Breaking through the noise: exploring the role of social media content creators for fitness information literacies, Laura Williams. #Lilac26

 Pam McKinney here, live-blogging from the first day of the Lilac Conference in Sheffield. Laura Williams is a PhD in our home department, the School of Information, Journalism and Communication. Laura started her PhD research in 2020 and is undertaking it part-time while working as a librarian. The theme of Laura's doctoral research is ultra-running, essentially very long-distance running. If you search for ultra-running on social media, you get lots of content of very healthy and fit-looking people.  "Breaking through the noise" is a verbatim quote from one of Laura's participants, as they experience social media as "noisy". The PhD research brings together Laura's interest in sports and fitness with questions about how social media shapes information practices. The research questions were formed out of her own experiences of using social media as a runner, and bring in Laura's professional experiences with IL and IB. Ultrarunning requires the use of a lot of in-depth information in order to cope with the psychological and physiological challenges e.g. pain, digestion, sleep deprivation etc.

Information from bodies is incredibly important for ultrarunners, but they are also taking i information from the landscape and watching the bodies of others. Epistemic, formal information is used, as well as social information, and of course a lot of social media information. The presentation focuses on the problems encountered on social media and how ultrarunners and their coaches navigate these. Takes Lloy'd's research as a framework for the study: Information literacy as a socially enacted practice. It isn't a skills checklist but is relational, situated, embodied and power-laden.

Social media research has focused on social media fitness influencers and content creators, who can be characterised as non-expert and unprofessional, who use social media to market themselves and products produced by partner brands. The information isn't tailored, and can be problematic. However, social media can play an important role in helping people understand their bodies, and can teach people about how to have a healthy body.

Laura observed social media activity on Instagram, and then interviewed people, and will combine these two sets of data together. The observation was ethnographic in data, where Laura engaged with social media and diarised her experiences, including her emotional state. A second stage of 19 interviews with ultrarunners including coaches and influencers, was analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Laura identified 6 aspects of information sharing on Instagram: documenting running practices, sharing opinions and critiquing, talking about problems & challenges, giving advice, promoting products and events and advocacy campaigning. She found 3 ways that information was shared: photographs such as selfies on the run, watches, and running kit "flatlays" where all equipment is laid out on a surface in preparation for a run. They shared video content such as videos of runs, routines, training diary highlights, and finally composite media, which might be things like running data.

Social media noise is created by a combination of information problems (e.g. low-quality information, personal experiences rather than evidence), platform affordance (e.g. addictive nature, echo chamber, impact of algorithms) and social media culture (w.g. running to create content, influencers). Laura had to do a lot of very active searching to find running content from more diverse groups e.g. runners of colour, or muslim runners, or the algorithm would just throw up lots of white, conventionally attractive, young and thin runners. 

The consequences of the noise are mental health problems and becoming burnt out or injured. So what strategies do people adopt to break through the noise? 

Laura identified five strategies and tactics for breaking through the social media noise. People liked to create their communities, acknowledge that every body is different, resisting against platform affordances, being authentic and supporting information literacy: amplifying good quality information, challenging and critiquing poor quality information, advocating for expertise and authenticity. Influencers and content creators can play an important role in supporting information literacy. Participants spoke about a tension between competing for attention but also trying to remain authentic.  Content creators could reduce the impact of social media noise through activities such as teaching runners to understand their bodies, calling out poor-quality information, and sharing transparent training rationales. Laura asserted IL is important in this space, but it is complex on social media. IL is contextual, community-specific and socially constructed.

Recent articles: Students using TikTok and ChatGPT for information

 - Brookbank, E. (2025). Is TikTok the new Google? How college students use TikTok to search for information. The Reference Librarian, 1–27. https://doi.org/10.1080/02763877.2025.2554874   
- Shuhas, E. & Forte, A. (2025). ChatGPT is actually my friend: Understanding the information behavior of university students interacting with AI chatbots. In Companion Publication of the 2025 Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW Companion '25). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA. (pp.282–287). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3715070.3749239
Photo by Sheila Webber: Christmas wreath at number 23, December 2025

Book: Information Literacy and Social Media

A book I missed posting 
Santamaría, M. & Pfannenstiel, A.N. (2024). Information Literacy and Social Media: Empowered Student Engagement with the ACRL Framework. ALA. Price: ALA Member US $45.00; others US $50.00. 979-8-89255-545-6. 
The sections are: Social Media and Information Literacy; The [ACRL] Framework, Social Media, and Empowered Educators; Lesson Plans Within Social Media to Develop Information Literate Citizens; Creativity and Ethics as Key Components of Metaliteracy.  Go to https://alastore.ala.org/information-literacy-and-social-media-empowered-student-engagement-acrl-framework 
There is a review of the book just published in College & Research Libraries at  https://crl.acrl.org/index.php/crl/article/view/27051/34930

Educational Futures on Social Media #ECIL2025

The next liveblog from me (Sheila) the ECIL conference in Bamberg is Educational Futures on Social Media presented by Stig Børsen Hansen, Martin Rehm, and co-authored with Tove Faber Frandsen (University of Southern Denmark, Denmark). As this is a liveblog it is just my impression of what was said.
First they looked at what prediction of the future can involve, where you can design scenarios for the future, but also there are moods or feelings about the future (e.g. people feeling the future is doomed).
Then they moved on to discuss Futures Literacy (see https://www.unesco.org/en/futures-literacy/about) you can look at technologies or consult industries to predict the future, but these approaches can miss out groups and the neccessary attitudes for future literacy.
Coming to the question of how to study futures. Studies are often based on big data analysis, but also you can use more qualitative methods. The presenters wanted to focus on moods and feelings because there are both pessemistic and optimistic feelings about tech, and also the idea of "futurelessness" has been identified (with feelings of anger, depression, hopelessness).
One research question was - to what extent can we find collective feeings about education on X. They  did this by using hashtags such as #futureoflearning July 22-November 23. They used NLP (Natural Language Processing) to do sentiment analysis and opinion mining and also used Social Network Analysis (SNA).
They discovered that people talk mostly about the present, next most about the past and least about the future. Anxiety, anger and a bit of sadness drive the negative side. Delving more deeply shows the nuance e.g. anger about less funding to school libraries currently, anxiety about the future, but also constructive discourse about what the future could look like. From the SNA, negative feelings about the future of education had gathered a larger following, but you can also discern the conversation under this.
They concluded that this use of data science also can be used to include and discover creative minorities, that are drowned out in the bigger discussion, and (for example) enable them to connect with each other or promote themselves better.
Photo by Sheila Webber: courtyard of museum building, Bamberg, September 2025

Bluesky starter pack for #infolit and a guide

Firstly there's a Bluesky Starter pack focused on information literacy and information skills for students and citizens from Paul Jewell (that's a list Paul's created of "librarians, educators, researchers, students and community members" interested in #infolit and with Bluesky accounts. I was going to start a pack with this focus, but I think it's better to create suggestions for this exisiting one! Go to  https://bsky.app/starter-pack/pauljewell.bsky.social/3lbb7unb54o2h
Secondly, Ned Potter has an extended blogpost with advice for academic libraries using Bluesky. Go here https://www.ned-potter.com/blog/bluesky-for-academic-libraries One thing I noticed was that he recommends not posting first thing in the morning (UK time), whereas I found that something like 9.30am was good for picking up attention from UK people on X/Twitter. I will be pondering this, as to pick up attention from those in North America a later time is useful anyway.
Photo by Sheila Webber: Squirrel on stump, 1, November 2024

Research organisations exiting-X

A useful post on the LSE Impact blog from Andy Tattersall (Sheffield University) (5 September 2024) discussing the migration of research organisations (with the focus on the United Kingdom) from X/Twitter. He observes how, although many have accounts on other social media platforms, they may not be active there yet. The post is at https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2024/09/05/if-academic-x-is-sinking-where-are-research-organisations-going/

He links to a companion document where he has plotted where organisations have gone (Threads, Mastodon, Bluesky and/or LinkedIn.) https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1asXGj04aSwXSNghpJAkIJdOEs51bEcULZ_SbGoEbJKA/edit?gid=0#gid=0

Image by Sheila Webber "Running away from Twitter". Created using Midjourney AI using the prompt - a woman with long hair and long dress, running away from a flock of small birds, woman in front of flock of birds, dreamy, soft colours, watercolour effect --v 6.1 --ar 16:9

New book: Information Literacy and Social Media

Santamaría, M. & Pfannenstiel, A.N. (2024). Information Literacy and Social Media: Empowered Student Engagement with the ACRL Framework. ACRL.  Item Number 979-8-89255-545-6. Price: ALA Member US$45.00 others US$50.00  
It "provides librarians and non-librarian practitioners with ways to teach and learn with social media. It addresses how to broadly conceptualize information literacy teaching with social media and allay any student reluctance to using social media for academic purposes. It proposes how to map some of the ACRL threshold concepts onto specific social media platforms, including Facebook, X, Instagram, and TikTok, while providing general guidance for if and when those platforms change.
"There are eight concrete, cross-disciplinary lesson plans that factor in design, assessment, and student engagement. Finally, the book considers how up-and-coming platforms might empower students to be critical content creators and encourage librarians and faculty to support and create new information literacy initiatives on their campuses."
Details at https://alastore.ala.org/information-literacy-and-social-media-empowered-student-engagement-acrl-framework?Photo by Sheila Webber: hydrangea, July 2024

Misinformation and the media

The LSE's impact blog has interesting posts, and last month they made a compilation: "a selection of posts from the LSE Impact Blog’s archives exploring the impact of misinformation and the extent to which the concept itself is a useful way of understanding how evidence is used and abused in the media." The link to posts covering a number of media, including one that addresses Should a TV drama influence public policy (referring to the TV play that finally got some action on the post office scandal) Taster, M. (2024, June 14). Misinformation and the media – An LSE Impact Blog review. https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2024/06/14/misinformation-and-the-media-an-lse-impact-blog-review/
Photo by Sheila Webber: astrantia (spot the bee), May 2024

Social Media and Information Literacy: Reaching Students Where They are #ECIL2023

Pam McKinney live blogging from the first afternoon session of the 3rd day of the ECIL conference in Krakow, Poland. Jennifer Jacobs from Texas Tech university is an information literacy teaching librarian, and one of her courses looks at social media and information literacy.
People make split second decisions about information they find on social media and decide whether and how they are going to use it. Social media has fundamentally changed how we interact with information, and it’s important to reflect on how we share information we find on social media, as much Mis and dis information is found on social media.
The mid-term assignment for students is to go on their social media and find a video that has information in it. They have to decide if that information is truthful, and what value it has for them. The focus is to capture how students interact with social media, before trying to teach them about evaluation skills.
Some students showed good evaluation skills and had videos that were truthful. Some posters had expertise in the subjects they were sharing videos about, and students recognised this. Several students chose very emotional videos e.g. about the use of animal testing in cosmetics, because this video was shared by PETA, an animal rights pressure group, it was probably biased.
Students usually accepted information on social media without checking the source. Truth can be blurred by high emotion videos. Without fore-knowledge, students struggled to articulate how they judged the truthfulness of information. Students had to present their videos to the class and talk about the,, which students liked as an activity. The activity could be adapted to many contexts, and can inform the development of learning materials about information evaluation.
The abstract for this talk is on this page
Photo by Pam McKinney

A spot of something

Drucker, J. (2023, 27 July). Why did Elon rebrand Twitter as ‘X’? The mystery. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/07/27/elon-musk-twitter-x-meaning/ - an examination of the meanings and associations of the letter X.

Montague-Hellen, B. (2023, 25 July). Will you need to be a librarian to find the new Twitter in Google? https://www.cilip.org.uk/news/646705/Will-you-need-to-be-a-librarian-to-find-the-new-twitter-in-google.htm- pointing out how the Twitter rebrand makes the product a lot less findable
Image by Sheila Webber with Midjourney AI

New articles: Critical Information Literacy

The open access Journal of Information Literacy has moved to https://journals.cilip.org.uk/jil/index. If you want to be alerted to new issues etc. then you need to register with this new site. There is also a new issue available (vol 17 no. 1):
- Taking stock of critical information literacy (Editorial) by Lauren Smith & Alison Hicks
- Transnational Chinese students’ online information literacies during the COVID-19 pandemic by Huan Gao, Angela Kohnen
- Sharing in the echo chamber: Examining Instagram users’ engagement with infographics through the frame of digital literacy by Ella Burrows
- Information literacy and its link to evidence-informed policymaking in Zimbabwe by Ronald Munatsi
- Information literacy curriculum mapping in the health sciences: A scoping review by Devon Olson, Sandi L. Bates, Shannon Yarborough, Sara Westall, Megan Keely Carroll Denis, Montanna Barnett
- Approaches to information literacy conceptualisation in primary, secondary, and higher education contexts: A review of current scholarly literature by Caitlin Taylor, Daniela DiGiacomo
- Personalised learning paths for information literacy using Canvas MasteryPaths by Neil Dixon, Andrea Packwood
- What role can affect and emotion play in academic and research information literacy practices? by Alex Hewitt
- Critical workplace information literacy: Laying the groundwork for a new construct by Dijana Šobota
- ‘They burn so bright whilst you can only wonder why’: Stories at the intersection of social class, capital and critical information literacy — a collaborative autoethnography by Darren Flynn, Teresa Crew, Rosie Hare, Krishna Maroo, Andrew Preater
- The critical information literacy of social workers: Information literacy as interpersonal practice by Sara Sharun
- Information literacy in the age of internet conspiracism by Matthew Hannah
- Dialectical roots and praxis routes: A contribution to critical information literacy from Hegel, Marx and Bloch by Marco Schneider, Arthur Coelho Bezerra

Photo by Sheila Webber: wild roses, May 2023

Information Literacy and podcasting: teaching and learning through conversation #LILAC23 @pedagodzilla @UKCopyrightLit

This is Sheila Webber, catching up on the last session I attended yesterday (my laptop battery ran out before the session did - as a sidenote, why do modern university building still not have enough sockets for recharging?) 

This presentation was run as a podcast of Chatting Infolit (Bethan Morgan, Josh Rodda & Ella Wharton), with guests Mark Childs, one half of the Pedagodzilla podcast (combining pedagogy and pop culture) and Chris Morrison and Jane Secker who produce Copyright Waffle. Having experienced the event it will be fascinating to hear what makes it through into the actual podcast! It was a really lively session, and these are my impressions of what went on.

Childs said how the idea for Pedagodzilla came up in conversation with Mike Collins about education, and thinking about how to explain theories and models relevant to education in an accessible and engaging way. It also exploited their interest in comics, films etc. Similarly Secker and Morrison wanted to make copyright literacy easier to understand and more interesting, and find out what made it interesting to other people.

They all agreed that you don't have to have expensive kit e.g. you can use the free app Audacity for editing (although they all had good microphones). In terms of inviting people to your podcast, Childs said it was a good idea not to start out by inviting in "big names" but get a structure and format that works for you before inviting people who are going to make you nervous. Finding people who are going to be enthusiastic is going to make the podcast more interesting, and both Copyright Waffle and Pedagodzilla have people offering ideas for podcast episodes.

In terms of challenges - Childs said he didn't really have any, as Collins had the technical expertise, and also, because community engagement was part of the job for them at the Open University, then they could do a lot in work time (though Childs has now moved to Durham University). The podcasters agreed that time (editing etc.) was an issue. Morrison said that they had worried about being too self indulgent, but the point was made that if you don't want to listen, you don't have to.

Childs advised not worrying about an audience for your podcast initially, because it will build exponentially as you create more episodes. However, getting to know how to put the podcast on different platforms (which is a good way of extending your audience) requires some effort. They also talked about things like listing the podcast in your email signature. 

There was a question about the connection with pedagogy and information literacy. The podcasters talked about learning through conversation and dialogue, and podcasting seeming perhaps more direct and intimate than a video. Secker felt that podcasting was particularly useful for exploring big issues for example in information literacy. They see Copyright Waffle as not being about giving step by step guides through a topic but, for example, helping people understand that there are people that can give them advice, getting people interested in the topic, getting people motivated to find out more for themselves. 

There was a question about how podcasting had affected other parts of their professional lives. Morrison said that he could refer people to specific podcasts and podcast guests - particularly to answer questions that come up again and again. Secker said that it had made her more confident in her teaching. Childs said that he has found it as an outlet for a creative and authentic self. It could also be seen as evidence of your impact, particularly if you have statistics to show that people from many countries are listening to your podcast. Morrison and Secker saw podcasting as part of open educational practice, and have a creative commons license.

There was a question about how long something had to b, to count as e a podcast: the feeling was - 10 minutes, but it had to be conversational with the dialogue element. A follow up question was the difference between an audio file and a podcast. This seems to be an evolving question, as an older definition just mentions the audio file part. There was agreement that it has to be disseminated via rss and have episodes. Then there are additional elements such as brand, marketing, narrative, show notes etc. The element of conversation and dialogue was mentioned again. The podcasters were asked whether their interviews were like research interviews. Morrison said they have a conversation with interviewees beforehand, but they don't have a set list of questions, making it more organic and a conversation rather than an interview. Childs said that over preparation makes it sound stilted, but you had to make some preparation or (speaking from experience) it could go wrong. I blogged recently that I have done two Pedagodzilla podcasts and from my perspective it didn't seem like an interview, but was joining in a fun conversation. 

This was a fun and useful session and may well result in more podcasters!

#LILAC23 How university students use TikTok to search for information

Pam McKinney here live blogging from the #LILAC23. This presentation was led by Elizabeth Brookbank from Western Oregon University, reporting initial results from a study to understand how TikTok might influence IL teaching.
Google are worried about the impact that TikTok could have on their business model, as GenZ are increasingly turning to these new social media for information discovery rather than search engines like Google. In response, Google are changing their algorithm to show more TikTok videos in their search results, and more videos overall. 

Initial conversations took place with students, who reported that it was a lot easier to see what content was paid for on TikTok than on Google. Some thought that using search was pointless on TikTok because of the way the algorithm works, in that it only shows you content in your filter bubble, that you’ve already shown an interest in. It doesn’t allow you to sort results by date, but is useful if you need practical advice on how to do things. There is little published research on how people search on TikTok but one study showed that relevant content is returned faster than on Google, and video content was thought to be easier to engage with than text. The participants didn’t care much about misinformation, and avoid material that is perceived to be risky e.g. health. 

Elizabeth conducted 3 focus groups with students, and these have not been analysed fully; she reported interim results only at the conference. Participants were concerned about spending too much time on the app, and have concerns about the amount of information it harvests. It was seen to be a good way to entertain oneself, and is relaxing. Some participants were TikTok  creators, and used this as a way to share their problems and self-care. Connecting with friends was seen to be a positive aspect of the app, and to find out about the news.
Students were asked if they used TikTok to search for information and half said yes they did, which seemed a little contradictory to Google’s panic about genZ all changing their search interface. TikTok is searched for “how to” videos e.g. for recipes, cleaning, or fixing things or crochet etc. one student used it in a class. Participants were asked about “searching” versus “scrolling”, and reported that TikTok would present them with relevant information if they had been searching for information on other platforms. Students would subscribe to certain hashtags if they had ongoing information needs. Some thought that searching didn’t really work on TikTok.
Comments on other peoples’ videos were useful for gaining a consensus on a topic, and TikTok was seen as a good place to start looking for information, that would be followed up on other platforms. There was a sense that participants were able to judge the authority of content creators, and were sensitive to the lived experiences of certain creators. Aspects such as camera quality, and the look of the video were important ways to judge the quality of the information presented. Political and health information was rarely trusted, generally the participants liked to search for low stakes information on TikTok.
Photo Pam McKinney

New articles: Data cultures; Older adults' proxies; e-health literacy

There is is a new issue (volume 28 issue 1, 2023) of the open access journal Information Research. It includes:
- Data Cultures: a scoping literature review by Gillian Oliver, Jocelyn Cranefield, Spencer Lilley, Matthew Lewellen ("This paper reports the outcomes from a literature review of the concept of data cultures as the first step in extending the body of knowledge relating to information culture in the information science domain and raising awareness of the need for further research.")
- Internet use and e-health literacy among tuberculosis patients in the Directly Observed Therapy Centre, Lagos State, Nigeria by Olalekan Moses Olayemi, Timothy Shola Abolarinwa
- Social Media by Proxy: how older adults work within their ‘social networks’ to engage with social media by Gemma Webster, Frances VC Ryan
Go to https://informationr.net/infres/issue/view/28-1

New articles: Information behaviour in HCI; Social networking & HIV/AIDS; Information resources in Nigerian libraries

There is a new issue of the open access journal Information Research (volume 27 issue 3). It includes:
- Harriet U. Igbo, Ijeoma J. Ibegbulam, Brendan E. Asogwa, and Nwabuisi T. Imo. Provision of digital information resources in Nigerian university libraries
- Hamid R. Jamali and Majid Nabavi. The use of information behaviour research in human-computer interactionThe use of information behaviour research in human-computer interaction
- Azam Bazrafshani, Sirous Panahi, Hamid Sharifi, and Effat Merghati-Khoei. Drivers and barriers of using online social networking technologies among people living with HIV/AIDS in Iran
- Bradley Wade Bishop and Hannah R. Collier. Fitness for use of data: scientists' heuristics of discovery and reuse behaviour framed by the FAIR Data Principles
Go to http://informationr.net/ir/27-3/infres273.html
Photo by Sheila Webber: "Lost item" series: lost plush owl, October 2022

COVID19 and #misinformation

A special issue of the open access Journal of Medical Internet Research (vol 24 no 7, 2022) focused on Social Media, Ethics, and COVID-19 Misinformation. It contains a lot of articles, for example:
- Inoue, M., Shimoura, K., Nagai-Tanima, M. & Aoyama, T. (2022). The Relationship Between Information Sources, Health Literacy, and COVID-19 Knowledge in the COVID-19 Infodemic: Cross-sectional Online Study in Japan. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 24(7):e38332. https://doi.org/10.2196/38332
"An online cross-sectional study was conducted in November 2021. Participants were 477 individuals aged 20-69 years. After obtaining consent to participate in the study, participants were asked about sociodemographic indicators, sources of health-related information, health literacy, and COVID-19 knowledge. Sources of health-related information were categorized into 4 types: mass media, digital media, social media, and face-to-face communication. The Spearman rank correlation test was conducted to determine the relationship between health literacy, the number of correct answers to COVID-19 knowledge, and the number of information sources used. Multiple regression analysis was conducted with health literacy and the number of correct answers as dependent variables, the 4 media types as independent variables, and age and sex as adjustment variables.
"Mass media was the most frequently used source of information, followed by digital media, face-to-face communication, and social media. Social media use was significantly higher among individuals aged 20-29 years than among other age groups. Significant positive correlations were found between health literacy, the number of positive responses to COVID-19 knowledge, and the number of information sources used. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that health literacy is associated with access to information from digital media and face-to-face communication. Additionally, COVID-19 knowledge was associated with access to information from mass media, digital media, and face-to-face communication."
Go to https://www.jmir.org/themes/1142-theme-issue-social-media-ethics-and-covid19-misinformation
Photo by Sheila Webber: Rowan berries, August 2022

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

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

Recent articles: Information Behaviour with Social media; IL and primary schools; Quality assessment of Wikipedia

Articles relevant to information literacy/behaviour from the last 2 issues of JoLIS and JIS (priced access, except where indicated).

- Amram, S., Aharony, N. & Ilan, J. (2021). Information literacy education in primary schools: A case study. Journal of Librarianship & Information Science, 53(2), 349-364. https://doi.org/10.1177/0961000620938132. "This [qualitative] study focuses on teachers’ perspectives concerning information literacy teaching in two primary schools in Israel — one school that joined the national information and communications technology program and a second school that did not. ... The findings suggest that participation in the national information and communications technology program did not lead to the integration of information literacy in the school’s curriculum. A significant gap was discovered in both schools between the teachers’ perceptions—who understood the importance of teaching information literacy and its actual implementation."
- Fardous, J. et al. (2021). Group trip planning and information seeking behaviours by mobile social media users: A study of tourists in Australia, Bangladesh and China. Journal of Information Science, 47(3), 323-339. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0165551519890515
- Ihejirika, K. & Krtalic, M. (2021). Moving with the media: An exploration of how migrant communities in New Zealand use social media. Journal of Librarianship & Information Science, 53(1), 50-61. https://doi.org/10.1177/0961000620911694. "An anonymous questionnaire was used to collect opinions and investigate the activities of migrant communities in New Zealand ... The main findings of our research showed that in the transitioning phase migrants use social media mostly for making the decision to move. In the settling phase, social media help them to cushion the anxieties associated with a move and also help them to make an informed decision in the new country. In the settled phase, participants used social media to stay connected with family and friends in the home country"
- Lund, B. (2021). The structure of information behavior dissertations 2009–2018: Theories, methods, populations, disciplines. Journal of Librarianship & Information Science, 53(2), 225-232. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0961000620935499 (Lund looked at dissertations listed in the Proquest dissertation database. "While the majority of information behavior research originates in the discipline of library and information science (53%), the field is nonetheless highly interdisciplinary. The theories of Kuhlthau, Dervin, and Wilson are used extensively as frameworks in information behavior dissertations. Students are the most commonly studied population, while interview is the most commonly utilized research method."
- Mansour, A. (2021). Affordances supporting mothers’ engagement in information-related activities through Facebook groups. Journal of Librarianship & Information Science, 53(2), 211-224. https://doi.org/10.1177/0961000620938106. Open access. "This qualitative study investigated the information-related activities and affordances of a Facebook group for foreign mothers living in Sweden. Four key information activities were identified: posting, monitoring, commenting and searching. ... The article concludes with a discussion of how these different modes are facilitated by the affordances of visibility, accessibility, persistence and associations"
- Wang, P., Li, X. & Wu, R. (2021). A deep learning-based quality assessment model of collaboratively edited documents: A case study of Wikipedia. Journal of Information Science, 47(2), 176-191 . https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0165551519877646
Photo by Sheila Webber: cherry blossom petals in the curb, May 2021

New articles: fake news in Nigeria; anxiety management; social media use in COVID; personal librarians; reference desk

The latest issue of priced publication Reference Services Review is Volume 49 Issue 1. It includes:
- Information literacy competence in curtailing fake news about the COVID-19 pandemic among undergraduates in Nigeria by Magnus Osahon Igbinovia, Omorodion Okuonghae, John Oluwaseye Adebayo
- COVID-19 and library social media use by Alexandros Koulouris, Eftichia Vraimaki, Maria Koloniari
- Fulfilling information needs by classifying complex patron needs by Charles R. Senteio, Kaitlin E. Montague, Stacy Brody, Kristen B. Matteucci
- Communication-based approaches to library reference services: anxiety-uncertainty management as a model for communication breakdowns by Brady Lund
- Personal connections: one library’s history of personal librarian by Elise Ferer ("the “intent of a personal librarian program is to build long-term, one-on-one connections that allow students to have the confidence and resources to be successful in the skill sets that librarians particularly seek to instill in them”)
- Is the reference desk used for reference interviews by Idunn Bøyum, Katriina Byström, Nils Pharo
- Referring academic library chat reference patrons: how subject librarians decide by Paula R. Dempsey Go to https://www.emerald.com/insight/publication/issn/0090-7324/vol/49/iss/1

Photo by Sheila Webber: fallen cherry blossom  and bluebells, April 2021