Feedback on Visual Literacy Framework Companion Document

Feedback on the Visual Literacy Framework , a Companion Document to the ACRL Information Literacy Framework, is sought by the Image Resources Interest Group of the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) by 7 July 2021. "We are asking you to consider how you might use this document. We would also like to understand how it could be improved to better align with your needs. We thank you in advance for your input to ensure this document is thoughtful and useful." The draft is here https://acrlvltf.org/feedback/ This is the successor to the 2011 Visual Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education (Visual Literacy Standards)

"From fall 2019 to spring 2021, we interviewed a broad community of practitioners and scholars, including architecture and planning librarians. Participants were asked to define visual literacy, identify necessary skills and competencies for their discipline, and discuss what they perceived as challenges and opportunities. By coding the interviews, we identified four themes that serve as the backbone for the current Visual Literacy Framework Companion Document draft. These themes are: Perceive visuals as communicating information; Participate in a changing information landscape; Practice visual discernment and criticality; and Pursue social justice through visual practice."

Photo by Sheila Webber, taken in Second Life, May 2021

Online mini conference: Lessons Learned and Successes from Delivering Information Literacy Instruction Online

Registration is open for the ALI (Academic Libraries of Indiana) Information Literacy Committee's free online conference on 14 July 2021, 10.00 to 13.10 US Eastern time (which is, for example, 15.00-18.10 UK time) Lessons Learned and Successes from Delivering Information Literacy Instruction Online . The conference has a keynote from Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe and "twenty poster presentations that provide practical, forward-looking perspectives on information literacy instruction that attendees can implement in their work beyond the pandemic." Registration is here and there will be more information at https://academiclibrariesofindiana.org/info-lit. The abstract for the keynote is "The "pandemic pivot" stress tested every aspect of our lives, personal and professional, and our information literacy programs are no exception. Teaching librarians adopted new pedagogical practices, made programmatic changes, and responded to a dynamic information environment, in order to support student learning and success as best as they could in very difficult circumstances. In many cases there was little time to plan and there has been almost no time for reflection. We are stressed and tired. We may not realize just how much we achieved in light of the challenges we faced. As we look to the summer break and prepare for fall, the frameworks of reflective practice and appreciative inquiry offer us a way to make sense of our experiences, to recognize our collective trauma, and to celebrate our successes."
Photo by Sheila Wbber: more roses and bee, June 2021

Short online courses: Gaming; Evaluation; Embedding

Forthcoming Library Juice Academy short online courses include:
- Gaming in Libraries, 5 July - 1 August 2021, US $175, led by Lauren Hays and Teresa Slobuski. "the instructors will discuss how they have each created gaming programs at their own libraries. Attendees will be encouraged to consider their own community needs when creating a gaming program." https://libraryjuiceacademy.com/shop/course/126-gaming-in-libraries/
- Crash Course in Assessing Library Instruction, 5 July - 1 August 2021, US $175, led by Candice Benjes-Small and Eric Ackermann "This class is intended for teaching librarians who have some classroom experience and would like to explore different assessment techniques in library sessions, such as one-shots. Using Kirkpatrick’s Levels of Evaluation as a framework, we will discuss how to identify what you want to know and how to match your assessment need to the appropriate assessment technique, and practice assessing student artifacts using a sampling of methods. For each module, we will also discuss strategies for closing the assessment loop." https://libraryjuiceacademy.com/shop/course/145-crash-course-assessing-library-instruction/
- Embedded Librarianship in Online Courses, 5 July - 1 August 2021, US $175, led by Mimi O'Malley. "will discuss ways librarians may embed their skills through reference and research. Discussion will turn to transferring embedded librarianship into the online class using team collaboration, instruction, and guest lecturing. An examination of the librarian as both a subject matter liaison and copyright point person during the design and development of online courses is explored. The course concludes with an analysis of assessing embedded librarian efforts. This asynchronous course is relevant to instruction librarians, outreach librarians, and embedded librarians who seek ways to infuse library resources and services to their growing virtual campuses. This course can be taken as one of the courses in our eight-course Certificate in Library Instruction, but can be taken as a stand-alone course as well." https://libraryjuiceacademy.com/shop/course/081-embedded-librarianship-online-courses/
Photo by Sheila Webber: astrantia in someone's garden, June 2021

4th Infodemic Management conference

The World Health Organisation's 4th Infodemic conference took place on 4 – 12 May 2021. The focus was Advances in Social Listening for Public Health. There are a number of resources available:
- programme (so you can tell which session covered what) https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/epi-win/4th-im-conference/agenda_4thimconference.pdf?sfvrsn=d2011515_4&download=true
- Videos of the talks https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBcdAT384bQtMkhk_Yb6u6vX06zvps88o  The home page for the World Health Organization's Infodemic Management resources/events is at
https://www.who.int/teams/risk-communication/infodemic-management - you can subscribe to receive email updates about their programme on that page.

Photo by Sheila Webber: not snow! These are blackberry leaves covered in the cotton that falls from the cottonwood tree that's on my walk, June 2021

The iSchool Equation

The latest essay in the Project Information Literacy Provocation series (number three) was published on 9 June 2021, by Kirsten Hostetler, entitled The iSchool Equation. The strapline is "Librarians are increasingly being looked to as one solution to the spread of misinformation, but are iSchools producing graduates who possess the teaching skills to tackle this growing problem?"

The essay is here https://projectinfolit.org/pubs/provocation-series/essays/the-ischool-equation.html and there are some suggested discussion questions here https://projectinfolit.org/pubs/provocation-series/essays/discussion-questions/ischool-equation-dq.html
Spoiler alert - the author concludes that library students are not being adequately prepared for teaching, and makes some good points. However, she does focus entirely on the situation in the USA, something that was not obvious from the title (I'm in an iSchool! and I'm not in the USA! - in fact there are more iSchools outside North America than within it - see https://ischools.org/Directory). 

I will add a link to Kirsten Hostetler's PhD dissertation, as that is also interesting: Hostetler, K. (2020). Designing for the One-Shot: Building Consensus on Design Processes for Academic Librarians. https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/stemps_etds/112/
Photo by Sheila Webber: rose, June 2021

Webinar: Talking with the UNESCO Media and Information Literacy Alliance Awardees #MILCLICKS

There is a free webinar on 24 June 2021 at 16.00 CEST (which is, e.g., 15.00 UK time): Talking with the UNESCO Media and Information Literacy Alliance Awardees. "This webinar will gather the six awardees of the UNESCO Media and Information Literacy Alliance Awards 2020. During the webinar, the awardees will share their inspiring journeys in the field of media and information literacy (MIL), what the MIL Alliance Award means to them and/or to their organizations, their upcoming projects related to MIL, as well as recommendations to other stakeholders to ensure success of MIL initiatives. The webinar will also provide an opportunity for the members of the MIL Alliance and others to dialogue with the awardees." More details about the awardees here. Registration at https://on.unesco.org/3zMEXqL

New open-access articles: Misinformation; Social media literacy; Social bots; Selective belief; Motivations for sharing

The latest volume (no. 15, 2021) of the open-access journal International Journal of Communication https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/issue/view/17 includes
- “One Big Fake News”: Misinformation at the Intersection of User-Based and Legacy Media by Aya Yadlin, Oranit Klein Shagrir. "We show how online mediated spaces that are considered aggressive and counterproductive should also be understood as facilitators of calls against misuse of public resources and manipulations spread in society. We thus suggest that alongside legacy mainstream media, user comments can become part of the solution for the prevalence of disinformation in our current digital media ecosystem."
- Developing a Perceived Social Media Literacy Scale: Evidence from Singapore by Edson C. Tandoc  et al. "Through a series of 4 studies (focus group discussions involving social media users and 3 nationally representative online surveys) conducted in Singapore, we identify 4 types of competencies in which social media literacy can manifest: technical, social, privacy related, and informational. ... based on the qualitative results, we developed and tested a perceived social media literacy (PSML) scale through a series of 3 national online surveys, where we found disparities in PSML based on socioeconomic factors."
and the issue has a special section on Comparative Approaches to Mis/Disinformation
- Electronic Armies or Cyber Knights? The Sources of Pro-Authoritarian Discourse on Middle East Twitter by Alexei Abrahams, Andrew Leber.
- Motivations for Sharing Misinformation: A Comparative Study in Six Sub-Saharan African Countries by Dani Madrid-Morales et al
- When Machine Behavior Targets Future Voters: The Use of Social Bots to Test Narratives for Political Campaigns in Brazil by Rose Marie Santini, Débora Salles, Giulia Tucci
- Fighting Zika With Honey: An Analysis of YouTube’s Video Recommendations on Brazilian YouTube by Jonas Kaiser, Adrian Rauchfleisch, Yasodara Córdova
- Belief in or Identification of False News According to the Elaboration Likelihood Model by Chi-Ying Chen, Mike Kearney, Shao-Liang Chang. One of their findings from this quantitative study was "information literacy was not a moderator for any informational cue. This reveals the urgency of improvements in literacy education, especially when considering the roles of individuals as media gatekeepers in SM." However, the 3 items used to measure IL were "I can search for online information when I need to; I contribute to online discussion in the form of writing comments when I need help; I verify online information when I am not sure about its authenticity."
- Selective Belief: How Partisanship Drives Belief in Misinformation by Taberez Ahmed Neyazi, Burhanuddin Muhtadi
Photo by Sheila Webber: floribunda, June 2021

Keeping Up With . . . Trauma-Informed Pedagogy

There is a new information sheet in the Association of College & Research Libraries' Keeping up with series: Keeping Up With . . . Trauma-Informed Pedagogy. It outlines what this means for learners and teachers, and has links to readings and resources: https://www.ala.org/acrl/publications/keeping_up_with/trauma-informed-pedagogy

Register for the LILi 2021 Virtual Conference #LILiConf2021

You can register for the free Virtual 2021 LILi Conference (LILi is a group based in California, USA, which focuses on lifelong information literacy), which takes place on 9 July 2021 10.00-15.30 US Pacific time (which is, for example, 18.00-23.30 UK time - so after a short break you can go straight from FestivIL to LILi ;-)  Places are limited and you must register by 1 July 2021 at https://forms.gle/LuLyAB6xPGhdG8W1A  The theme of the conference is What You Don’t Know & Are Afraid to Ask: Teaching Ourselves & Others

Invitations will be sent out the week of the conference to those who registered. The current list of conference sessions is on a padlet with pins on a map that you can click to (in most cases) get a short astract of the talk: https://padlet.com/eriosalvarado/1dlvn74joairwqs8 The final schedule will be posted on the LILi website: https://lili.libguides.com/lili/home. See also the LILi Community Agreements Draft, where they aim to create an inclusive, respectful, and actively engaging environment for all of their virtual and in-person events.

Course: search usability

The UK electronic information Group (UKeiG) is repeating the half-day online course on Search Usability from 2pm-5pm UK time on 14 July 2021, led by Tony Russell-Rose. "This course explores the fundamental concepts and principles of User-Centred Design for information search and discovery and demonstrates how to apply them to a range of practical contexts. Participants will learn how to differentiate between various types of information-seeking behaviour, develop an understanding of key dimensions within the search user experience, and discover how to apply UI design principles to commercial search applications. The session includes an opportunity to apply these skills to a range of practical design challenges." Costs: UKeiG/CILIP members £50 + VAT; Non-members £75 + VAT; Employer Partner staff £65 +VAT. Details and booking https://www.cilip.org.uk/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=1526194&group=201314

Photo by Sheila Webber: cow parsley, May 2021

New articles: Everyday information behaviour; youths' perceived information literacy; quality judgements

There is a new issue (volume 26 no. 2) of the open access journal Information Research. Articles include:

- Ning Zhang, Qinjian Yuan, Xin Xiang, and Kuanchin Chen. What can you perceive? Understanding user’s information quality judgment on academic social networking sites
- Muhaimin Karim, Shahrokh Nikou, and Gunilla Widén. The role of youths’ perceived information literacy in their assessment of youth information and counselling services
- Muhammad Asif Naveed, Syeda Hina Batool, and Mumtaz Ali Anwar. Resident university students’ everyday-life information seeking behaviour in Pakistan
- Olubukola M. Akanbi and Ina Fourie. The information source preferences and information monitoring behaviour of pregnant women in Pretoria, South Africa
Go to http://informationr.net/ir/26-2/infres262.html  

Also, one article from the previous issue that I found particularly interesting was: 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). (It looks at use of shopping lists and pinterest boards) http://InformationR.net/ir/26-1/paper891.html

Photo by Sheila Webber: young beech leaves, May 2021

Looking forward to our #FestivIL panel! The UK agenda for Information Literacy Research #FOILResearch

I had a great zoom call this morning (how often can you say that!) with fellow members of FOIL: Forum on Information Literacy, a collaboration of academic researchers based at UK institutions, working our initial draft of a research agenda for Information Literacy in the United Kingdom. This will be the topic for our panel session at FestivIL by LILAC (if you have a ticket - they are now sold out - our session is at 11am UK time on 7 July 2021 - the programme is here).

I am chairing the panel, and the other FOIL members, who will form the panel on the 7 July, are: Dr Pam McKinney (a colleague in the Information School, University of Sheffield; Professor Annemaree Lloyd, Dr Alison Hicks and Dr Charlie Inskip from University College London, Bill Johnston from University of Strathclyde, Dr Drew Whitworth from Manchester Institute of Education, Manchester University, and Dr Geoff Walton from Manchester Metropolitan University.
We are putting together a document with position statements and ideas on the focus for IL research in the UK, and aim to collaborate with others to develop it further. I will be posting more about this in the future!

Recent articles: Constructive alignment; metaliteracy; health literacy;

In volume 62 issue 1 of Journal of Education for Library and Information Science (a priced publication) https://utpjournals.press/toc/jelis/62/1:

- Using Constructive Alignment to Support Metaliteracy in International Classrooms by Schuster, Kristen; Stewart, Kristine. "Drawing on the first author's observational research and the second author's expertise in metaliteracy, we present a case study of international postgraduate students in an interdisciplinary department. The authors synthesize their different areas of work to describe how a fusion of metaliteracy, constructive alignment, and learning oriented assessments (LOA) facilitates student engagement with theories of knowledge organization and extensible markup language (XML) data-encoding standards. "
- Vital Signs: Health Literacy and Library and Information Science Pedagogy in the United States by Garwood, Deborah A; Poole, Alex H. "This research employs content analysis to explore the current state of health literacy training ¡n LIS programs. First, we define and contextualize health literacy. Next, we posit a health literacy framework comprising five attributes based on the American Library Association's (ALA's) core competencies and relevant scholarship. Third, we examine 118 health-related courses offered by 53 LIS programs in the United States and Puerto Rico. Only 38 courses in 25 LIS programs incorporate one or more of the five attributes. "
- The Information Literacy Framework: Case Studies of Successful Implementation by Adle, Morgan. (Review of the book which looks at the ACRL IL Framework: Julien, H., Gross, M. & Latham, D. (2020). The Information Literacy Framework: Case Studies of Successful Implementation. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefiel.

Photo by Sheila Webber: wisteria, May 2021

3D Virtual Worlds for Professional Development and Lifelong Learning (slides and links) #MINDSETS

Today I gave a presentation for the OneHE Mindsets Information Digital & Media Literacy thematic network, on 3D Virtual Worlds for Professional Development and Lifelong Learning. 

Embedded below are the slides, and the references, and a number of other links etc. are at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jszFFUIPralN3B5T4z5pUpRbxdW9vL3NN7rs8Iz6RVo/edit?usp=sharing I will add the link to the recording when I get it.

 

3D Virtual Worlds for Professional Development and Lifelong Learning from Sheila Webber

Webinar: 3D Virtual Worlds for Professional Development and Lifelong Learning

Tomorrow, 14 June 2021, at 3pm UK time (which is, for example, 10am US Eastern time) I will be presenting a free webinar: 3D Virtual Worlds for Professional Development and Lifelong Learning for OneHE Mindsets Information Digital & Media Literacy thematic network.
Register at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/3d-virtual-worlds-for-professional-development-and-lifelong-learning-tickets-157018980999.
"3D immersive environments have now been used for well over a decade for learning, play, commerce, therapy and more. In this event, our presenter, Sheila Webber, Senior Lecturer at the University of Sheffield, will give an introduction to ways in which virtual worlds are used in education and for personal & professional development, and where the benefits and issues lie.
Sheila will go on to focus on the opportunities for professional development, drawing on her own experience as leader of the Virtual Worlds Education Roundtable, an international educators’ discussion group that has been meeting weekly in the 3D virtual world Second Life (trademark Linden Lab) since 2008, and as a founder member of the Virtual Worlds Education Consortium. Most recently the hype is about 3D virtual realities using VR goggles, but people can also be immersed in what happens on their screens: this emerges from research, but also practical experience, with the continuing rise in computer gaming, including educational sandbox games such as Minecraft."
Hope to see you there!

Photo by Sheila Webber, taken in the 3D virtual world, Second Life, 2021

Free new online books on education and social media from University College London #openacces @UCLPress

A few years ago I highlighted UCL Press (University College London) andd its open source pdfs of books to do with social media - notably focusing on social media in different countries of the world - (which can also be bought in printed form) https://www.uclpress.co.uk/collections/media-studies. It also has books in the education field https://www.uclpress.co.uk/collections/education. I will highlight a few from both of these collections:

- Garvy, P. & Miller, D. (2021). Ageing with Smartphones in Ireland: When life becomes craft. UCL Press. https://www.uclpress.co.uk/collections/media-studies/products/171340 (an ethnographic study).
- Walton, S. (2021). Ageing with Smartphones in Urban Italy: Care and community in Milan and beyond. UCL Press. https://www.uclpress.co.uk/collections/media-studies/products/171345 (an ethnographic study).
- McConlogue, T. (2020). Assessment and Feedback in Higher Education: A Guide for Teachers. UCL Press. https://www.uclpress.co.uk/collections/education/products/111601
- Scott, D. (2021). On Learning: A general theory of objects and object-relations. UCL Press.  https://www.uclpress.co.uk/products/173793
- Savva, M. & Nygaard, L.P. (2021). Becoming a Scholar: Cross-cultural reflections on identity and agency in an education doctorate. UCL Press. https://www.uclpress.co.uk/collections/education/products/130873 (It has chapters from mature students from different parts of the world, on a professional doctorate programme (EdD).
- Brown, N. & Leigh, J. (2020). Ableism in Academia: Theorising experiences of disabilities and chronic illnesses in higher education. UCL Press. https://www.uclpress.co.uk/collections/education/products/123203
Photo by Sheila Webber: floribunda rose and bee, June 2021

Recording: Open Access, Infodemics and Libraries - Exploring the Global Equity of Science #EmergingInternationalVoices

There is a recording of the IFLA #EmergingInternationalVoices webinar that took place on 26 May 2021: Open Access, Infodemics and Libraries - Exploring the Global Equity of Science. Tina Purnat (WHO), Victor Ejechi (StatiSense, Nigeria), Dr Feda Kulenovic (University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Hercegovina), Professor Yasar Tonta (Haceteppe University, Turkey) and Dr Dasapta Erwin Irawan (Universiti Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia) discussed issues such as open access, going beyond fact checking, the role of libraries as regards disinformation, and the need for people to pay attention to their "information hygiene". The recording is at https://youtu.be/fPwwVFtQ3c0 and there is a good blog post summarising key points at https://www.ifla.org/node/93930
Photo by Sheila Webber: pink hawthorn tree, May 2021

LIS Pedagogy Chat: Teaching Advocacy Skills

The next LIS (Library & Information Science) Pedagogy Chat is on 18 June 2pm US EST (which is, e.g., 7pm UK time), and the topic is Teaching Advocacy Skills, introduced by Sonya Durney (University of New England, USA), followed by an open discussion. Register at: https://www.lispedagogychat.org/schedule-registration

Photo by Sheila Webber: aquilegia, May 2021

Vote for the FestivIL award #FestivIL @InfoSchoolSheff

The UK's Information Literacy Group has put up a list of nominations for the Leading Light FestivIL 2021 Award, and you can vote for your favourite candidate! Go to https://medium.com/festivil-by-lilac/awards-940c5b3e3700 to see the list of nominees and read about what they have done for information literacy (which is interesting in itself). Then follow the link to vote (anyone can vote) - deadline 30 June 2021. This award is sponsored by my Department - the Information School at the University of Sheffield, UK.

New articles: Workplace information literacy; Using wikipedia; IL teaching & Web 2.0

The new issue of open access journal Journal of Information Literacy (vol. 15 No. 2, 2021) contains the following (plus book reviews) at https://ojs.lboro.ac.uk/JIL/issue/view/225

- Information literacy of Polish state administration officials in the context of the concept of "good governance" by Zbigniew Osiński.
- Workplace information literacy by Gunilla Widén, Farhan Ahmad, Shahrokh Nikou, Bruce Ryan, Peter Cruickshank. ("This paper brings forward three separate studies, conducted by the authors, highlighting different workplace contexts: small and medium enterprises; universities; and community councils.")
- Exploring effective information use in an insurance workplace by Charles Inskip, Sophia Donaldson.
- Knowing and doing by Ellen Nierenberg, Torstein Låg, Tove Irene Dahl ("3 quantitative measures were developed and tested with several samples of university students to assess knowledge and skills for core facets of IL. ... the tools indicated low to moderate correlations between what students know about IL, and what they actually do when evaluating and using sources in authentic, graded assignments.")
- Web 2.0 tools and information literacy instruction in UK university libraries by William Shire, Pam McKinney.
- Enhancing students’ professional information literacy by Angela Joy Feekery, Katherine Chisholm, Carla Jeffrey, Fiona Diesch (reports on development of an online module).
- Getting to work by Alexandra Hamlett ("The article highlights how collaboration between a librarian and an instructor of a career centered course influenced instructional design for IL instruction in their courses.")
- Using Wikipedia to teach scholarly peer review by Paul Anthony Thomas, Matthew F Jones, Spencer G Mattingly.
Photo by Sheila Webber: wild June rose.

Media literacy as food consumption

EAVI (the European Association for Viewers Interests) has created a site which revolves around the idea of media as food, and talks about the benefits of different "diets". For example Couch-potato balls "Low quality sponsored videos designed to keep you passive for hours."; Social media profit-eroles "This dessert tastes good, but while you are consuming it, your personal data is being collected and re-sold."; Media literacy salad "Honest and easy-to-digest news with a cream of contextual information. Fact-packed fries on the side, to be taken with a pinch of salt." In connecting "bad" information practices with "bad" food practices, there is the possibility of negative food/fat shaming, so this may not be the campaign for you, but it is done very professionally with good graphic design, so you may find it useful.

There is also a quiz to identify what diet you are on at the moment (though if you have had anything to do with information or media literacy you will quickly spot what the "correct" answers are!). You can request a package of the graphics if you want to use the campaign.

Impact of Information Literacy in the Digital Workplace

Last week I attended a presentation by Gunilla Widen on the Impact of Information Literacy in the Digital Workplace project http://web.abo.fi/projekt/diwil/, a project funded by the Academy of Finland 2016-2020. The researchers started by reflecting on how to define information literacy and reviewing the literature to identify common themes and issues identified in the literature. The researchers decided there was "a need for a holistic perspective, understanding IL both as a socio-cultural practice and as an individual competence", and used various data collection and analysis methods, with a particular effort to use quantitative methods (since previous studies had been mainly qualitative), to develop "a quantitative Workplace Information Literacy (WIL) measure", and they also reused qualitative data from a previous project.

Through their research, they identified 6 dimensions to WIL: Information acquisition; Information evaluation; Information environment awareness; Information use; learning from Information experince; Information ethics. More information in: Ahmad, F., Widen, G., & Huvila, I. (2020). The impact of workplace information literacy on organizational innovation: An empirical study. International Journal of Information Management, 51, 102041. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2019.102041). 

The main lesson was that WIL can be used using a quantitative measure, adding an additional way of investigating WIL, although focusing on a specific aspect of WIL would be beneficial. They identified a link between WIL and organisational performance, e.g. leadership, innovation, social capital, and technology. Widen asked the question as to whether there was "enough repect for Il skills in today's workplace". The team included people from different disciplines, and Widen identified the value of publishing outside library & information science, and having an interdiscilinary team helped with this. Future directions were: Information leadership; IL management; new workplace settings (working from home); IL and wellbeing; and the WIL concept itself. They are publishing a book with Facet Publishing on the project, and also an article in the next issue of the Journal of Information Literacy (see here for previous publications). 

To quote from the website: "The overall aim of the project is to develop workplace information literacy standard and find suitable methods and measures to study the impact of information literacy skills in the workplace on different levels." The addressed the research questions: "How can different levels of information literacy (individual and organizational) be identified and defined? What are the differences between digital and traditional information literacy skills in the workplace? Which kinds of literacies are highlighted in workplace context? What are the differences in information literacy skills between generations? How do they affect collaborative work? What connections can be found between literacy skills, well-being, and productivity? How is the development of workplace information literacy supported by organizations and how it contributes to the achievement of organizational goals? What is the role of workplace information literacy in virtual and global workplaces?"
Photo by Sheila Webber: May rose, 2021

Serendipity, decolonisation, gender, policy and information literacy at #cais2021

On 7-10 June 2021 is the Canadian Association for Information Science/ l’Association canadienne des sciences de l’information (CAIS/ACSI) conference, which is completely free, open and online - no registration required. You can find the zoom link on the page that contains the programme. Note that times on the programme are in Mountain Daylight Time (which is, for example, 7 hours behind the UK, so 12 noon mountain time is 7pm in the UK).

The theme is Northern Relations: Connecting the Unexpected and Overlooked to Information Science, and it is hosted by the University of Alberta. I think there is a very interesting, varied, programme, and it includes a session devoted to information literacy, as well as information behaviour (featuring serendipity!), race, gender, information policy etc. Go to https://www.cais2021.ca/
The information literacy session (starting 1.30 Mountain Time on 10 June) has the following talks:
- Information literacy in Nova Scotia: Systematic mapping of high school learning outcomes; Cora-Lynn Munroe-Lynds
- Information literacy from high school to university: Report of the Ontario School Library Impact Project (OSLIP); Mary Cavanagh, Dianne Oberg, Heather Buchansky, Marc d’Avernas: Kate Johnson-McGregor, Sarah Roberts
- Instruction from the margins: Giving voice to community college librarians; Heidi Julien, Melissa Gross, Don Latham
- Educating and Empowering teen activists in public libraries: A case study of the impact of reading on young adult social justice actions; Jennifer McDevitt

Creating Knowledge #CK2021

Frustratingly, I completely missed announcements about the 2021 Creating Knowledge conference, which took place yesterday and also continues today. It is too late to sign up, but you can see the abstracts on the conference website https://site.uit.no/ck2020/ and the twitter feed is at https://twitter.com/hashtag/CK2021?src=hashtag_click

Postdigital humans - and - Lies, Bullshit and Fake News

On Tuesday I attended a webinar (from the Society for Research in Higher Education)launching the book Postdigital Humans: Transitions, Transformations and Transcendence, part of the Postdigital Science and Education book series. The book is as expensive as most scholarly texts, unfortunately, but there is a useful introduction by the editor, Maggi Savin-Baden here. 

This led to me rediscovering the Postdigital Science and Education journal, and in particular an issue from over a year ago that is relevant to this blog, volume 2 issue 1, which focuses on Lies, Bullshit and Fake News. A good number of the articles in this issue are open access, including:
- Lies, Bullshit and Fake News: Some Epistemological Concerns by Alison MacKenzie & Ibrar Bhatt
- Infrastructure and the Post-Truth Era: is Trump Twitter’s Fault? by Martin Oliver
- Citizen Engagement in the Contemporary Era of Fake News: Hegemonic Distraction or Control of the Social Media Context? by Paul R. Carr, Sandra Liliana Cuervo Sanchez, Michelli Aparecida Daros
- Parody: Fake News, Regeneration and Education by Christine Sinclair
- To Believe or Not to Believe: an Epistemic Exploration of Fake News, Truth, and the Limits of Knowing by Jennifer Rose
- Opposing the Power of Lies, Bullshit and Fake News: the Value of Truth by Alison MacKenzie & Ibrar Bhatt

Photo by Sheila Webber: by the hospital, May 2021

Student-led Media and Information Literacy workshops in India #MILCLICKS

I just received this report from Dr. Anubhuti Yadav via the UNESCO Media and Information Literacy (MIL) Alliance, describing student-led MIL workshops organised by the Advertising and Public Relations Department of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication and Media and Information Literacy India Network (MILIN). Both the students leading the workshops and the participants identified the benefits of the initiative.

"At the time of the pandemic when people were struggling with Misinformation and disinformation around COVID 19, students of ADPR conducted workshops on MIL with the emphasis on Fact checking and verification and helped them in developing skills to verify the content they consume. Students were limited to their homes at the time of lockdown and all their learning were happening through online classes. These workshops were planned and designed to make their classes more engaging and meaningful. These workshops also instilled sense of purpose amongst these students by contributing constructively to the community at the time of crisis.
"Seventy workshops were conducted from December 2020 to March 2021 by the students in both online and offline mode in Delhi and NCR region, Kolkata, Mumbai, Bhubneshwar, Prayagraj, Haridwar, Lucknow, Mathura, Ranchi, Dhanbad, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Bhopal, Betul, Jamshedpur and Ganganagar. More than 800 people were trained in Media and Information Literacy in these workshops. The demography of the workshop participants was diverse. It comprised of college students (45.2%) followed by family members of the students at 9.5 %. This was closely followed by professionals at 7.1%.
"To ensure participation in the MIL Workshop students mostly spoke to the individuals personally and asked them to participate (59.5%). This was followed by collaborating with the colleges at 9.5%, connecting through social media at 7.1% or speaking to the principal or head of the college or school directly, collaborating with an NGO and visiting a café and speaking to the people there. The key points which were discussed during the workshop were how to access information from reliable sources and how to analyze information whether it is true or fake. Some students also discussed how to create content responsibly for the social media."
More news about MILIN is available at https://twitter.com/MILIN_INDIA and https://www.facebook.com/MediaInformationLiteracyIndiaNetwork
Photo by Sheila Webber: white rose, May 2021

WHO global conference on communicating science during health emergencies

There is a free online public session for this conference on 7 June 2021 at 13.00-16.00 Geneva time (12 noon-3pm UK time) with speakers who will address "the challenges of communicating science during the pandemic and how to make science accessible to all". It is organised by the World Health Organization Information Network for Epidemics (WHO EPI-WIN) and the speakers are: Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization; Sylvie Briand, Director, Global Infectious Hazard Preparedness Department, World Health Organization; Shamila Nair-Bedouelle, Assistant Director-General for Natural Sciences, UNESCO; Kasisomayajula Viswanath, Lee Kum Kee Professor of Health Communication, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, USA; Siouxsie Wiles, Associate Professor, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, The University of Auckland - Te Whare Wānanga o Tāmaki Makaurau, New Zealand; Alexandra Freeman, Executive Director, Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom; Atila Lamarino, Social Media Science Communicator and Biologist, Brazil. Register at https://who.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_I5xrw5G6QAOYZh4jeQ6wxQ
Photo by Sheila Webber: peace rose, June 2021