Agency, Responsibility and Critical Literacy - Social Demands and Challenges #KRIK

The only session from the KRIK conference in Zagreb that I didn't liveblog was entitled Agency, Responsibility and Critical Literacy - Social Demands and Challenges: the Academy and Beyond from Michael George (St. Thomas University, Canada).
This was because it was more of a discussion session. George started by reading a short paper aiming to provoke discussion, in particular about the statement he started with: "all academic [meaning intellectual] workers are part of a moral community". A community is a group of people who share values and purpose. He proposed that if the group cannot agree on values, there is no community. George also talked about the behaviour, traits and places that groups may share.
So what is a moral community and does such a thing exist? Is there a connection between academic workers and a moral community, and what might that connection be? The values may relate to intellectual projects. George reflected back to the origins of academic communities i.e. theologically-based communities, which intrinsically were moral communities. He then briefly traced the evolution of different disciplinary strands, through the enlightenment, with the growing marginalisation of religeon. He also traced the rise of capitalism, through mercantile to state capitalism to multinational corporate capitalism.This reduced values to financial interest.
Seeing "all academic workers are part of a moral community" as hypothetical, you can also consider the statement "all academic workers are not part of a moral community" as perhaps more factually accurate. You can go on to reflect on what benefits might arrive if "all academic workers are part of a moral community" were actually true. What if people made this statement before starting any new project, and considered whether it applied to the new venture? Might this prompt more critical awareness? Might it stimulate more agency (what should I/we do?)? One other thought I will pass on from his introduction was seeing information as a way of finding what is going on (which also requires knowing history and context) - so then, once we know what is going on, we can decide what to do.

I didn't attempt to capture the discussion that followed this, but perhaps you can follow this up by pondering for yourself - is the statement "all intellectual/ academic workers are part of a moral community" true where you are? How can you tell? Is the opposite true? (etc.)
Photo by Sheila Webber: hydrant, Zagreb, September 2026

Professional Identity, AI and Institutional Change #KRIK

There are short presentations next from the KRIK conference in Zagreb, with the theme of Professional Identity, AI and Institutional Change. As a reminder, the book of abstracts is here https://urn.nsk.hr/urn:nbn:hr:131:308294 The actual presentations are only 10 minutes each so I won't be able to liveblog too much!
Firstly, Professional Identity or Institutional Habitus? from Darren Flynn (University College London, UK). He was presenting from his PhD research. He started by talking about professional identity (about which there is a lot of literature, including specifically librarians' professional identity). Professional context, the professional environment and professional socialisation are contributors to professional identity and Flynn refered to a useful review. However, it isn't simple, and Flynn uses Bordieu's idea of habitus in his research - that how people act and perceive in a given setting is based on "predispositions developed in their sociocultural background". Institutional habitus (a concept from Reay's works) looks at "social composition, predispositions and socio-cultural expectations of an institution".
Flynn wanted to investigate the interaction between social class backgrounds and professional identity. The middle class interviewees felt their professional identity did become more of their personal identity over time, and also felt like librarians when they started working as such, also they perceived the profession as a multi institutional broader place. The working class participants were more likely to keep their personal/professional identity, didn't at once "feel like librarians", and also viewed the profession in a more localised way. Flynn argued that the normatised view of professional identity was more the middle class view.

Next there is Understanding Librarians’ Capacity to Teach AI Literacy: A Participatory SWOT Analysis from Alica Kolarić (University of Zadar, Croatia) (presenter), Ivana Martinović (Strossmayer University of Osijek, Croatia) & Dejana Golenko (University of Rijeka, Croatia). She mentioned the transition of librarians' roles to AI literacy educators, and they wanted to know how Croatian librarians saw themselves in this territory. They used SWOT analysis, gaining their data through workshops, with 90 librarians in total. Strengths are: starting with strong info literacy foundation; teaching capacity (working with various different groups); AI and digital experience and also a readiness to learn and collaborate (including self-reflection, openess). The main weakness prerceived was limited knowledge of AI; some critical and metacognitive gaps; attitudinal issues; organisational constraints. In terms of Opportunities there is: a new educational role; institutional support; professional development (lifelong learning, new tools etc.) and opportunities for collaboration and demand from users.Threats include rapid AI development; resource constraints; changing information environment; and challenges to do with users and ethics. There was also limited recognition of librarians as AI literacy educators.
One of the conclusions is that competencies vary across dofferent library/ user contexts. Another is that librarians are not "starting from zero" and readiness requires building on existing competencies.

Finally in this session, From Awareness to Action: Institutional Readiness of Academic Libraries for Sustainable Development Goals from Branka Marijanović & Ana Marić Turkalj (University of Zagreb, Croatia). They started by introducing the UN SDGs and thinking about what it means to implement them in a specific context, considering how sustainability goals could be implemented. This involves commitment but also needs efficacy (having the resources to do it). They assessed readiness by surveying library managers in 5 categories. They found that commitment is relatively strong, but Strategic Integretion is weak e.g. SDGs are not included in strategic plans. There is also a capacity gap, notably 0% perception of having financial resources to make change.
They have constructed a preliminary maturity model - going from awareness - to emerging integration - to institualised practice - to transformative practice. At the moment the libraries seem to be between awareness and emerging integration (from their survey). They are aiming to tests and develop the model and also develop an evaluation model.
Photo by Sheila Webber: Gulliver mural, Zagreb, September 2026

The Postdigital Condition and Critical AI Literacy #KRIK

Next up from the KRIK conference in Zagreb is the second keynote The Postdigital Condition and Critical AI Literacy, by Mario Hibert (University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina). He talked about a lot of different scholars and ideas, and I most definitely haven't captured all of this in my liveblog. However, hopefully it gives a flavour of some of his ideas.
The first part of his talk focused on postdigital science and the postdigital condition. The postdigital condition concerns structural transformations in human-machine entanglements that have become so common that they can be difficult to perceive, they become invisible. Hibert observed that the term postdigital itself had appeared and disappeared in different disciplines, starting with art and moving to subjects such as media studies and critical pedagogy, taking root in the social sciences and education. The questioning of the postdigital has become part of its interest, and there is no one definition (discussing definitions is one way in which the concept evolves). One of the goals of the postdigital field is to understand the "messy relationships" between technology, society, people etc. 
Negroponte coined the term postdigitality, saying that the digital would become part of life and invisible, just as plastics have become integrated and banal. However Hibert felt that what was not banal was the "normalisation of infrastructural violence" by digital technologies. Digital's normality obscures the control that platforms exercise. Although the digital apparently gives us "what we think we want" it has resulted in trolling, misinformation. Lovink has argued that the internet has reached a point of no return, with people reacting to machine made prompts (rather than creating proactively). Capitalism can leverage these developments to sustain itself.
Hibert went on to talk about psychopolitics with the subjugated not aware of their own subjugation and then he talked about possible ways of de-platforming. Doctorow has argued that the AI financial bubble will burst, however as AI companies have formed such a disproportion of the stock market then there will be a destructive crash. Also, the use of AI for war has proved one of the most "profitable" uses, so it is possible that the uses that will survive will be escalating wars, with economic and social destruction. Parikka has also identified harms in terms of data (cognitive exploitation etc.), labour (exploitation, free labour etc.) and the environment (water etc.).
Moving on to Hibert's own work, this looks at "Unpacking black boxes" and "Uncovering the "inevitable"". This visualises 3 extractive processes on: material resources, human labour and data. He cited the work of Kate Crawford and Vladan Joler, including Joler's website https://extractivism.online and their joint project Calculating empires.
Talking about the unlearning of human cognition (accelarated by AI), he mentioned (among other things) that the PISA 2025 survey showed a decline in both maths and reading. Hibert also mentioned the work of Neil Postman, including that technology education "is a branch of the humanities". He thought that AI Literacy should extend beyond functional competence, with questioning technology as an important part of education. Also there was a need for literacy education to not just be a requirement of the individual, but also including questioning systemic issues, inequalities etc.
Hibert talked about digital backlash, "Contemporary disenchantment with digital information systems and media gadgets" which exists in this postdigital context. He positioned his concept of the postdigital as critical instruction and orientation. It can provide a broader critical orientation through which AI etc. can be examined. Mapping the infrastructues of the digital (digital/AI cartography) can be used to foreground critical engagement with the issues concerned.
Photo by Sheila Webber: hill track by Zagreb, September 2026

The Inconvenient Library #KRIK

We're just starting the KRIK conference in Zagreb with a welcome from the conference co-chair, Sonja Špiranec. As usual there is the caveat that this liveblogging is my immediate interpretation of what is being said, and the limits of my typing.
Špiranec explained how the conference was part of the EU KRIK project. The acronym (KRIK) also means scream, which seems appropriate as a scream may follow on from silenc, silences that need attention paid to theme. Špiranec talked about how an essay by Emma Coonan stimulated her to reflect further on the pressures on, and changes forced on, those working in universities, including university libraries. The requirements to perform, to measure performance and so on brings into question what a university is and what a university library is for: what larger civic goals are they meeting? (actually there was more richness to the question, but I wasn't quick enough to catch it). This also brings in the concept of empowerment - the empowerment of the communities we are in and our own empowerment. This includes empowering people to question.
This was followed by the first keynote I'm liveblogging is The Inconvenient Library: Friction and Dissonance as Central to Developing Critical Literacy presented by David White (University of the Arts London, UK). He started by introducing the concept of cognitive surrender where people surrender their own judgement to that of another - for example AI (this is distinct from cognitive offloading - "strategically outsourcing a discrete task to an external tool"). This concept of cognitive surrender could be seen as yielding the means of production (where the product are our thoughts and ideas) to the tech bros.
White explained how his university had developed a set of AI principles (he has a lead role in this), which do have to deal with the the very wide range of feelings and attitudes and practice to do with AI. The principles include "Be intentional" "Be responsible" and "Think of AI as a machine" (he has blogged the principles). Talking about what AI means, also involves reflecting on what it means to be human and what is said (as opposed to thought etc.) only represents a small part of what it means to be a live human. Following on from this, AI is a simulation of language, and language is only a small part of being a human.
White then showed us a diagram of learning as a process of being/ becoming, with presence, pedagogy and placemaking intersecting (including facilitating connections, nurturing belonging and fostering agency). He also quoted from Jarvis' Learning to be a person in society. Building on this, if the "learning" has consisted of cognitive surrender, then there has been no learning/ becoming. White said that "frictionless learning is not learning". This friction used to be built-in, in that it took effort to avoid, so friction didn't have to be designed in.
White said that students "needed moments of friction" in the library so that it could enable their learning. He pointed up the conflict between the library as service and the library as educator, and felt it should go more towards the educator role (with its friction). He mapped information seeking to library-as-service and (critical) information literacy (which he identified with meaning making) to the educator role. White felt that students needed to be taught how to think (critically) before engaging with their subject disciplines. He encouraged academic librarians to connect with academics who had the same philosophy (of critical education), although the academics will mostly not call it information literacy.
White proposed that "Make cognitive production abundant ... and the scarce thing becomes verification" (a matter of understanding, meaning etc.). He also talked about the designers of technology abrogating responsibility and letting the technology (currently AI) do its irresponsible thing.
From discussion with a librarian, he identified 3 stances of librarians on AI: avoidant, person centric (identity is key) and the third one was focused on source quality. There could also be other positions. White felt that these different positions could be positive sources of friction - fitting in with his idea of the library as "designed friction": "promote the library-as-education; promoting dialogue-as-a-service; different members of staff taking different approaches; Teaching students/researchers how to design their own friction." This involves telling students that learning and education are difficult things and involve work and friction.
He finished by talking about friction as possibility (referring to possibility studies), with "library staff as experts in designed friction".
Photo by Sheila Webber: library in Zagreb "Audit in progress", September 2026

Task cards for teaching AI Literacy & AI competence

Faktabaari (a Finnish "digital information literacy and fact-checking service") has published a pdf with 286 "Task cards for teaching AI Literacy & AI competence descriptions for learners " in English.  Each card (a page in the pdf) has an outline of a lesson plan for teaching some aspect of AI Literacy, and there are cards for all levels of education from kindergarten to university (with a lot fewer at university level, but that seems fair). "Each card is based on the principle of AI as supporting tool in which AI can be used to support human thinking, learning and action, not as a source of information or a substitute for decision making."
For example, there is an activity for those age 1-5 "Sometimes the machine does something silly" "Staff show an example in which the machine does something silly or wrong, for example draws an odd picture. Notice together that the machine does not always get it right. Wonder that a picture made by a machine
is not a photograph and is not true, but something the machine has made." (with more tips for the teacher). Each card also makes links to the Finnish national curricula and the OECD AI literacy framework.
The introduction is here https://kivinen.wordpress.com/2026/09/02/task-cards-for-teaching-ai-literacy-ai-competence-descriptions-for-learners/
The pdf is at https://faktabaari.fi/images/ai_task_bank_by_level_en.pdf
Photo by Sheila Webber, taken in Second Life, interior design by me, August 2026. This is not a machine-made picture, as I spent hours choosing and arranging each part of the furnishings and then taking pictures, on the other hand it is entirely virtual. I think it will also be important to think about the difference between "real screenshots" (of virtual worlds, games tec.) and AI-created screenshots.

Recent articles: algorithmic literacy; writing with AI

The latest issue of open-access College & Research ibraries News (Vol 87, No 86) includes:
- Putting Algorithmic Literacy into Conversation with the ACRL Framework: Insights, Ideas, and Innovations by Sarah Morris
- When the Program Becomes the Author: A Librarian’s View from the Threshold by Anna Małgorzata Kamińska (discusses writing and AI)
- AI as Assessment Partner: Practical Applications and Critical Cautions, Part 2 by Becky Croxton, Megan Oakleaf (this is about evaluation of services or programmes, not assessing learning)
Go to https://crln.acrl.org/index.php/crlnews/issue/view/1701/showToc
Photo by Sheila Webber: adopt a phone box, August 2026

Critical Thinking Bootcamp 2026: Strengthening AI Literacy

The publishers Sage have made available material from an event held in July 2026: Critical Thinking Bootcamp 2026: Strengthening AI Literacy. It comprises recordings of speakers (all from North America) e.g. The rationality of distrust: Information integrity beyond individualism by Brooklyne Gipson (Rutgers University), and "a crowdsourced list of AI literacy and critical thinking resources, including teaching materials and reading recommendations shared by attendees of the 2026 Bootcamp" (i.e. a list of curated links).
Go to https://www.sagepub.com/our-initiatives/critical-thinking/critical-thinking-bootcamp-2026
Photo by Sheila Webber: lowering weather in North Greenwich, August 2026

AI & Metaliteracy OER Toolkit for Teaching and Learning

The AI & Metaliteracy OER Toolkit for Teaching and Learning has just been launched: "an openly licensed and adaptable resource that supports teaching and learning with generative AI through the framework of metaliteracy". The toolkit was developed by Nicola Marae Allain, Tom Mackey, and Eugenio Solis de Ovando, in collaboration with Alena Rodick (Empire State University, USA). The project was funded through a State University of New York (USA) Innovative Instruction Technology Grant. 
There are five modules: metaliterate learner identity; ethical evaluation and production; collaborative and participatory engagement; development as a metaliterate learner; and next steps for continued learning. "The modules include activities, assignments, reflections, rubrics, and supplemental resources" 
There is an introduction here: https://metaliteracy.org/2026/08/28/introducing-the-ai-metaliteracy-oer-toolkit-for-teaching-and-learning/ 
Access the toolkit via this page https://metaliteracy.org/ml-in-practice/how-to-access-the-ai-metaliteracy-oer-toolkit/

Recent articles: AI literacy; infolit as capability; disinformation

- Choi, J. (2026). Reimagining Information Literacy as Capability (ILaC): A Conceptual Framework. Journal of the Australian Library and Information Association, 75(2), 212–235. https://doi.org/10.1080/24750158.2025.2606647 "The framework distinguishes information capabilities both from skills and practice, clarifies the relationship between informational well-being and informational agency, and integrates normative concerns in IL. "
- Johnston, N., Yerbury, H., & Henninger, M. (2026). Academic Librarians and Information Literacy Practice in an Age of Mis/Disinformation. Journal of the Australian Library and Information Association, 75(2), 321–339. https://doi.org/10.1080/24750158.2026.2648061 " presents findings from a study exploring Australian academic librarians' concerns about the impact of misinformation and disinformation on society, university students and access to reliable information. "
- Ford, H., Burrell, A., Monin, M., Narayan, B., & Jethani, S. (2026). Hacking AI Chatbots for Critical AI Literacy in the Library. Journal of the Australian Library and Information Association, 75(1), 42–65. https://doi.org/10.1080/24750158.2026.2614000 "Using a case study of a critical AI literacy intervention in four Greater Sydney libraries, we argue that instead of learning only about how AI works, AI literacy might involve learning when, how, and why AI doesn’t work. "
Photo by Sheila Webber: giant allium seed head, August 2026

Carbon Literacy for Libraries

Carbon Literacy for Libraries is an online course on 5 November 2026 (9.15am - 12.45 BST) and on 12 November 2026 (9.15am - 12.45 BST). The cost is £15 for both parts "all of which goes to the Carbon Literacy Project". "Please note that you must be able to attend both parts of the training in order to be accredited as a Carbon Literate librarian." This has been organised by CILIP Scotland. 
More information at https://www.cilips.org.uk/events/cl4l-nov26/ 
[From the Carbon Literacy Project website] "Carbon Literacy enables individuals, communities, and organisations to take impactful climate action and enact the cultural shift necessary for the transition to a low-carbon economy" 
Photo by Sheila Webber: Hydra and Kali, by Damien Hirst, on the Thames, August 2026

Recent articles: infolit of students; digital literacy; trends in AI in higher education; mis/disinformation in election

Some articles from International Information & Library Review (subscription publication):
- Alenezi, F., & Buabbas, H. (2026). Investigating the Level of Information Literacy Skills of Undergraduate Students at the College of Basic Education, Kuwait. The International Information & Library Review, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/10572317.2026.2717674
- Hussain, A., Ahmad, P., ALZahrani, A. S., & Ahmad, K. (2026). Artificial Intelligence and Information Literacy in Higher Education Institutions: Global Publication Trends and Patterns. The International Information & Library Review, 58(1), 67–87. https://doi.org/10.1080/10572317.2026.2614894
- Bhoi, S., Jha, V. K., & Kumar, R. (2026). Information Disorder in Democracy: A Thematic Analysis of Mis/Disinformation in the 2024 Indian General Election. The International Information & Library Review, 58(1), 105–121. https://doi.org/10.1080/10572317.2026.2620350
- Bélanger, A. (2026). In Support of the Continued Role of Libraries in Digital Literacy. The International Information & Library Review, 58(1), 160–168. https://doi.org/10.1080/10572317.2026.2614244
Photo by Sheila Webber: from the Hungerford footbridge, August 2026

Recent articles: Media Literacy; Content Literacy; AI; teaching and assessment

The latest issue of open-access Journal of Media Literacy Education (Volume 18, Issue 2, 2026) includes the following:
- The role of media literacy in shaping campus student leaders’ perceptions of media activism, online risks, and social support by Srividya Ramasubramanian, Minnie S. McMillian, Shumaila J. Bhatti, Shannon Burth, Julius Matthew Riles, Elizabeth Behm-Morawitz, and Melody Wilson
- Content literacy in the digital age: Integrating the development of digital language skills into civic education by Cedric Lawida and Ina-Maria Maahs
- Fact-checking in the university: The experience of the ‘Verificatón Electoral’ as a model of teaching innovation by Irene Larraz et al.
- Demographic context of Media and Information Literacy (MIL) skills among senior high school students in Ghana by Patience Emefa Dzandza Ocloo, Aurelia Ayisi, Abena Animwaa Yeboah-Banin, and Annie Oye
-Integrating AI into media analysis projects: Students’ insights on using ChatGPT by Serpil Yalcinalp and Hacer Turkoglu
- How to incorporate media literacy into general education curricula by Dennis O. Frohlich and David Magolis
- Mapping media literacy assessment: A systematic review to connect the dots by Lara Azar, Casey Frechette, Hafsa Zia, and Joy Amulya
- Fostering responsible AI use in communication: An integrated approach to digital literacy education by Omer Keynan, Liron Mishkin Drezner, and Yuval Gozansky
Go to https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/jmle/vol18/iss2/
Photo by Sheila Webber: a nice flat white, August 2026

Information Literacy in Ghana, Bulgaria, Germany and Dubai

One paper from the WLIC conference that tool place in Busan, South Korea, last week and two papers from the IFLA Information Literacy Section satellite meeting to the WLIC conference (they are all short full-text papers): 
- A Case Study of Public Libraries in Ghana: Equipping Students with Critical Information Literacy Skills in the Age of AI and Misinformation by Ugne Lipeikaite and Ramune Petuchovaite https://repository.ifla.org/handle/20.500.14598/7250 
- AI, Misinformation, and Trust in Higher Education: Information Literacy Approaches of University Librarians in Germany and Bulgaria by Munazza Jabeen, Claudia Lux and Marina Encheva. https://repository.ifla.org/handle/20.500.14598/7249 
- Using 360° Tours and AI-Generated Media to Support Inclusive Discovery and Information Literacy by Sayed Mahmoud
Photo by Sheila Webber: no rain on Blackheath for many weeks, August 2026

GAIN: Generative AI literacy and kNowledge Framework Project Report

A report from some of my colleagues here at Sheffield University School of Information, Journalism and Communication, together with authors from the University of Cape Town: 
Cannizzaro, S., Abbott, P., Brooks, L., Mfengu, A., Raju, R. & Wagg, S. (2026). GAIN: Generative AI literacy and kNowledge Framework Project Report. https://doi.org/10.15131/shef.data.32336400
"In this report we present the results of a review-based study of AI literacy guidelines from a select number of British and South African Universities. The objective of this project was to conduct an initial exploration of AI literacy guidelines from an equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) perspective across a wide spectrum of institutions in the two aforementioned contexts (UK and South Africa), establishing a foundation for a more systematic and inclusive integration of these principles within broader HEI GenAI policy guidelines. In the report, we provide some observations about distribution patterns of the guidelines across the UK and South Africa, and an outline of the extent to which GenAI literacy training frameworks appear to have incorporated principles around EDI"
Photo by Sheila Webber: fallen cherry blossoms, April 2026

Critical AI

I haven't explored it fully, but there is interesting material on Olivia Guest's Critical AI site: papers, blog posts and videos, and some nice summaries of a few key projects at the foot of the page. Guest co-authored the paper that I blogged a few weeks ago. 
The site includes a link to the Critical AI Literacy (CAIL) project site.  The outputs of that project all look interesting, but my eye was caught by one of the shorter ones entitled To Improve Literacy, Improve Equality in Education, Not Large Language Models. 
Go to https://olivia.science/ai/
Photo by Sheila Webber: the sky this morning

New articles: Assessment; Medical students; AI and primary source literacies; Critical infolit; Everyday Life Information Seeking

The latest issue of open-access Communications in Information Literacy (vol 20 no. 1) is the first under the new editorial team. It comprises:
- Application of Information Literacy Skills to Everyday Life Information Seeking in College Students: Implications for Instruction by Stephanie Ward, Rachel Dineen, and Darren Ilett
- Assessment of Information Literacy Instruction in Reference: Applying VanScoy’s Conceptual and Procedural Framework in Practice by Vanessa Arce
- Exploring Information Literacy Skills, Attitudes, and Barriers Among Medical and Nursing Students in Bahrain: A Mixed-Methods Perspective by Asif Altaf, Suchita N. Dsilva, Simple Sibi Joseph, Fida Mukhtar, Muhammad Zeeshan, and Bindhu Nair
- "An Open Mind and a Critical Stance": A Content Analysis of Information Literacy Integration into a Course about Poverty and Discrimination by Ashley Shealy, C. Rebecca Oldham, Clay Oldham, and Tara L. Griffith
- Critical Information Literacy in Higher Education: An Evolution in Theory, Practice, and Assessment by Dan Williford
- Information Literacy Tutorials for High Enrollment Courses: An Iterative Design-Based Approach by Kimberly Casey and Rebekah Heleen
- The Spectrum of Authority: A New Approach to Teaching AI and Primary Source Literacies by Kristen Howard
- Research Matters: Problem-Setting: A Research Reflection Process by Merinda Kaye Hensley
Plus an editorial and a book review. Go to https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/comminfolit/vol20/iss1/
Photo by Sheila Webber: hydrangea in the park, July 2026

How children's health literacy can shape the future of global health

An interesting podcast on children's health literacy. It is the first in a series from Children for Health. Dr Lilanga Hasini Batawalage, CEO of Children for Health discusses How children's health literacy can shape the future of global health with Dr Gaya Gamhewage, Director of Communications at the World Health Organization. Topics include "Children’s health literacy and why it extends beyond access to information" and indeed ways in which information is communicated. 
Go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V067dqy5hnk
Photo by Sheila Webber: the black cat in the Botanics, July 2026

Contra Literacy-Laundering

Recently published: Ray, I.& Guest, O. (2026). Contra Literacy-Laundering: Mechanistic Critical AI Literacy. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21222978
"When technology companies offer teachers and students ‘AI training’ or promote ‘AI literacy,’ they are engaged in brand marketing, framed as a progressive, philanthropically fundable intervention. The literacy label locates the problem in users’ understanding rather than in systems’ design, and in doing so, displaces accountability from the companies that built and profit from these systems toward the educators and students who are expected to become fluent in them, and forecloses the prior question of whether fluency is the goal at all. The accommodation reflex, in its institutional form, makes un-training structurally unthinkable by presupposing integration as inevitable; a critical account of AI literacy, by contrast, is not primarily about how to use systems but whether, when, and under what conditions their use is warranted" 

Also interesting, thanks to Bill Johnston for just alerting me, is: Chow, A.R. (2026, February 19). The People vs. AI. Time. https://time.com/7377579/ai-data-centers-people-movement-cover/
Photo by Sheila Webber: hydrangea, July 2026

Pressing prompts

Pressing Prompts, was recently published by Duke University , USA, with "activities, resources, and learning notes" around three themes:
- Trust & Truth: How do we evaluate what AI tells us?
- Power & Access: Who controls AI and who is affected?
- Self & Society: How does AI change us and our world?
It is "designed for dialogic and experiential learning". It already has useful material and they say that they also welcome further ideas. It is desgned for university-level use and (implicitly) North America, but could be applied more widely.
Go to http://pressingprompts.org/
Photo by Sheila Webber: Foxgloves, June 2026

Critical AI Literacy Framework

 The Open University published in 2025 their Critical AI Literacy Framework which "treats ‘literacy’ as a ‘social practice’, i.e. something individuals do rather than possess". and is concerned about issues of equality and social justice. It has six elements: AI concepts and applications; Learning and Teaching with AI; AI ethics; AI creativity; AI in society; AI [in] careers. It can be downloaded at  https://about.open.ac.uk/sites/about.open.ac.uk/files/files/OU%20Critical-AI-Literacy-framework-2025.pdf
There is also a blog post about this framework and their Responsible by Design framework at  https://www.open.ac.uk/blogs/learning-design/?p=2288
Photo by Sheila Webber: Botanic Gardens, June 2026