A #GlobalMILweek collection of #disinformation and #infodemic links #MILCLICKS

Enjoy the selection of articles, games, news stories, videos and websites about disinformation and infodemics, curated by students in my Information Literacy class in the Information School, University of Sheffield, UK. They created this padlet, which is a treasure trove of advice and information, as their contribution to Global Media and Information Literacy week. Go to https://padlet.com/s_webber/globalmilweek

The use of Web 2.0 tools to teach information literacy in the UK university library context #FOILresearch #GlobalMILweek

 

This is my final blog post from the second FOIL webinar , entitled Masters’ Class: Emerging Voices in Media & Information Literacy Research. The final presentation was: William Shire (working at Magdalene College, Oxford and dissertation submitted to University of Sheffield): The use of Web 2.0 tools to teach information literacy in the UK university library context 

Shire's research questions included finding out what Web 2.0 tools were being used, why people were using them, whether they were connected with pedagogy and how they perceived the tools.  He gathered 110 questionnaires from academic librarians and did three follow up interviews. Librarians were using a wide variety of tools, with Virtual Learning Environments, Libguides and quizes coming up most frequently. In terms of the intended use, improving student engagement was more frequently mentioned, closely followed by course delivery. When examining the link with pedagogy, the research revealed that some tools were used more intrumentally (e.g. for advertising) but many were using them in a more complex way: "79% use tools for student engagement, 48% to enable students to share information with the teacher" and the qualitative research revealed constructivist approaches.

A small minority of the respondents did not find Web 2.0 tools useful and did not use them, but the majority found them "useful" or "very useful" (and responding in this way correlated with reporting use of more Web 2.0 tools, in the earlier question). Some respondents said they would like to explore more use of Web 2.0 tools, but did not have time/ management support for this exploration. Shire finished by talking about the ways that his own library had used many more of these tools for the online delivery of services, induction etc. in the current pandemic.

 

The place and role of workplace information literacy in a corporate environment #FOILresearch #GlobalMILweek

 More blogging on the second FOIL webinar , entitled Masters’ Class: Emerging Voices in Media & Information Literacy Research, hosted by Dr Drew Whitworth. The second presentation was:

 - Tsveta Rafaylova (working at RSM UK, dissertation submitted to University College London): The place and role of workplace information literacy in a corporate environment: exploring the information literacy capabilities of knowledge workers in a professional services firm  

She started by explaining her motivation for the research, wanting to focus on the less-studied workplace context and being encouraged to focus on her own workplace. Her research question was: what does Information Literacy look like for knowledge workers in a tax and accounting firm? She focused on workers in the tax faculty, and used Lloyd's 2017 IL model. She got 149 questionnaires returned (20% of those workers) and did four interviews. Useful in recruiting responses was the presentation of the research as a collaboration between the Information Department and the tax Knowledge Manager. The findings were shared with the tax faculty afterwards. Rafaylova identified some limitations of the research (e.g. that is was mainly descriptive) but interesting findings emegred. The first finding was the social processing of information, with junior colleagues reaching out to colleagues more than senior colleagues did. Information processing emerged as a shared team activity. The second set of finding related to challenges and barriers. These did not seem attached to particular to job roles, but were specific to the tax work context. Challenges included assessing internal information and finding andd applying external information. Because tax work involves interpretation and judgement, just finding the information is not the end of the story, it has to be combined with the worker's knowledge and applied to the specific problem. The process of acquiring knowhow and sharing and guiding colleagues has become more difficult in a working-from-home situation. One of the recommendations was to focus more on the IL of junior tax employees.

Approaches to Integrating Media Literacy in the K-12 Curriculum: The Case of Qatar #FOILresearch #GlobalMILweek

The second free webinar that the University of Sheffield Information School (my department) was involved with for Global Media and Information Literacy was today, entitled Masters’ Class: Emerging Voices in Media & Information Literacy Research. This was hosted by Dr Drew Whitworth (University of Manchester). This session was another event organised by the Forum on Information Literacy (FOIL), which is committed to sharing Information Literacy research and providing opportunities for new researchers to participate. I'll blog a little bit about each of the presentations. The first was:

 - Dona Fernandes (working at Hamid Bin Khalifa University, dissertation submitted to University of Manchester): Approaches to Integrating Media Literacy in the K-12 Curriculum: The Case of Qatar  

She started with an introduction to Qatar and the schools (K12) sector. There are a range of curricula in independent and private schools, catering to the different nationalities in the student body. Fernandes presented a timeline of Media Literacy in Qatar, relating it to other developments in education, politics (e.g. the opening and closure of the Doha Centre for Media Freedom & Doha News, issues to do with fake news) and outlined her conceptual frameworks e.g. aligning with local interests. Fernandes' research questions focused on the challenges to developing media literacy in the school curriculum and she explored them by analysing the literature. She identified the overarching challenges as. The first was lack of media freedom (although by itself it does not enable media literacy (ML) education) - from that point of view it is important, therefore not to import unrealistic Western models of ML curricula. The second challenge was an absence of national policy for ML, linked to the third challenge, a lack of multilateral colaboration in the region. The fourth challenge was a lack of technical training opportunities, including the contextual ML skills of being able to navigate the media landscape of Qatar without breaking the laws. In her final slide, Fernandes presented a diagram linking the conceptual framework and these challenges.

Exploring metaliteracy with symbolic modelling @valibrarian #GlobalMILweek #SecondLife

Another event to celebrate Global Media and Information Literacy week, which I organised in the 3D virtual world, Second Life, on Thursday 29th October 2020 for the Virtual Worlds Education Round Table (VWER): Exploring metaliteracy with symbolic modelling. This is at 12 noon Second Life Time (the same as US Pacific time): Note that this week the clocks have changed in many countries, but have not in the USA, this may be an hour earlier than usual for you e.g. in the UK it is at 7pm. 

Dr Valerie Hill will be facilitating a symbolic modelling session, with vounteers exploring what metaliteracy means to them. Symbolic modelling is an approach developed by Niela Miller and this snippet shows a participant from a previous session talking (Dr. Cynthia Calongne, Lyr Lobo in Second Life) to their model. You need a Second Life avatar (free) and the Second Life browser installed (an ordinary web browser doesn't work). The location for the event is https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Infolit iSchool/45/202/23

Webinar: Las redes sociales y los jóvenes. Manejo y prevención de peligros y delitos digitales #GlobalMILweek #MILCLICKS

A Spanish-language webinar on defending young people from the dangers of social media on 31 October at 10am Mexico time (which is e.g. 5pm in Spain) Las redes sociales y los jóvenes. Manejo y prevención de peligros y delitos digitales is part of the celebration for Global Media and Information Literacy week. The speakers are: Estrella Luna Munoz, Miriam Pacheco Garduno, Máximo Román Domínguez López, and Liliana Domingues. More information (in Spanish) and registration at https://www.runtheworld.today/app/invitation/10631

#GlobalMILweek virtual conference

It's not too late to sign up for sessions at the online feature Global Media and Information Literacy Week conference http://www.gmil2020.com/ Sessions on 27th October are: 
MIL for equality: Women, refugees, persons with disabilities, and indigenous peoples;
Implementation and evaluation of MIL policies and curricula: long-term defenses against disinformation and
Press Conference - 'Youth Tackling the Disinfodemic: Outcome of the Global MIL Youth Hackathon'

#Metaliteracy exhibit in Second Life #GlobalMILweek

At 7pm UK time, 12 noon US Pacific time today (25th October 2020) there is the first virtual event supported by the University of Sheffield Information School for Global Media and Information Literacy week, when an exhibit of symbolic models of "Metaliteracy" will be opened on the iSchool's island in the 3D world, Second Life. Infolit iSchool is a place which is dedicated to information literacy and learning and has been hosting events, exhibits and learning since 2007, and I am its chief curator. 

This event is held under the aegis of the Association of College and Research Libraries Virtual Worlds Interest Group, and takes place at http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Infolit%20iSchool/149/226/3479. You need a Second Life avatar (free) and the Second Life browser installed (an ordinary browser doesn't work). Contact me if you would like more information, as there are more events over the next week (see here). 

The event will start by my own introduction to Global MIL week, and then I will hand over to Dr Valerie Hill. Dr Hill has recently published a book on Metaliteracy and she uses the Symbolic Modelling approach pioneered in Second Life by Niela Miller, to get people to reflect on how they think and feel about metaliteracy, information and literacy. 

The new exhibition at contains some of the models created so far. As an example, the embedded video below shows Greg Perrier (Emeritus Professor, Biology at Northern Virginia Community College, USA) who is Dodge Threebeards in Second Life, talking about the model he created in ten minutes, as his response to the idea of metaliteracy. This is one quotation from the video where he's talking about his relationship with information "I'm surrounded by this stuff, constantly rotating and popping in, my phone's dinging away, and so it's, there'd be almost connections, like spiderwebs between that green [representing him], with panels rotating around it, as things are flying in to me, basically [me] dealing with it, sorting and making some sense out of it all" 

What is Media and Information Literacy #GlobalMILweek #MILClicks

Today is the start of Global MIL week and they got Eric Nam to explain what MIL was, on Twitter

Eric Nam, Korean-American Kpop star and a global ambassador for media and information literacy , talks about the importance and benefits of being a Media and Information literate through effective engagement, and dialogue. #UNESCO #GLOBALMILWEEK2020 🌍 @ericnamofficial pic.twitter.com/JRwe8mULtf

— UNESCO MILCLICKS (@MILCLICKS) October 23, 2020

Teaching the Teachers: the Information Literacy Framework Teacher Education Students

The USA's ACRL EBSS (Education and Behavioral Sciences Section) Instruction for Educators Committee has, on 13 November at 11.00-12.30 US Pacific tme (which is, e.g., 7pm-8.30pm UK time) organised an online discussion Teaching the Teachers: A Collaborative Discussion on the [ACRL] Framework and Standards for Teacher Education Students. This is a "session to share ideas, tools, techniques, and good luck charms for teaching information literacy skills to teacher education students." (the good luck charms are connected to the "Friday 13th" date). Registration deadline is 11 November, and there are limits on the number. Register at https://ewu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJAqf-mspzIoHdClo8HmMNrHgDgIyAZLbLzh

Photo by Sheila Webber: old yew, Sheffield Botanics, October 2020

#lispedagogy chats - schedule; and Post-Election Pedagogy

There is a schedule for the regular online discussions about teaching library and information subjects, lispedagogy, organised by Laura Saunders & Melissa Wong. The next is today (23 October) at 2pm US Eastern time (which is, e.g., 7pm UK time) on Post-Election Pedagogy: Preparing for Wednesday, November 4 (that's the presidential election in the USA) "A discussion about teaching in the days immediately following a contentious election." Register here.

Then (always at 2pm US Eastern time (which is, e.g., 7pm UK time): 

November 6: Grading (or "marking" as we call it in the UK) Moderator: Africa Hands (SJSU) 

November 20: What’s Going Well? "It’s been a crazy fall (autumn)! Let’s take a moment to be thankful for what has gone well in our classrooms and discuss how to replicate those successes in spring. Moderators: Laura Saunders & Melissa Wong 

December 4: Supporting First-Year Students. Moderator: Jennifer Joe (University of Toledo) 

Go to https://www.lispedagogychat.org/schedule-registration

Photo by Sheila Webber: Sheffield Botanics, October 2020

Maximising Access Now: A Library Pledge to promote digital inclusion and access to information

IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions) has launched a pledge (which they urge people to sign up to): Maximising Access Now: A Library Pledge to promote digital inclusion and access to information during COVID-19 and Beyond. It reads 

"To the best of our abilities, and with full respect for the law and public health: 
"We pledge to promote the best possible internet access for communities, reliably and at no or low cost, so that no-one should lack connectivity for financial reasons 
"We pledge to promote the widest possible access to relevant digital content and services, supporting education, research, and economic, social and cultural participation 
"We pledge to promote the strongest possible support for the development of digital skills, giving users the ability to be successful and confident internet users 
"We pledge to promote equitable broadband policies at all levels"

More information at https://www.ifla.org/node/93389 and the sign-up is here http://survey.alchemer.com/s3/5964536/Sign-up-to-the-Library-Pledge-to-Promote-Digital-Inclusion 

IFLA also announced that they had signed up to the Libraries in Response: Every Community Connected declaration. Currently the other signatores are: Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI)/ Web Foundation; Internet Society; People Centered Internet; Bibliothéques Sans Frontières; EIFL (Electronic Information for Libraries); Gigabit Libraries Network (GLN).

Webinar 29th October: Masters - Emerging Voices in Media & Information Literacy Research #globalMILweek #MILCLICKS

The second free webinar that the University of Sheffield Information School (my department) is involved with for Global Media and Information Literacy week is on 29th October 11am-12 noon GMT, entitled Masters’ Class: Emerging Voices in Media & Information Literacy Research. This gives an opportunity for recently graduated masters students to share their dissertation research and it is hosted by Dr Drew Whitworth (University of Manchester). 

This session is another event organised by the Forum on Information Literacy (FOIL), which is committed to sharing Information Literacy research and providing opportunities for new researchers to participate. 

Each presenter is a practising information Literacy educator, and represent emerging voices in research and practice of Information Literacy. The presenters are: 

- Tsveta Rafaylova (RSM UK, dissertation submitted to University College London): The place and role of workplace information literacy in a corporate environment: exploring the information literacy capabilities of knowledge workers in a professional services firm 

- William Shire (Magdalene College, Oxford and the University of Sheffield): The use of Web 2.0 tools to teach information literacy in the UK university library context 

- Dona Fernandes (Hamid Bin Khalifa University, and the University of Manchester): Approaches to Integrating Media Literacy in the K-12 Curriculum: The Case of Qatar 

William Shire is a graduate from the MA Library Services and Information Management programme and was awarded the Henry Heaney Memorial Prize for the best dissertation in the field of academic librarianship. William, with the support of supervisor Pam McKinney, has had a journal paper based on his dissertation accepted for publication in the Journal of Information Literacy, expected publication in early 2021. 

All are welcome to come along, please register your interest here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/foil-masters-emerging-voices-in-media-information-literacy-research-tickets-124536394709

Webinar 28 October: Information Literacy in the United Kingdom: past and future #globalMILweek #MILCLICKS

My iSchool colleague Pam McKinney and I are partcipating in two free webinars which we have helped to organise, as part of our celebration of Unesco’s Global Media and Information Literacy (MIL) Week. Global MIL Week is an annual event to celebrate and promote MIL worldwide, and this year it is (unsurprisinglyly) virtual. The first webinar is an expert panel on Wednesday 28 October at 11am UK time (which is, e.g., 7am US Eastern time - sorry!), entitled Information Literacy in the United Kingdom: past and future and chaired by me. 

The other panellists are: Annemaree Lloyd, Alison Hicks and Charlie Inskip from University College London, Bill Johnston from University of Strathclyde, Drew Whitworth from Manchester Institute of Education and Geoff Walton from Manchester Metropolitan University. I will be posing the questions: (1) What has been the UK narrative about Information Literacy? and (2) What will be the UK narrative about Information Literacy? We will draw on our varied experiences, inside and outside the UK, to reflect on how Information Literacy has (and hasn't) developed, and where it should go in the future. 

The one-hour event is on Zoom. To register, go to https://www.eventbrite.com/e/124218423649/ The event is a collaboration as members of FOIL: the Forum on Information Literacy. This is a new national network of information literacy researchers in the UK. We aim to discuss and challenge ideas, and engage in critical reflection and enquiry about the practices of information literacy. 

I will draw attention to a 2017 issue of the Journal of Information Literacy where some of the panel (me, Bill, Annemaree, Geoff) discussed issues to do with information literacy. I will blog about the 2nd webinar tomorrow!

New articles: infolit & #DEI ;beyond one-shot; global perspectives on knowledge; eye-tracking

The latest issues of open access journal College & Research Libraries News (C&RL News) include: 

- Heffernan, K. (2020). Loaded questions: The Framework for Information Literacy through a DEI lens. College & Research Libraries News, 81(8), 382-386.[DEI = Diversity, Equity & Inclusion]. https://crln.acrl.org/index.php/crlnews/article/view/24597 

and in Vol 81, No 9, go to https://crln.acrl.org/index.php/crlnews/issue/view/1586/showToc

- Educational development partnerships and practices: Helping librarians move beyond the one-shot by Sara Sharun, Erika E. Smith 

- Multiple ways of knowing: Global perspectives on academic libraries re-imagining systems of knowledge by Kanwal Ameen, Clara M. Chu, Spencer Lilley, Ana Ndumu, Jaya Raju 

- The eyes have it: Using eye-tracking to evaluate a library website by Lindsay Guarnieri, Tracey Kry, Emily Porter-Fyke

Photo by Sheila Webber: Sheffield Botanics, rudbeckias, October 2020

Libraries Today: Services, Safety and Novelty

A free online event from the online Frankfurt Book Fair (one of the major book fairs of the world) on 16th October at 1.30-2.30pm CEST (which is, e.g., 12.30-1.30 UK time): Libraries Today: Services, Safety and Novelty. Its argument (libraries providde great online services too!) is not exactly novel, but it could be worth librarians participating to reinforce the point. "The reality of the worldwide virus threat has challenged academic libraries to respond with service delivery that encompasses attention to safety protocols and novel delivery methods. This session represents a view of academic libraries worldwide and the services they are rendering to faculty and students under a variety of conditions, including in person, remote, and hybrid learning environments. While the pandemic situation is temporary, the lessons learned from it and skills attained because of it, will likely have a lasting legacy for academic librarians. Two of our experienced members of the scholarly community will review what has happened to academic libraries and how they have acted to stay relevant and central to their academic missions." It is run by two people from Springer. To register go to https://group.springernature.com/gp/group/landing/frankfurt-book-fair-2020/live-events#c18336774

LOEX 2021: Call for Breakout Session Proposals @loex_library

There is a call for proposals for the LOEX 2021 conference (LOEX is the major informaton literacy conference in the USA), which will be held virtually May 11-14 20121. The theme is Information Literacy in a Time of Transformation. The deadline for submissions is 4 December 2020. "Facing the unique social and technological challenges of the present time, we’re approaching our instruction, our libraries, and our world differently. And that asks for an approach to LOEX 2021 that encompasses this transformation" 

"This year’s LOEX tracks are: * Pedagogy: Transforming the Classroom * Leadership: Elevating the Field * The Anti-Racist Instructor: Cultivating Inclusion and Belonging * The Value in Failure: From Missteps to Forward Movement * Theory in Practice: Reversing the Paradigm (How have you used educational and critical theory to form the backbone of your instructional design?)* Collaboration: Building Unity in Diversity" 

Proposals for 60-minute sessions have to be submitted through an online form. "Successful proposals will showcase effective and innovative library instruction & information literacy practices, provide valuable information that participants can utilize at their libraries, support collaboration, and be applicable to the broad variety of academic institutions." More details at http://www.loexconference.org/breakout-proposals

Photo by Sheila Webber: Sheffield Botanics, October 2020

Call for nominations: Ilene F. Rockman Publication of the Year Award

The Ilene F. Rockman Publication of the Year Award is given to someone who has written an outstanding publication related to teaching in a library environment, which has been published in the last two years (2019 or 2020). Eligible publications include journal articles, books, book chapters, and published proceedings, and may have been authored by any number of people, or an organisation or committee. The deadline is December 4 2020. The full criteria and more information are at http://www.ala.org/acrl/awards/publicationawards/publicationyear The winner(s) receive US $1,000 and a plaque sponsored by Carrick Enterprises.   

Photo by Sheila Webber: Sheffield Botanics, October 2020

Strengths-Based Librarianship for Instruction and Research Services

A priced online course organised by the US Reference and User Services Association between 9 November 2020 and 12 December 2020 is Strengths-Based Librarianship for Instruction and Research Services. "Are you curious how your students' authentic, real life research skills can impact your teaching? Please join us for a 5-week online course to discover and discuss strengths-based pedagogy. You will transform your teaching and individual consultation by valuing the uniqueness of learners' perspectives and building on their prior knowledge and experiences. Together, we will have the opportunity to identify, examine, and create strengths-based activities that improve the learner experience in your institutional settings."

The course is facilitated by: Emily Cox (Collections and Research Librarian for Humanities, Social Sciences, and Digital Media at NC State University); Liz Kocevar-Weidinger (Head of Research & Instruction Services at Virginia Military Institute); Mark Lenker (Teaching and Learning Librarian at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas); Tatiana Pashkova-Balkenhol (Undergraduate Research and Instruction Librarian at Millersville University, PA.) (All in the USA) 

Cost is US $130 for RUSA members; $175 for ALA members; $210 for non-ALA members; $100 for student members and retired members 

More info at http://www.ala.org/rusa/flip-deficit-script-and-be-strengths-based-librarian

#HackingDisinfodemic - hackathon for young adults #MILClicks

As part of the Global Media and Information Literacy week celebrations, UNESCO with various partners (see below) has organised a hackathon around disinformation #HackingDisinfodemic. Those eligible (you can apply individually or as part of a team) are "Any person or group of persons who are of ages between 18 and 35 years and adheres to the values of UNESCO. No previous coding background is required. Experience and expertise in game, mobile application, website and radio development would be an asset." 

Deadline for applications is 12 October 2020 at midnight Paris time (you have to describe your proposed solution concisely, but don't have to have created it). 

The task and challenges are to: "Design innovative and creative solutions to one of the three challenges: Media and information literacy to counter the COVID-19 disinfodemic; Media and information literacy to fight discrimination; Media and information literacy to combat online privacy and data protection infringements" 

The Solution categories are (1) Game (2) Application/Website (3) Radio programme/Podcast (4) Creative community-based intervention (non-technology focused) The partners are: UNESCO, the Republic of Korea, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Population Fund, the UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP), and IBM. 

See more details: https://en.unesco.org/news/call-applications-hackingdisinfodemic

Alert to information consultants/experts - World Health Organization training in infodemic management

There is a call for applicants for World Health Organization training in infodemic management. The deadline for submissions is 18 October 2020 and the training takes place during 3-27 November 2020. They say they "invite applications from experienced professionals from the fields of epidemiology, risk communication, health service delivery/health care workers, digital health, policy making (in health and intersectoral), who are responding to the current COVID-19 and overlapping infodemics at country level." 

In other words - they don't mention any information professionals, however, looking at the scenarios you have you to address to apply for the training, certainly there would be people with an information background who ought to qualify. The other statement about suitability says "Applications are open to freelance consultants, national health authority staff and United Nations staff who meet the selection criteria to constitute the cohort of trained infodemic managers that support response in countries." (see aso the video below)

The aims of the training are "Build a curriculum and apply it in delivering a training of the 1st cohort of cross-disciplinary infodemic managers that can be deployed to the field for infodemic response; Build up the skills of health authority staff in infodemic management; Offer opportunity for UN staff to learn about infodemic management; Become the basis for creating future infodemic training facility training modules." 

More information at https://www.who.int/news-room/articles-detail/call-for-applicants-for-1st-who-training-in-infodemic-management

Librarians as Koru Mindfulness Teachers

The ACRL Contemplative Pedagogy Interest Group runs free online discussions on topics related to contemplative pedagogy in the college or university setting.The next one is on 20 October 2020 at 2pm US Eastern time (so, e.g. 7pm UK time) on Zoom. The topic is Librarians as Koru Mindfulness Teachers. "Learn about Koru Mindfulness, an evidence-based, four-week curriculum designed for college students. Madeleine Charney will share about her experience training, teaching, and getting buy-in for this part of her job as a Research Services librarian at UMass Amherst Libraries. There will be time for questions, discussion, and brainstorming ideas for those of us interested in teaching mindfulness." Register at https://apsu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYrcOqhqT4pH9BoOcnAl4gNXDx7xidmqemv  

Photo by Sheila Webber: contemplating the palm tree, taken in Second Life, September 2020

Flexible Online Instruction Using Modular Learning Design Workshop

A priced (US $65) online 90 minute workshop from the American Library Association, on 21 October 2020 2.30-4pm US Eastern time (which is e.g. 7.30-9pm UK time) is Flexible Online Instruction Using Modular Learning Design Workshop. It is run by Amanda Nichols Hess. "With our myriad responsibilities and busy schedules, librarians frequently produce online learning materials ad hoc or in a race against time, missing valuable opportunities for synergy and consistency. In this workshop, library instruction expert Amanda Nichols Hess introduces the concept of modular learning, an approach to developing intentional, strategic online learning objects. A modular learning approach is one where we intentionally build documentation and structure into our work so that content is ready to be updated or remixed to meet different learning needs in the near, mid-, or long-term. Nichols Hess discusses topics that participants can immediately apply, such as learning design, evaluation and assessment, accessibility, and usability. She will also cover how you can use existing content to create flexible online learning resources." 

More info and registration at https://www.alastore.ala.org/content/flexible-online-instruction-using-modular-learning-design-workshop

Photo by Sheila Webber: cat on my walk, September 2020

Who Is Susceptible to Online Health Misinformation?

This short article is interesting (and, I think, open access), and could be used to stimulate discussion about misinformation and how to combat it. For example, you could get different groups of learners to propose ways of diagnosing and tackling each of the 3 types of cause, you could critique the categorisations (e.g., perhaps understandably for a health publication, it assumes there always IS a way to tell true from false, and doesn't address circumstances where talking about true and false is problematic). You could ask students to follow up and find more research about the argument that most interested them. If you have a good relationship with them, learners might be willing to reflect om whether they felt any of these 3 applied to them. Also the article suggests lines of future research (e.g. do people who believe misinformation about X also believe it about Y). 

Scherer, L. and Pennycook, G. (2020). Who Is Susceptible to Online Health Misinformation? American Journal of Public Health, 110, S276_S277. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2020.305908

"Although everyone has the potential to be misled by false information, online misinformation is not an equal opportunity aggressor. Some of us are more likely to believe misinformation than are others and serve as vectors by sharing it on social media. To effectively combat misinformation on social media, it is crucial to understand the underlying factors that lead certain people to believe and share false and misleading content online. A growing body of research has tackled this issue by investigating who is susceptible to online misinformation and under what circumstances." 

They indentify three main arguments (1) "the deficit hypothesis" "people who believe misinformation do not have sufficient knowledge or literacy to discriminate between true and false information." (the literacies they focus on are primarily health and digital literacy - information literacy isn't mentioned) (2) "people tend to be susceptible to misinformation that is consistent with their preexisting beliefs or worldview." and (3) "those who are worse at discerning between true and false information tend to overclaim their own knowledge and to be receptive to “pseudoprofound” statements”

Photo by Sheila Webber, apples and pears, farmers' market, late September 2020

Nominations invited for ACRL Instruction Section Innovation Award

The ACRL Instruction Section Innovation Award is open for nominations, deadline December 4, 2020. There is a US $3,000 prize sponsored by EBSCO Information Services. "The Innovation Award recognizes a project from the past two years that demonstrates creative, innovative, or unique approaches to information literacy instruction or programming. ... Nominations must describe how the project meets the award criteria and should include a letter of support and documentation presenting the project’s purpose, content, impact, and innovative aspects." 

"Academic librarians or academic project teams that include an academic librarian are eligible to receive the award. Recipients must have implemented their project in an academic or research library or through the aegis of a professional library organization ..." More information at http://www.ala.org/acrl/awards/achievementawards/innovationaward 

It doesn't say that the award is restricted to North America, and it isn't part of the criteria, but I can't see any previous winners based outside USA and Canada.

Photo by Sheila Webber: September roses, 2020

Understanding and Improving Information Search: A Cognitive Approach

A book recommended by enterprise search expert Martin White is: 

Fu, W.T. and van Oostendorp, H. (eds). (2020). Understanding and Improving Information Search: A Cognitive Approach. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38825-6. It "adopts a cognitive perspective to provide breadth and depth to state-of-the-art research related to understanding, analyzing, predicting and improving one of the most prominent and important classes of behavior of modern humans, information search"

Here is Martin's review of the book on his blog: http://intranetfocus.com/understanding-and-improving-information-search-a-cognitive-approach/

Photo by Sheila Webber: rudbeckias, September 2020