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Information & Media Literacy: Practicing Digital Citizenship


 

                eSchool News: Innovations in Education Transformation 

The copious amount of information hurling itself at us daily is astounding and overwhelming. We hear podcasts, commercials, and daily radio reports. We see near constant commercial reels on television and elsewhere, informative articles in our email inboxes, print material in our mailboxes, and minute-to-minute notifications on our phones for a plethora of apps. Without intermission, everything seems to be vying for our attention! It’s easy to get lost and confused in the constant swirl of news due to society’s steady use of various forms of technology and media tools that disseminate information.

So, how do we successfully navigate this chaotic landscape? 
Employ information and media literacy.

Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education
https://www.oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/83552/student-old/

Information literacy, along with its cousins media literacy, news literacy, and digital literacy, is arguably more crucial now than ever before. According to the Association of College & Research Libraries or ACRL (2015), information literacy can be defined as “the set of integrated abilities encompassing the reflective discovery of information, the understanding of how information is produced and valued, and the use of information in creating new knowledge and participating ethically in communities of learning” (p. 8). These collective skills are essential for weeding out the information worthy of notice and engagement, and the stuff that isn’t. Likewise, the Partnership for 21st Century Learning (2015) created the P21 Framework to help student succeed in the new global economy. This Framework outlines numerous interconnected attitudes and abilities that contribute to student achievement in work and life. One of the four foundations P21 deems imperative is information, media, and technology literacy. They assert students must practice information literacy by learning how to access and evaluate information ethically from a wide variety of sources and use information with discernment. P21 goes on to explain students are media literate if they can analyze media (such as understand why media is messages are developed, how they can be interpreted, why they can spark action) and understand how media is created. Lastly, the Framework incorporates ICT literacy, or the use of technology to “research, organize, evaluate, and communicate information” (P21, 2015, p. 5). Both the ACRL and the P21 Framework (2015) add another layer by not only listing knowledge practices, or abilities, information literate students should demonstrate, but also listing dispositions that detail students’ values and attitudes. For example, students would ideally engage in soft skills, such as critical thinking, resourcefulness, intellectual flexibility, effective communication, self-motivation, self-awareness, and appreciating diversity.

 


 
 

Although technology tools have evolved over time, the concept of information literacy is not new. Information literacy in relation to news literacy has seemed to gain more attention in recent years with the rise of political fake news claims. The Liturgist podcast interview with Clay Johnson (2017) covers this topic in the episode entitled Fake News & Media Literacy. This podcast informs the audience about the influence of media on the public, the seriousness of being a responsible citizen by evaluating information with a skeptical mind, and how to assess information using a set of criteria or evidence markers. There are so many rabbit holes to scurry down when discussing fake news (including one of my favorite books, 1984); however, I want to expound upon how the claim of “fake news” has been used by public figures to shut down or discourage questions or statements that may conflict with a certain agenda, message, or persona. The damaging effects of these fake news claims as described by Clay Johnson reminded me of the acronym DARVO. Dr. Jennifer Freyd (2023) states DARVO stands for "Deny, Attack, and Reverse Victim and Offender.” It is usually a term associated with abuse victims, but I think it applies to the use of fake news claims and using discernment. I argue if an observable pattern exists of a person or organization displaying an unwillingness to be held accountable for their actions or even having their actions questioned in any way, DARVO might be a deflecting tactic and skepticism is advised.


More consistently applicable questions to determine trustworthiness outlined by Clay Johnson (2017) on The Liturgist podcast include:

  1. Is the author or contributors named?
  2. Where is this information being published? Is there an editorial review board? What kind of reputation do they have? Who owns or is affiliated with it? Do they publish corrections?
  3. Is there a date of publication? Is it recent?
  4. Are specific sources cited? How do they reference sources?
  5. Is it well written?
  6. Does the information presented elicit anger or fear? What is the emotional response?



All these questions can help a reader judge information, yet there is some nuance to the art of judgement. It is important to note that media bias does not mean information is “fake.”  Professor Joyce Valenza (2016) explains that even work vetted by editors and publishers is still subject to editorial bias in which certain facts about a subject are omitted and the emphasis is placed on other facts. Valenza also points out that, while not false news, word choice is connected to the truths readers construct in their brains. This means highly emotional language can be used to evoke a certain response from the reader based on bias leanings.

I humbly admit I could do a better job at practicing several aspects of information literacy discussed here because I often try to avoid the news swooping around me. I like the peace of not seeing a lot of disturbing things. But it could be said that I am sacrificing my long-term intellectual health for my short-term mental health. I think finding a practical balance between these two is best. Media literacy can and should be utilized to help protect my mental peace, while also flexing my intellectual muscles and being an active citizen. As a future librarian, it is my duty to serve my students and peers to the best of my ability, but I can’t do that if I am not seeking local and global awareness despite staying abreast of new literary trends and library issues. The two just go hand-in-hand. I am determined to practice information literacy with more consciousness in the future. I can digest some local news with my School Library Journal. I can listen to a national news podcast along with my children’s literature podcast. I can receive newsletter updates from the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) and receive a newsletter about current events. I can and should mindfully select sources with different leanings to examine different perspectives. Having a breadth and depth attitude towards information will create better habits and will make me a much more influential professional and human. 


References

Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL). (2015) Framework for information literacy for higher education. American Library Association. https://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.acrl/files/content/issues/infolit/framework1.pdf

Freyd, J.J. (2023). What is DARVO? Retrieved January 25, 2023, from http://pages.uoregon.edu/dynamic/jjf/defineDARVO.html.

Gungor, M. & Science Mike (Hosts). (2017, March 7). Fake news & media literacy [Audio podcast]. The Liturgist. https://theliturgists.com/fake-news-media-literacy-podcast-page/

Partnership for 21st Century Learning. (2015, May). P21 framework definitions. https://www.marietta.edu/sites/default/files/documents/21st_century_skills_standards_book_2.pdf

Valenza, J. (2016, November 26). Truth, truthiness, triangulation: A news literacy toolkit for a “post-truth” world. School Library Journal. https://blogs.slj.com/neverendingsearch/2016/11/26/truth-truthiness-triangulation-and-the-librarian-way-a-news-literacy-toolkit-for-a-post-truth-world/

Comments

  1. Jennifer RingJanuary 28, 2023 at 2:34 PM

    Hi Rae,
    Thanks for your well-written post. I really like how your voice shines through the information. I, too, struggle with what my media diet should be as a future school librarian. I am a slow reader and a slow thinker, so to have to consume so much from so many sources about so many topics to remain at the forefront of knowledge and also unbiased seems overwhelming to me. You bring up a very good point about protecting your mental health. I am warming to the idea that we as librarians do not need to actually consume all the information to be helpful, we need to be able to teach students how to get information that is reliable for their needs. I feel mentally comforted that there are processes out there in the Framework and the Standards that can help us guide learners about how to be more information literate.
    Thank you,
    Jen

    ReplyDelete
  2. Courtland Smith's ISCI 761January 29, 2023 at 3:07 PM

    Hey, Raegan!

    Thank you so much for your blog post this week. You brought up some great points from the readings and podcast from this week’s module. Your take on the information in this module was very informative and allowed me to understand even more of the content that was covered.

    Reading through this week’s readings and viewings made me think about how I evaluate and use information. It seems that it made you think the same way. I do not do well at evaluating information, but from this module I learned that I must take the time to do so. It is our jobs as librarians to assess information and teach students to do the same. In the future, my eyes will be open. I will be using the strategies that we learned in this module to make sure that the information I researched is reliable. If we practice evaluating the information we seek each time we research, the more prepared we will be when teaching students to do the same.

    Again, thank you for sharing!
    Sincerely,
    Courtland Smith

    ReplyDelete

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