Teaching information evaluation is not a sometimes thing
During a long discussion about general education requirements at a college where I was an "information literacy librarian", we had to decide whether to have a single stand-alone class on information literacy or to embed the concepts throughout all general education classes and the majors. it was a helluva lot more work, but mercifully, the faculty chose the latter.
To paraphrase Vince Lombardi, we have discovered that evaluation of information is "not a sometimes thing, but an all the time thing." This is true in librarianship and society beyond academe.
One thing that I have given much thought to of late is that 10 years ago we did not fully appreciate the challenge of emotional connection to information. It may have been that it was because I was teaching these concepts in a college setting, but we did not full appreciate that if a person is connected to an idea as part of their identity or emotional make up, it is difficult to impossible to use logical argument and evidence to shake them from that idea.
My modest proposal for the moment is that we must teach and demonstrate every opportunity how to evaluate information and disinformation to create the discipline. People have to grow up with the idea that information evaluation is part of everything connected to their lives. Something has to replace the lure of conspiracy theories and its ilk. In short, it has to be as ubiquitous as grammar and mathematics in our everyday thinking. Thus, there is a role for public libraries as well as school and college/university libraries.
The term may be considered by some to be old fashioned, but "information literacy across the curriculum" is where we should start.
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Comments (9)
Jessie, that does lead us to another question of what does it mean for information literacy and information evaluation for people who have programmed to a certain point of view? Cult programming is another specialty of study that I am not equipped to address, but you are correct that it can happen to anybody regardless of economic or educational status. I would think it has to be more connected to those for whom the currently reality isn't working. Several decades ago we would call it "Future Shock."
It does tie into the idea of the role emotion plays in how we take in information.
That makes so much sense that it connects with people who are struggling with their current "reality." Many of the people I have interacted with who held strong beliefs in conspiracies seem to gain a sense of power or control in finding and holding this "secret" information that not everyone is privy to. Knowledge is power after all. It makes me wonder how we can shift that sense of power into better information sources.
Jessie, I don't know if we can shift them to better resources if they stay where they are with current reality not working for them. It may be a case of getting the horse back into the barn and then closing the door.
What I mean is, when their reality improves, they may be receptive to better ideas and information. Until that time, I am afraid the emotional connection to their reality will make it extremely hard to deprogram.
I think there is a body of work to be explored around "emotional connection to information"! Great insights, Randall.
I think this is a discipline that has already existed for a long, long time but the question has always been -- what is truth? (and how do we find it?)
A question that has been asked for at least 2000 years.
Hi Randall:
I couldn't agree more, that information literacy has to be an all-the-time thing.
As I read your post I was thinking about a news story I read recently about some of the instigators of the attack on the capitol and how they were sucked into the conspiracy theories of QAnon and the others. One attorney said of his client: This is not the man he was six months ago.
When you think about information literacy, how do you see it inoculating people against the disinformation that comes from the highest levels of power?
An excellent question that does get to the heart of the matter. My instincts and hopes is that more education and critical thinking skills is an antidote against authoritarian rule and post-truth government. Political scientists posit that polls for the past two Presidential presidential elections were off so much because they didn't adequately take into account education levels. The question then becomes is that cause or effect?
I suspect the answer lies, as in most things, in multiple factors including education levels and economic status. The uncertainty of living during the worst health crises since 1919 also has exposed that too many people react strangely to this kind of threat. It appears easier to fight enemy countries than viruses.
At the risk of sounding Pollyannish, the only remedy that I can think of against disinformation from the highest level of government is exposure by an independent press, if you have one, and people having the critical thinking skills to believe that exposure. That is where the emotional belief of misinformation becomes problematical.
The all-the-time teaching of information evaluation has to start from the first moment a child is allowed to turn on the Internet or watch the news. The question then becomes, who does the teaching? It is a perfect role for librarians, but we must be honest and admit we can only do so much.
But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try.
I am buoyed by Randall's words: "The all-the-time teaching of information evaluation has to start from the first moment a child is allowed to turn on the Internet or watch the news. The question then becomes, who does the teaching? It is a perfect role for librarians, but we must be honest and admit we can only do so much.
But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try."
Your key question is --who does the teaching?-- and I think the answer is parents, caregivers, community, and then broader to society.
I wonder what trying looks like in my daily work as a children's librarian.In Paula's post (https://librarian.wikiwisdomforum.com/making-credible-sources-fun/) she discusses a simple compelling "newsquiz" program.
This comment brings to mind a comparison I saw of cults and cult mentality to QAnon and conspiracy theories. I am currently investigating similarities between them. One disturbing point I have found is that people of any educational or economic level can fall victim to cults. If this point is shared by conspiracy theories and QAnon followers it makes the problem more challenging.