Webinar: Role of Information Scholars and Professionals in Responding to Fake News, Misinformation, and Propaganda

Heidi Julien (Professor and Chair of the Department of Library & Information Studies at the University at Buffalo) is presenting a webinar on 31 March 2017, at 1pm US Eastern time (which is 6pm UK time): The Role of Information Scholars and Professionals in Responding to Fake News, Misinformation, and Propaganda. It is free to members of the Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T) and US $15 to others. It is sponsored by the ASIS&T Special Interest Group - Education. "In an era where fake news, misinformation, and propaganda are circulated rapidly via social media and destabilize traditional expertise and authority, information scholars and professionals are called upon to respond. We must engage in the public conversation about misinformation and its effects, and support those working to counteract it. Moreover, we need to educate future information professionals who can engage in these conversations and who can help others develop digital literacy skills. Perhaps now more than ever, digital literacy matters, not just as a skill set to enable citizens to analyze and evaluate the information they encounter; it is critical to many important social phenomena, including positive health outcomes (of particular importance when so much health information is now obtained online), workforce development, and participative governance. Increasingly, governments are delivering information and services only online, which requires citizens to be digitally literate in order to access that information. Digital literacy is also recognized as an essential competency for job performance, since information gathering, manipulation, and application are key work tasks. In light of the relevance and urgency of digital literacy, this webinar will explore ways we can educate information professionals to empower citizens to become discerning information consumers, and will explore the many challenges to the digital literacy agenda." Information is here and to register go to https://www.asist.org/product/webinar-the-role-of-information-scholars-and-professionals-in-responding-to-fake-news-information-and-propaganda/
Photo by sheila webber: cherry blossom, March 2017