Challenges and Considerations for Misinformation Research

The Center for an Informed Public (University of Washington) is calling for participants for their virtual workshop on 6 May 2021, Challenges and Considerations for Misinformation Research. There will be sessions on research practices; data collection, use and ethics; communicating findings; and commitments to ethics and welfare. Participants are expected to be "academic and academic-adjacent researchers who have engaged in rapid-impact research projects and media engagement around misinformation events and conspiracy theories — particularly related to COVID-19, recent elections and the broader impacts of mis- and disinformation." They hope "to bring together researchers from across disciplines to discuss how misinformation research can have immediate impact, retain academic rigor, utilize diverse methodologies and be ethically and theoretically grounded." To express interest go to https://www.cip.uw.edu/2021/04/05/cip-challenges-considerations-misinformation-research-virtual-workshop/

Photo by Sheila Webber: row of tulips, April 2021

New articles: ACRL Framework; Fake news; Flipped classroom; Library anxiety; Peer teaching

The latest issue of the Journal of Academic Librarianship (Volume 47 issue 2) includes the following (priced publication - though one article, marked below, is open access):
- The ACRL Framework successes and challenges since 2016: A survey by Ma Lei Hsieh, Patricia H. Dawson, Sharon Q. Yang (" The findings indicate that other than course assignments, the Framework is librarians' most used document for their instruction.")
- Training peer teachers to teach first year graduate level information literacy sessions by Frances Brady
- Exploring potential roles of academic libraries in undergraduate data science education curriculum development by Gang Shao, Jenny P. Quintana, Wei Zakharov, Senay Purzer, Eunhye Kim
- Much more than a mere technology: A systematic review of Wikidata in libraries by Karim Tharani (Open access)
- Flipped classroom pedagogy in an online learning environment: A self-regulated introduction to information literacy threshold concepts by Elizabeth Humrickhouse
- Library anxiety among Omani and Saudi Arabian international students: A case study at the University of South Carolina, USA by Esra Seddiq Abdoh
- Librarians against fake news: A systematic literature review of library practices (Jan. 2018–Sept. 2020) by Jorge Revez, Luís Corujo
Go to https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/the-journal-of-academic-librarianship/vol/47/issue/2
Photo by Sheila Webber: cherry blossom, March 2021

Webinar: Searching the internet effectively

On 13 April 2021 starting at 12 noon UK time, the Association of Women Librarians in Nigeria (AWLIN) (a section of the Nigerian Library Association) in conjunction with Insights4uToday YouTube educational and technological channel, offer "a free one day online training" (I'm afaid I don't know further details) on Searching the internet effectively. Go to http://youtu.be/rdSOexuNFrY

Global Festival of Active Learning online

The free online Global Festival of Active Learning runs 19th-24th April 2021. "For two hours each day (9am-10am, 5pm-6pm UK time), there will be exciting chances to share, collaborate, listen, and network with others interested in active teaching and learning." There's an interesting range of sessions on offer, which are listed in the programme on their website - it includes a couple of library-specific items, but generally it would be of interest to people teaching information literacy https://activelearningnetwork.com/active-learning-events/ Instructions on booking at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/aln-global-festival-of-active-learning-19-23-apr-2021-tickets-148323259863

Recordings from Misinfo day

Last month, the University of Washington (USA) Center for an Informed Public held Misinfo day. There are recordings from the day, namely: Understanding the Landscape of Information Disorder (Jacquelyn Mason); Fact-checking Claims and Sources (Mike Caulfield and Scott Leadingham); Spotting Misinformation (Jevin West); Disinformation Goals & Tactics (Kate Starbird and Kolina Koltai); Disinformation Goals & Tactics (Jordan Foley) and also toolkit (list of suggested and example activitie and resources) for the day. Go to https://www.cip.uw.edu/
Photo by Sheila Webber: lost item series, lost monkey (it was someone else that tied it to the post), April 2021

Critical Disinformation Studies

Alice Marwick, Rachel Kuo, Shanice Jones Cameron and Moira Weigel have created a syllabus for Critical Disinformation Studies "as a provocation to disinformation researchers to rethink many of the assumptions of our nascent field". It is published by The Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life (CITAP) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The syllabus has 13 sections, with a topic/issue or an example for each section, in each case having a paragraph outlining the theme and some readings. The authors note that it is focused on a United States perspective, and also I would say that the disciplinary perspective is that of media literacy and communications (rather than information science and information literacy). Thus, as well as the sections making an interesting focus for discussion in themselves, it would also be interesting to reframe the syllabus to different national/cultural contexts and different disciplinary contexts. The authors themselves say that they "make this offering as a means to encourage ongoing critical and multi-faceted reflections of power and history in the study of disinformation." Go to https://citap.unc.edu/research/critical-disinfo
Photo by Sheila Webber: celandine and violet, March 2021

Call for proposals: LILi conference 2021 #LILiConf2021

Proposals are sought for the 2021 Lifelong Information Literacy (LILi) conference, which will take place online on 9 July 2021. Deadline for proposals is 15 April 15 2021. The theme is What You Don’t Know & Are Afraid to Ask: Teaching Ourselves & Others. which is "about examining and reflecting on who we are as teachers, learners, or any stakeholder in that relationship through time, space, format (online, in person, hybrid), and location such as: in community, in the home, at the institution, in the streets, and in our learning journeys. As we know, teaching/learning is a relationship that is dynamic and multifaceted. This conference will explore and include discussion about what it means “to educate”, “to learn”, and the process of learning including where we learn, how we learn, what we learn, do not learn, unlearn, re-learn and beyond."
Session formats will include 10-minute lightning talks, 20-minute presentations, a poster session, and virtual roundtable discussions. Example topics include:
- Learning communities; pedagogies; community teaching and learning; community work
- Creating inclusive instructional environments in a remote world; what skills and ideas are needed?
- Land acknowledgments; indigenous-led topics and themes; tribal histories
- Advocacy and abolition; access and the digital divide
- Universal Design in information literacy
- Information literacy for workers and learning on the job
- Decolonizing the LIS curriculum
- Educational equity and trauma informed teaching
- Effective classroom management; facilitating synchronous and asynchronous sessions with equity in mind
- Negotiation skills; how to get buy-in
More information at https://lili.libguides.com/lili There are links to information on the previous Lili conferences at https://lili.libguides.com/c.php?g=660853&p=6557962

Photo by Sheila Webber: fallen blossom, April 2021

London Kent Surrey and Sussex regional searching guidance for health librarians 2nd edition

There is an updated edition (April 2021) of the open-access London Kent Surrey and Sussex (NHS) regional searching guidance. It is "intended for librarians tasked with searching the evidence on behalf of NHS staff" but most of it would be valuable in other healthcare settings, and indeed as general advice for good searching. The guidance is laid out very clearly in bullet points. As well as the guidance, which includes sections on different types of evidence search (e.g. evidence search for care of a specific patient; for (NHS) commissioning; for study; for a business case) there are sets of links to other useful resources (e.g. training materials, search tools and other search guidance). It is produced by expert staff in Kent, Surrey and Sussex NHS Library and Knowledge Services Searching and Training Forum. Go to https://sites.google.com/site/healthliteraturesearchers/Home
Photo by Sheila Webber: white daffodils, I think Thalia, March 2021

Responses to #COVID19 : Librarians in lockdown in Scotland; the state of American libraries

Two new reports with insights into the response of libraries to the pandemic. Firstly, Peter Reid & Lyndsay Bloice (Robert Gordon University) undertook research supported by the Scottish Library & Information Council and the Arts and Humanities Research Council, now published as Libraries in Lockdown. Through analysis of social media and web based content and interviews with librarians they examine "Scottish Public Libraries and their response to the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020-21 and in particular the way in which they have, through their digital offering, helped to support community resilience and cohesion. The research also explores the issues that library services have had to contend with during lockdown." It is a 100 page report that finishes with reflections and recommendations. Go to https://librariesinlockdown.weebly.com/
Secondly the State of America's Libraries 2021 Special Report: COVID-19 has been published by the American Library Association. The ALA produces a "state of the libraries" report every year, and it's always interesting to see their perspective on trends and developments. This time they "find 2020 was a year when library professionals answered the call to serve amid multiple emergencies and a year when library workers again proved to be essential 'first restorers' or 'second responders.' " The final section in the report is about librarians fighting disinformation "Throughout 2020, librarians responded to misinformation about vaccines, the census, and the November election, as well as the demonization of the mainstream media as purveyors of “fake news,” by creating resources to fight disinformation." It also talks about issues such as internet/broadband provision, supporting learning, dealing with banning of books. and dealing with inequalities. Go to http://www.ala.org/news/state-americas-libraries-report-2021
Photo by Sheila Webber: tulips, March 2021

Internet Archive scholar

New to me - Internet Archive Scholar "This fulltext search index includes over 25 million research articles and other scholarly documents preserved in the Internet Archive. The collection spans from digitized copies of eighteenth century journals through the latest Open Access conference proceedings and pre-prints crawled from the World Wide Web". It brings up interesting results for Information literacy searches - I think it will be a source to consider searching along with others when doing subject searches. https://scholar.archive.org/
Photo by Sheila Webber, blackthorn, March 2021

Recordings on librarians' self-care conference

There are recordings of most of the sessions from the recent Blossom (Building Life-long Opportunities for Strength, Self-Care, Outlook, Morale, and Mindfulness) online conference that was a "free virtual symposium for library staff focused on their health and wellness". It has a North American focus, but obviously themes that are more widely applicable. https://blossom.heysummit.com/replays/
Photo by Sheila Webber: Blossom, March 2021

Webinar: how Media and Information Literacy is linked to Digital Skills from a creative point of view

On 6 April 2021 at 3pm Athens time (which is, e.g., 1pm UK time) there is a media and information literacy webinar organised by EKOME in partnership with UNESCO MIL Alliance Europe Sub Chapter Mediterranean Group. It will explore how Media and Information Literacy is linked to Digital Skills from a creative point of view and be in English. Speakers will be: Alex Le Voci Sayad, UNESCO MIL Alliance International Steering Committee co-chair; Alessandra Falconi, Head of Centro Zaffiria, Italy; and Cristina Pulido, Serra Húnter Professor of Department of Journalism and Communication Studies, Autonomous University of Barcelona. The moderator will be Irene Andriopoulou, Head of Education Department of EKOME and UNESCO MIL Alliance ISC co-Secretary General and take place in English. To register, go to: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_povlLLhaQDu-ydG1mzalyg

Photo by Sheila Webber: more violets, March 2021

Webinars: Online training; Health literacy; Spotting misinformation

CILIP Scotland has free online training sessions in the next couple of months:
- Hosting successful online training – experiences and tips – 23 April 2021 11am-12 UK time "delivered by Katie Edwards, NHS Education for Scotland ... The session will aim to share experiences of delivering remote learning and offer various tips for doing this."
- Health Literacy – Online Learning for all sectors – 7 May 2021 11am-12 UK time "Initially, delegates will be asked to complete a short eLearning module in their own time and in advance of the course. This one-hour session will then consolidate learning and build confidence in its application."
- How to help pupils spot misinformation online and debunk it – a session for school librarians with The Ferret – 18 May 2021 9.30-12.30 UK time "This training for school librarians in Scotland will focus on how to deliver sessions to pupils on spotting visual hoaxes, be that video or image-based, as well as unreliable news sources." Go to https://www.cilips.org.uk/about/cilips-online-learning/
Photo by Sheila Webber: cherry blossom, March 2021

New articles: Open Science & information literacy; Information behaviour in millennials; Info creation; Trust; Self-directed learning in public libraries

These are open-access, apart from one that is indicated below.
- Antunes, M-L., Lopes, C. & Sanches, T. (2021) Open Science and information literacy: case study at a research center. Journal of the European Association for Health Information and Libraries (JEAHIL), 17(1). http://ojs.eahil.eu/ojs/index.php/JEAHIL/article/view/448/397
- Inthiran, A. (2021). Trust or do not trust: evaluation strategies used by online health information consumers in South East Asia. Information Research, 26(1), paper 886. http://InformationR.net/ir/26-1/paper886.html
- Yoshida, Y (2021). Public libraries as places for self-directed lifelong learning: narratives of empowerment. Information Research, 26(1), paper 888. http://InformationR.net/ir/26-1/paper888.html (uses a life history approach with 4 Japanese participants)
- Lee, L., Ocepek, M.G., & Makri, S. (2021). Creating by me, and for me: investigating the use of information creation in everyday life Information Research, 26(1), paper 891. http://InformationR.net/ir/26-1/paper891.html
- (priced publication) González‐Teruel, A., Campos‐Peláez, M-I. & Fortea‐Cabo, G. (2021). Information behaviour of the millennial generation: a scoping review of medical residents and their use of social media. Health Information & Libraries Journal, 38(1), 5-31. https://doi.org/10.1111/hir.12306 I will also mention that the commemorative issue of this journal in honour of Shane Godbolt (December 2020) is still free to access here https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14711842/2020/37/S1
Photo by Sheila Webber: little daffodils, March 2021

Trust in News

Last week there was the Trust in News conference, part of the Trusted News initiative. It seems like the output that you can watch (on the BBC website, link below) consists of four panels lasting about 40-55 minutes each (plus a 6 minute highlight video). The panels are:
- The view from the frontline ("Jon Sopel, BBC North America Editor is joined by BBC Director General, Tim Davie and Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, Director of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism")
- Fact checking masterclass ("Jon Sopel, BBC North America Editor is joined by: Maria Clara Pestre, Brazil-based fact checker for AFP, will reveal the challenges she faces when trying to fact check politicians, including President Jair Bolsonaro; Hazel Baker, Head of UGC Newsgathering, Reuters, explains how debunking takes time, and also shares the critical questions to ask if you’re asked to fact check under pressure; Peter Mwai, Kenya-based journalist for BBC Reality Check.")
- Young people: The first line of defence (apparently "When misinformation enters the home, it’s often down to the young people to separate fact from fiction, to keep their relatives safe." "Philippa Thomas, Chief Presenter for BBC News is joined by: Ankur Garg, Country Director Indonesia, BBC Media Action talks about the success of using fast fiction, radio drama to inform audiences across Indonesia; Abbie Richards, Science communicator and Tik Tok creator. Her videos about disinformation and Q Anon have gone viral, seen by millions on different social platforms. She’ll explain how to create relatable content for younger audiences.")
- The tech giants’ role ("BBC Technology Correspondent, Rory Cellan-Jones is joined by: Ben McOwen Wilson, Regional Director, YouTube EMEA and MD YouTube UK and Ireland; Markus Reinisch , VP Public Policy, Facebook EMEA; Sinéad McSweeney, VP for Public Policy in Europe, Twitter EMEA and MD Twitter Dublin")

Additionally on the Beyond Fake News/ Trusted News page which hosts these videos are a number of vieos and advice articles about fake news, disinformation etc., in particular stressing the role and value of journalism and media literacy. Go to https://www.bbc.co.uk/beyondfakenews/

Photo by Sheila Webber: Blackthorn & gorse on the heath, March 2021 (in fact the blackthorn blossom is already fading, after a week...)