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

Recent articles: News literacy; Critical media literacy; Media and youth in the Middle East

Volume 11 issue 3 of the open access journal Journal of Media Literacy Education is the latest to be published. Articles include:
- News literacy and fake news curriculum: School librarians’ perceptions of pedagogical practices by Lesley Farmer
- Hosting and healing: A framework for critical media literacy pedagogy by Dorotea Frank Kersch and Mellinee Lesley
- Professors’ perspectives on truth-seeking and new literacy by Zachary W. Arth, Darrin J. Griffin, and William J. Earnest
- Abolish censorship and adopt critical media literacy: A proactive approach to media and youth in the Middle East by Abeer AlNajjar
Go to https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/jmle/vol11/iss3/
Photo by Sheila Webber: Xmas wreaths of east Sussex, 5, January 2020

#MILID yearbook: Opportunities for Media and Information Literacy in the Middle East and North Africa

The open access book has been published:
Abu-fadil, M., Torrent, J. and Grizzle, A. (Eds) (2016). Opportunities for Media and Information Literacy in the Middle East and North Africa. Gothenburg, Sweden: The International Clearinghouse on Children, Youth and Media. ISBN 978-91-87957-33-8
This is the latest MILID Yearbook (Media and Information Literacy and Intercultural Dialogue). The chapters are:
- Magda Abu-Fadil: Introduction:
- Alton Grizzle: Preliminary Comparative Analysis of Media and Information Literacy in the MENA Region
- Jad Melki & Lubna Maaliki: Helping Arab Digital and Media Literacy Blossom. Three years of the Media and Digital Literacy Academy of Beirut (MDLAB)
- Jordi Torrent: Youth and Digital Media. Drafting a Landscape from Fez and Cairo
- Lucy Nuseibeh & Mohammed Abu Arqoub: An Overview from the Occupied Palestinian Territories
- Abdul Ameer Al-Faisal: An Iraqi Perspective
- Redouane Boujemaa: An Algerian Perspective
- Abdelhamid Nfissi & Drissia Chouit: A Moroccan Perspective
- Samy Tayie: An Egyptian Perspective
- Yasar Durra: A Jordanian Perspective
- Naifa Eid Saleem: An Omani Perspective
- Magda Abu-Fadil: A Lebanese Perspective
- Carmilla Floyd & Gabriella Thinz: Empowering Children and Youth in Tunisia
The page with links to all the MILID yearbooks is http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/media-development/media-literacy/global-alliance-for-partnerships-on-media-and-information-literacy/milid-network/
Photo by Sheila Webber: Seagulls over the Thames, December 2017

Some recent articles

Zuccala, A. (2010). "Open access and civic scientific information literacy." Information Research, 15 (1) paper 426. Open access at http://InformationR.net/ir/15-1/paper426.html

Bewick, L. and Corrall, S. (2010) "Developing librarians as teachers: a study of their pedagogical knowledge", Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 42 (2), 97-110. (not free) "A questionnaire was used to collect mainly quantitative data about the teaching roles, pedagogical knowledge and professional development of subject librarians in 82 UK higher education institutions. Two expert interviews and a literature review informed the design and contextualized the findings. The survey showed postholders were engaged in a variety of teaching-related activities, regarded as central to their work. Contrary to assumptions, most felt confident about teaching and thought their knowledge sufficient, giving examples of pedagogical theory gained via courses informing their teaching practice. Although on-the-job development was common, the majority had undertaken a short course and/or extended programme. Respondents favoured incorporating a teaching module into initial professional education and providing tailored programmes for librarians with substantial teaching roles"

International Information & Library Review, Volume 42, Issue 2, 2010, focuses on "International Perspectives on Information Literacy and e-skills". (not free, abstracts at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/10572317 )
Introduction; Forest Woody Horton (like a previous special issue, these articles draw on the UNESCO Training the Trainer sessions)
Developing theory-based, practical information literacy training for adults; Caroline Stern, Trishanjit Kaur
Information literacy in South-East Europe: Formulating strategic initiatives, making reforms and introducing best practices; Sonja Špiranec, Zdravka Pejova
Information literacy for the information literate: A model and case study from the Wuhan UNESCO training the trainers in information literacy program; Ruth A. Pagell, Rajen Munoo
Guiding principles for the preparation of a national information literacy program; Gloria Ponjuan
Measuring the outcomes of information literacy: Perception vs evidence-based data; Szarina Abdullah
Financial literacy and education: An environmental scan; Molly A. Wolfe-Hayes
Middle East information literacy awareness and indigenous Arabic content challenges; Engy I. Fahmy, Nermine M. Rifaat
Helping students become literate in a digital, networking-based society: A literature review and discussion; Nieves González Fernandez-Villavicencio
Social networking and Web 2.0 in information literacy; Amanda Click, Joan Petit

Photo by Sheila Webber: first strawberry, June 2010