Literacy Information

I'm liveblogging from the World Library and Information (IFLA) Conference taking place in Cape Town, South Africa. In the session on Literacy, a paper Literacy Matters! Digital Literacies, Reading and Libraries was given by Barbara Combes (Charles Sturt University, Secretary IFLA Literacy & Reading
Section, Australia). She started talking about the vast amount of information that isn't found by search engines. It is a dynamic information lanscape and can make information decontextualised, so that there are problems along with the many benefits and convenience of online information.Coombs highlighted the multipliocity of apps and technologies available.However, many people do not have physical or cognitive access to the web. Cognitive access means not being able to read or interpret the information, even if you physically have access.
Coombs went on to consider the word literacy. She wondered - had it been hijacked, when it has been tacked on to so many other words? She posed the question whether competency, rather than literacy, was meant. She showed some definitions of literacy that included critical thinking and reading, learning, and also being actively literate (e.g. "purposeful" reading). Thus it was more than just being able to read, and including understanding and reusing.
Turning to digital literacy, she saw it as including computer and ICT literacy, Web 2.0 literacy, network/internet literacy (including "knowing where you are" on the internet), multimedia literacy and information management. However she also saw digital literacy as about ethical use of information, cultural awareness, access for the disabled, privacy and safety, and applying information to your lives. Thus digital literacy was a complex and evolving concept, and it was affected not just by technology but by the people developing and using technology. A prerequisite is literacy: being able to read, write and understand.
Coombs concluded that although "literacy" did mean competency in the context of digital literacy, it was important to think about the deeper aspects.

iRights "is a civil society initiative [in the UK] that seeks to make the digital world a more transparent and empowering place for children and young people (under 18) by delivering a universal framework of digital rights, in order that young people are able to access digital technologies creatively, knowledgeably and fearlessly."
A couple of publications have recently been launched. The first one (the iRights report) reports on activities since this movement (supported by various individuals and organisations: for example NESTA) came together last year. The second (the Legal Framework) is an examination of whether the six rights that are set out are supported by existing legislation. The rights are:
- "The Right to REMOVE: Every child and young person should have the right to easily edit or delete all content they have created.
- "The Right to KNOW: Children and young people have the right to know who is holding or profiting from their information, what their information is being used for and whether it is being copied, sold or traded.
- "The Right to SAFETY AND SUPPORT: Children and young people should be confident that they will be protected from illegal practices and supported if confronted by troubling or upsetting scenarios online.
- "The Right to INFORMED AND CONSCIOUS CHOICES: Children and young people should be empowered to reach into creative places online, but at the same time have the capacity and support to easily disengage.
- "The Right to DIGITAL LITERACY: To access the knowledge that the Internet can deliver, children and young people need to be taught the skills to use, create and critique digital technologies, and given the tools to negotiate changing social norms."
I think one idea behind it is to think of protecting young people by giving them rights, rather than seeking just to control. This initiative hadn't really been on my radar, but it has got a flurry of attention at the moment and is obviously interesting and relevant to information literacy.
I may be missing something, but I'm not it is clear whether the "i" is for internet or for information (or perhaps it's both). In the section on the right to informed and conscious choices, it says "Children and young people have a human right to access information, to communicate with others, to participate as social actors and to learn. Access to the internet is essential in fulfilling these rights." Talking of the "human right to access information" immediately reminded me of the UNESCO-sponsored Prague Declaration on Information Literacy (2003) which identifies information literacy as "part of the basic human right of lifelong learning".I think this is a useful document to engage with, also placing it in the wider context of a young person's information world (digital and non-digital).

As a sidenote, this initiative seems not to be connected to the German organisation iRights, which appears to be older and is concerned with intellectual property in the digital age (though presemably they hadn't registered a trademark for "iRights"..... or in fact they have registered the trademark)
Photo by Sheila Webber: me taking a selfie in Second Life (Second Life is a trademark of Linden Lab)

This is the 2nd batch of links to papers due to be given at the World Library and Information (IFLA) Conference which takes places 15-21 August 2015 in Cape Town, South Africa. There are obviously lots more on other library topics in the IFLA Library as the majority of people do submit their papers in advance. As I said in my last post, if all goes well I will be liveblogging the conference.

COX, Kiersten and GREGORY, Vicki and FLESCHNER, Julius (2015) No One Left-Behind! Teaching Information Literacy in a Different Way to an Urban Population. Paper to be presented at: IFLA WLIC 2015 - Cape Town, South Africa in Session 140 - Metropolitan Libraries. http://library.ifla.org/id/eprint/1132
GAVIGAN, Karen W. and ALBRIGHT, Kendra S. (2015) A Culturally-Targeted HIV/AIDS Graphic Novel for Teen Well-Being. Paper to be presented at: IFLA WLIC 2015 - Cape Town, South Africa in Session 189 - School Libraries with Health and Biosciences. http://library.ifla.org/id/eprint/1148
SALVATORE, Cecilia L. (2015) Indigenous Literacy through Indigenous Cultural Heritage Materials and Resources. Paper to be presented at: IFLA WLIC 2015 - Cape Town, South Africa in Session 168 - Indigenous Matters SIG. http://library.ifla.org/id/eprint/1146
OJARANTA, Anu Helena (2015) A Phase between Two National Core Curricula in Finland – What Are the Implications to Information Literacy Instruction and Library Collaboration?. Paper to be presented at: IFLA WLIC 2015 - Cape Town, South Africa in Session 101 - School Libraries. http://library.ifla.org/id/eprint/1116
REARDON, Siobhan A. and MCCLINTOCK, Autumn and MORAN, Sara S. and NICHOLS, Joel A. (2015) Health Strategies for Public Libraries: How the Free Library of Philadelphia addresses health barriers to literacies. Paper to be presented at: IFLA WLIC 2015 - Cape Town, South Africa in Session 140 - Metropolitan Libraries. http://library.ifla.org/id/eprint/1131
PUN, Raymond (2015) Geospatial Literacy as Digital Literacy: Building GIS Program to Support and Engage with Interdisciplinary and Multidisciplinary Research Communities. Paper to be presented at: IFLA WLIC 2015 - Cape Town, South Africa in Session 140 - Metropolitan Libraries. http://library.ifla.org/id/eprint/1119
AHLQVIST, Elisabet (2015) Digital inclusion in Sweden done in the “Digidel way”. Paper to be presented at: IFLA WLIC 2015 - Cape Town, South Africa in Session 88 - Library Theory and Research with Statistics and Evaluation. http://library.ifla.org/id/eprint/1236
WEBB, Damien (2015) Curating with Community. Paper to be presented at: IFLA WLIC 2015 - Cape Town, South Africa in Session 168 - Indigenous Matters SIG. http://library.ifla.org/id/eprint/1143
Photo by Sheila Webber: honey bee, July 2015

A Spanish-language article from Felicidad Campal ("It's information, stupid": moulded after the saying "It's the economy, stupid") talks about different kinds of literacies (digital literacy, information literacy etc.) and identifies the need for learners to be able to engage critically with the web. It was just published on the internet project site, SCOPEO.
Campal, F. (2015). Es la información estúpido. Boletín SCOPEO, (104). http://scopeo.usal.es/es-la-informacion-estupido/
Photo by Sheila Webber: pink rose, July 2015

The (US) Digital Inclusion survey is a project carried out by American Library Association, Information Policy & Access Center & International City/County Management Association. The 2013 reports were published in July 2014, and include a report on Digital Literacy. It has useful statistics on US public libraries, infographics, an interactive map.
University of Maryland and College Park. (2014). 2013 digital inclusion survey results published. http://digitalinclusion.umd.edu/content/2013-digital-inclusion-survey-results-published
Photo by Sheila Webber: Blacksmith, Brno, December 2014

The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement published (last Thursday) the IEA International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS) 2013, which reports on results of an assessment that was carried out in 21 countries, surveying almost 60000 students and almost 35000 teachers. The research questions were concerned with "Variations in CIL within and across countries; Aspects of schools, education systems, and teaching associated with student achievement in CIL; The extent to which students’ access to, familiarity with, and self-reported proficiency in using computers is associated with student achievement in CIL; Aspects of students’ personal and social backgrounds associated with CIL."

Schoolchildren had to do things like respond to an email, cut and paste a URL, register someone at a website and create a poster with specified elements. I would therefore say it was more "computer literacy" than "information literacy" (and the emphasis is on the need for people to be able to use computers to do things). However, it it is an interesting report that I have only skimmed. As well as administering the assessment, questions about home and school use of computers were asked, and information on age, socio-economic class and gender was collected. There were variations between countries, but e.g. "Among the socioeconomic
indicators, parental occupational status and home literacy resources in particular were positively associated with CIL across the participating countries." Girls performed better than boys, particularly in some countries e.g. the Sydney Herald pointed out that Australian girls ahead of boys in computer literacy
Additionally, teachers were asked questions about availability, use of, experience with, and attitudes to use of computers. One set of question asked them the extent to which they used ICT with students "The capability most widely emphasized in their teaching was “accessing information efficiently.” Overall across countries, 63 percent (the ICILS 2013 average) of teachers said they emphasized this skill in their teaching. The highest national percentage was recorded in Australia (76%) and the lowest in Lithuania (40%)." (p.215).
International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS) 2013: Preparing for Life in a Digital Age: http://www.iea.nl/fileadmin/user_upload/Publications/Electronic_versions/ICILS_2013_International_Report.pdf
Additionally a press release gives these links:
The European Commission report on findings for the European countries participating in ICILS 2013, Main findings and implications for education policies in Europe http://ec.europa.eu/education/library/study/2014/ec-icils_en.pdf
A package of press materials, including the press release and infographic on the study highlights http://www.iea.nl/fileadmin/user_upload/Studies/ICILS_2013/IEA_ICILS_2013_Press_Release.zip
"View a video demonstration of an example student test module from ICILS 2013, After-school Exercise" http://www.iea.nl/index.php?id=475
Photo by Sheila Webber: autumn leaves, November 2014

Drawing to the close of the European Conference on Information Literacy, held in Dubrovnik. Radovan Vrana talked about Digital literacy as a prerequisite for achieving good academic performance. He did a survey of students at the University of Zagreb (apologies, I did not note the number, I think it was about 120 respondents). He asked what elements participants thought were included in digital literacy (see the slide for the responses): I thought it was interesting that a minority thought that writing text was part of digital literacy. When asked what they thought they needed in terms of additional learning, creating web pages, editing digital photographs, creating animating, and video editing came top; using email came last. Self-learning was the biggest means of learning. Participants thought the influence of ICT on their academic performance was strong. He asked about who was responsible for development of digital literacy, they thought that they themselves were most responsible, with formal education (school and university) after that. In the question session, an interesting question arose about application of digital literacy to their lives; that students are likely to have a narrower view of digital citizenship, as while they are students they haven't had to deal with things like buying houses, cars, children's education, and other interactions that come with later adult life.