 June. Rockhampton: Central Queensland University Press. 218-224.
• Meyers, E. Fisher, K. and Marcoux, E. (2009) “Making sense of an information worlds:
the everyday life information behaviour of preteens.” Library Quarterly, 79 (3), 301–341
• Neill, M. (2008) Graphic novels: a young man’s superhero or the library’s contemporary
villain. MA thesis. Sheffield: University of Sheffield.
• Reddy, M. and Spence, P. (2008) “Collaborative information seeking: A field study of a
multidisciplinary patient care team” Information Processing & Management 44 (1), 242-
255.
• Scottish Information Literacy Project: http://www.gcu.ac.uk/ils/
• Webber, S. (2010) Information literate behaviour in Second Life.
http://www.slideshare.net/sheilawebber/information-literate-behaviour-in-second-life-
3469465