Talja, Sanna & Lloyd, Annemaree (2010) Challenges for Future Research in Learning, Literacies and Information Practices. (original) (raw)
Related papers
2010
The main positions adopted in this paper are that • Information Literacy (IL) is a construct closely related to the concepts of both Information Seeking and Use (ISU) and Learning. I view it as placed at the intersection between the two. Information and communication technologies (ICT's) and new digital media profoundly reshape the conditions for ISU and learning on both macro and micro levels of society, emphasizing the connection between the two phenomena. This reshaping has multi-layered implications for research and practice in the IL field. • Information Literacy is imbued with normative values as regards appropriate ways of interacting with information for particular purposes in various contexts. It is worth observing that IL is not an activity but concerns competence, knowledge and abilities. Norms and values are shaped by the cultural contexts in which information activities are embedded. The paper will be devoted to discussing these two items in an effort to provide some coherent arguments for further research in the field. Information Literacy, ISU and Learning According to a sociocultural perspective learning happens through interaction between people, and between people and tools. This view implies that human beings cannot avoid learning while they are together. It also implies that learning is both a social and an individual phenomenon. Likewise ISU may be seen as a constantly ongoing human activity mediated via interaction between people and between people and artefacts. The relationship between ISU and learning is multidimensional. An analysis of various aspects leads to a range of interconnected dimensions pertaining to the following;
The concept of information literacy refers to purposeful information practices in a society characterized by almost limitless access to information and where information practices in digital environments shape and constitute important elements in most people's lives in our part of the world. The meaning of the term information literacy varies according to the theoretical lens from which it is approached. Theoretical starting points are not always clearly stated in, for instance, information literacy definitions, standards, research or educational practices. Regardless of whether the underlying theory is made explicit or not, it will nevertheless have a profound impact on the ways in which we teach or research information literacy. This article discusses alternative theoretical understandings of information literacy and their consequences for educational practices. Three theoretical perspectives are presented that represent different understandings of information literacy; phenomenography, sociocultural theory and Foucauldian discourse analysis. According to all three theoretical lenses, information literacy is embedded in and shaped by as well as shaping the context in which it is embedded. In consequence, we propose the notion of information literacies in the plural. The three perspectives offer different insights on information literacies, on both empirical and theoretical levels. However, a sociocultural perspective also involves particular theoretical assumptions about the ways in which digital environments and tools reshape conditions for learning. HUMAN IT OPEN SECTION 94 Keywords: discourse analysis, information literacy, library and information science (LIS), phenomenography, sociocultural theory "All information-seeking behaviour is learnt, nothing is innate" according to Tom Wilson (1994, 42). The view of information seeking as something that is learnt is well in accordance with the view that the appropriation of information literacy may be a goal for learning. However, information literacy can be approached as an object of teaching as well as an object of learning. In librarianship information literacy appears particularly often as an object of teaching. It follows therefore that we can assume that literacy is the outcome of learning. We may also claim, however, that all learning is embedded in cultural practices and imbued with norms and values, since learning implies developing one's ability to understand and act in gradually more sophisticated ways within a specific practice. Norms may be expressed explicitly in goals for learning assignments or curricula, and as such, are often grounded in research-based ways of understanding a phenomenon, for instance 'photosynthesis', 'reasons for climate change' or 'information literacy'. Norms may also be implicit and based on expectations about certain ways of acting in relation to tools and people in different social practices, such as school or work-life. Cultural practices entail shared norms and ideals that form the basis of education as institution in our society.
In the shade of the knowledge society and the importance of information literacy
EARLI (European Association for …, 2005
The purpose of this paper is to present and discuss the major findings of a series of empirical research projects directed to exploring the interaction between students' information seeking and use for learning assignments and their learning outcomes. We will also highlight how technology contributes to communication among students and how their social experience is shaped. The overall research interest focuses on what and how students learn through information seeking and use conducted via various paths and sources of information, including libraries. Information and communication technologies constitute artefacts of central interest in our studies. The specific situation and the context that frames students' encounters with the artefacts (the computer or the book) will, taken together with the individual student's various personal and cultural frames of reference, constitute their learning. The major theoretical framework for our studies was shaped by two theoretical perspectives on learning; firstly a socio-cultural perspective, viewing information seeking and learning as participation in a socialisation exercise set in the discursive practice of school; secondly, a phenomenographic perspective when describing different ways of either understanding information as such or information literacy education.
Information Literacy, New Literacies, and Literacy
The Library Quarterly, 2009
Literacy was once thought to be well-understood and well-defined. However, it has been argued that the digital world has disrupted any notions of literacy, supplanted with "new" forms of literacies in various new literacy studies and now, in the library and information science (LIS) scholarship as they apply to information literacy (IL). But, do the old forms of literacy in fact hold LIS back, and, do the critiques of conceptions of literacy fully represent that foundational scholarship? Are the "new" literacies really that different from traditional notions of literacy? A review of: concepts of literacy and IL that have been critiqued; core ideas of foundational scholarship on the shift from orality to literacy that stand at the center of the scholarly debate over literacy in general; and identifying conceptual foundations of critical reflexivity which underwrite "new" literacies is undertaken to inform the scholarly assumptions and claims of LIS and IL.
Information literacy and literacies of information: a mid-range theory and model
Journal of Information Literacy, 2017
Information literacy (IL) research tends to fall into one of two spaces. In the conceptual space the research concern rests with understanding the experience and core elements of the practice and how it emerges. In the practical space the execution and outcome of the practice as markers of successful teaching and learning are the focus. The division between these spaces and the lack of researcher/practitioner convergence create a conundrum that limits our ability to theorise IL, to adequately situate IL in library and information science research, to champion its benefits outside the library and information science field, or to promote to funding bodies the impact of IL. To address this conundrum a theory and foundational model of IL is described which attempts to reconstruct the IL space and its enactments without privileging research or practice.
Article Lloyd, A. 2017. Information literacy and literacies of information: a mid-range theory and model. Journal of Information Literacy 11(1), pp.91-105. "By 'open access' to this literature, we mean its free availability on the public internet, permitting any users to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of these articles, crawl them for indexing, pass them as data to software, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without financial, legal, or technical barriers other than those inseparable from gaining access to the internet itself. The only constraint on reproduction and distribution, and the only role for copyright in this domain, should be to give authors control over the integrity of their work and the right to be properly acknowledged and cited. " Abstract Information literacy (IL) research tends to fall into one of two spaces. In the conceptual space the research concern rests with understanding the experience and core elements of the practice and how it emerges. In the practical space the execution and outcome of the practice as markers of successful teaching and learning are the focus. The division between these spaces and the lack of researcher/practitioner convergence create a conundrum that limits our ability to theorise IL, to adequately situate IL in library and information science research, to champion its benefits outside the library and information science field, or to promote to funding bodies the impact of IL. To address this conundrum a theory and foundational model of IL is described which attempts to reconstruct the IL space and its enactments without privileging research or practice.
Information literacy as a socially enacted practice
Journal of Documentation, 2012
PurposeThis paper aims to introduce a “people‐in‐practice” perspective which brings together previous theorisations of information literacy landscapes and practice. This perspective provides the framework to analyse the complex practice of information literacy from a sociocultural perspective. This perspective represents a shift in focus towards information literacy as a socially enacted practice, and away from the information skills approach that has dominated information literacy research and education.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical data that informs this work is drawn from a series of studies that have been conducted by the author in the workplace and in everyday settings since 2004. Findings from these studies have contributed to the development of the people‐in‐practice perspective that is presented in this article.FindingsDrawing from the author's empirical studies and from literature reporting socio‐cultural research into information literacy, a people‐in‐practi...
Information literacy as a catalyst for educational change. A background paper
2002
The idea of information literacy, emerging with the advent of information technologies in the early 1970s, has grown, taken shape and strengthened to become recognized as the critical literacy for the twenty-first century. Sometimes interpreted as one of a number of literacies, information literacy (IL) is also described as the overarching literacy essential for twenty-first century living. Today, IL is inextricably associated with information practices and critical thinking in the information and communication technology (ICT) environment.