Readings
Overview
As we dig into the conversation about academic success, research shows that information literacy is essential to the ongoing learning process and students' success.
Introduction
As we dig into the conversation about academic success, research shows that information literacy is essential to the ongoing learning process and students' success. In this chapter, we will skim the surface of information literacy, leaving deeper conversations to courses you will take later in your academic career, while clarifying the nature of information and what it means to be “information literate”. By the end of the chapter, you should be able to recognize the responsibilities of living, learning, and working in an interconnected, information-rich world, how to strategically decipher and integrate information into your knowledge base and value system while enriching your learning and understanding that being information literate equips you to identify, find, evaluate, use, and create information effectively. Using a strengths-based approach, the narrative throughout the chapter will capitalize on your prior experience with information.
Learning Objectives
The learner will...
- use information literacy to broaden their perspectives and enrich their learning
- understand that information literacy is a set of abilities that allows an individual to identify, find, evaluate, and use information effectively
- develop and employ strategies for understanding and using information to incorporate selected information into their knowledge base and value system
- recognize the rights, responsibilities, and opportunities of living, learning, and working in an interconnected digital world, and they act and model in ways that are safe, legal, and ethical
Defining Information Literacy
Throughout most of your life, you’ve heard “literacy” used as a reading term. Even Merriam-Webster says a person is “literate” when they can read and write. But we also tend to associate literacy with a person’s education or knowledge of a subject.
For instance, we expect the auto mechanic to be knowledgeable in car repair. Before the mechanic became competent in their field, they first learned to use, interpret, evaluate, and communicate relevant information – they had to become “literate” in that area. Similarly, when it comes to information, we each make a similar journey toward becoming literate so we can be competent consumers, collaborators, and creators of information.
| A person is information literacy when they can identify an information need, where and how to locate the information they need, and knows how to evaluate, consume, communication, and recreate it in an ethical manner (ACRL, 2015). |
Let’s return to the example of learning to read. Did you learn to read instantaneously? Did you immediately understand the printed word the first time you opened a book? It took time. As you practiced, your vocabulary grew, deciphering and decoding skills improved, and fluency increased. Even in adulthood your reading skills are still developing as the material is becoming increasingly complex, specialized, and delivered in new formats. (See Chapter 7 for more.)
Information literacy is like the continuum of learning to read. In essence, you never really “arrive” – it is a lifelong process. Not only that, but it involves a blend of literacies. The information we encounter is presented in a variety of formats; some familiar, some new.
Types of Literacy
Reflect on how you receive information. It probably isn’t isolated to one format – textual or linguistic, visual, audio or sonic, gestural or spatial, or data or statistical – but a blend of formats in multiple contexts – cultural, social, academic, or professional (Kalantzis, 2002). To effectively consume the information, you have had to develop multiple literacies.
Multiliteracy is exactly what it sounds like: a potentially endless number of different literacies tied to different areas of life and knowledge in a diverse information landscape (Talja, 2010). Let’s break down what might be included.
Visual Literacy is the ability to understand, produce, and use images, objects, and visible actions appropriately to fit the context. It includes works of art, photography, sculpture, textiles, video, and visual depictions of culture, data, processes, and information (Givens, 2020). If you have taken an art or video production class, your instructor may have talked about the elements of design (color and tone, perspective, framing, pacing, and sound) and how they can convey emphasis to the viewer. As a consumer, your ability to interpret the nuances and use it to meet an information need demonstrates your visual literacy.
Audio or Sonic Literacy. Many of us prefer to listen to lectures, podcasts, and audio books – even a Netflix series when we’re on road trips. As listeners, we pick up on the nuances of voice, sound effects, music, even silence (Givens, 2020), which are intentionally included to convey information. Almost seamlessly, many of us have applied our audio literacy skills to streamed and recorded media, whether for entertainment, education, or as content creators.
Gestural or Spatial Literacy is often discussed in Speech class as a communication queue. Think of the information you can glean from watching someone’s expressions and gestures during a speech or lecture, in a conversation, even their movement through or stillness in a space. Some gestures hint to the person’s cultural norms, others aid to bridging language barriers, and most can promote understanding by filling the gaps in and around words – all while conveying information. Your ability to “read” the person(s) in a situation is a form of literacy.
Data or Statistical Literacy is the ability to access, assess, manipulate, summarize, present, and ethically use data (Schield, 2004; Prado & Marzal, 2013) in a contextual, multi-cultural, and collaborative environment. Don’t let the numbers scare you. Data and statistics are just words in a different form and being data literate enables you to deduce the underlying story.
Components of Information Literacy
Now that we’ve explored the definition of information literacy and its various interwoven forms, let’s break down its components. In each information search – whether for a class or personal information seeking – we follow basically the same process to find our answer.
- Know that you have an information need. How in depth does the answer need to be? Does it need to be in a specific format or from a specific source?
- Find and retrieve the information. This includes knowing where to go to find the information - or at least starting with an idea of where to begin. Can you Google it or does the source need to be more authoritative? You could find medical information through Google, but your health care provider might be a more reliable source.
- Evaluate the trustworthiness or credibility of the information. It if came from Google, maybe not – but it could be credible. Even your health care provider may not be an expert in the sub-specialty you asked about and they may need to refer you to a specialist. Maybe you did find an answer, but it isn’t quite what you needed – maybe it’s not quite what you’re looking for, outdated, or biased.
- Use the information to meet your need. Maybe you were able to find more information than you needed or some of the sources disagreed with others. Select the most appropriate source(s) for your need and apply it to your information task.
- Ethically use the information by acknowledging your source(s). Always give credit where credit is due and attribute it accurately.
- Create a new information product by blending your newfound and pre-existing knowledge and participate in the continued conversation on the topic. The product could be a research project for class, content creation for streaming social media, or simply a contribution to a conversation with a group of friends.
Information Literacy Skills | by USCUpstate Library, 2017, at https://youtu.be/69oCdkWfjvk
Reference
ACRL. (2015). Framework for information literacy for higher education. American Library Association. https://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.acrl/files/content/issues/infolit/framework1.pdf
Givens, M., Holdsworth, L., Mi, X., Rascoe, F., Valk, A., & Viars, K.E. (2020). Multimodal information literacy in higher education: Critical thinking, technology, and technical skill. In Handbook of Research on Integrating Digital Technology with Literacy Pedagogies. IGI Global.
Kalantzis, M., Cope, B., & Fehring, H. (2002). Multiliteracies: Teaching and learning in the new communications environment. In PEN, 133, 1-8. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED465170
Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Literate. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literate
Prado, J.C. & Marzal, M.A. (2013). Incorporating data literacy into information literacy programs: Core competencies and contents. Libri, 63, 2, 123-134. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/288499712.pdf
Schield, M. (2004). Information literacy, statistical literacy and data literacy. IASSIST Quarterly Summer/Fall. http://www.statlit.org/pdf/2004-Schield-IASSIST.pdf
Talja, S. & Lloyd, A. (2010). Integrating theories of learning, literacies, and information practices. In A. Lloyd and S. Talja (Eds.), Practicing Information Literacy (pp. ix-xviii). Chandos Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-1-876938-79-6.50019-4
Encountering Information
Before we can examine how we encounter information, we must first understand what information is. In a biological sense, information is gathered from environmental and internal stimuli through the five senses and communicated to the brain to be processed and communicated to the body and other beings.
What we understand to be information in the digital age goes beyond the biological. We define information as the knowledge and/or skills that are communicated visually, sonically, or through media. In this section we will focus on information communicated through media. Media is the platform or method through which we communicate information.
How do we encounter information?
We typically encounter information through two types of media - static and dynamic – each identified by their ability to change once published and made available to others. Static media does not move or change – it remains ‘static’ – and is simply accessed and retrieved. Dynamic media can be easily updated and is often interactive (Mackey, 2014).
Static Media. Static media comes in many forms – some you might be familiar with. Think about a book. It’s gone through a formal review, editorial, and publication process. Once it is printed it can’t be changed – unless there is a new edition, which requires a repeat of the publication process.
What about e-books? Just because a book exists in electronic form does not mean it can be easily changed once published. Typically, any changes to an e-book are also subject to a formal review and publishing process to produce the first, and every other, edition. The same applies to scholarly journal articles, printed periodicals and newspapers, and printed brochures, pamphlets, or flyers. Recent innovations in electronic publication – OER, fan fiction, or self-publication, to name a few – have transitioned e-books from their traditionally static construction to a more dynamic platform, the characteristics of which we will discuss more in the next section.
A form of static media you’ll encounter in college is a synchronous online class or presentation or its recording. If the instructor presents the same material to another section, it will vary slightly in content, tempo, and interaction, making each instance of the presentation its own edition. Other examples include laws and legislation, film photography, maps, podcasts, and computer program code.
Dynamic Media. Dynamic media moves or changes and is often produced, manipulated, and shared through computer and web-based technologies. Websites and social media might be examples that come to mind first. Organizational websites may be subject to a more formalized publication process with regular scheduled updates, making them more static than dynamic. However, with the increased availability of free tools to make a professional looking website, publication of and edits to personal or crowd-sourced sites is easy and fluid.
In a social media platform, you can write a post and publish it instantaneously. Did you make a grammar or spelling error? Forget to add an image or meme? No problem, just revise the initial post. Though some platforms have an edit trail, it can be difficult to find the original version of the post once it has been ‘polished’. Digital videos, voice recordings, photographs, and graphic design images are also dynamic media.
Consider a meme. Each one starts as a digital image which is layered with new content, usually text, then shared. The same image can continue to be manipulated to express a variety of feelings and beliefs. The digital image at the base of the meme is also dynamic. Apps allow us to add filters, animations, stickers, and text, removing backgrounds, flaws, or people to change the photo. Other examples could include emails, chats, or discussion boards.
Dynamic media doesn’t have to be web based. Consider the scoreboard at a sporting event. It constantly changes to communicate the number of points, time outs, fouls, and other stats for each team as it happens on the field or court. The scoreboard can be digital, analog, or human-powered and still be dynamic media.
Does Packaging Matter?
Consider your most recent trip to the grocery store. As you browsed the aisles, did the packaging influence your choices? Of course, it did. But it wasn’t just the outside of the container that drew you in – the contents matter, as did the size of the container. Was it the flavor of Cheerios® you like? Will the box fit in the cupboard in your dorm? Are individual servings in a cup more appropriate than a family size box? Packaging matters.
It matters when we’re considering information consumption, too. Learning which packaging fits different scenarios is part of becoming information literate.
Are you working on a research project for class? Depending on the project requirements you might look for scholarly journal articles, though you might not if the topic is a current event (journal articles can take a year or longer to be published).
Are you compiling resources for a class discussion over a current event? News media, in print, streamed, or recorded broadcasts, magazines, and blogs might be the most appropriate packages. If the assignment requires you to gather statistics, your best bet may be newspapers, government reports, or scholarly articles.
Many professors will require students to use scholarly or peer reviewed sources in academic assignments. What’s the big deal? Along with scholarly sources comes a level of authority and credibility that usually cannot be matched by other sources – or packages – and they can add a quality to your research. Scholarly and peer reviewed sources are unique because they require authors to document their sources, explore alternative viewpoints, and contribute to the ongoing scholarly communication and exploration of a topic.
Much of this depends on the subject area – different disciplines approach information packages and information needs differently – though all expect you to do your part in evaluating the information before including it in your work. Table 1 examines package types you may encounter during your information seeking.
Table 1. Select the best information package for the task.
Packaging | Best for | Intended Audience | Things to Consider |
Environmental Media | Quick information, advertisements, or directions | General public | May be biased; |
Websites | News; | General public | Limited citations; |
Newspapers or Newscasts | Daily local, national, or international news, | General public | Authors usually not experts; |
Popular Magazines | Current information; | General public or those with recreational interest | Authors usually not experts; |
Professional / Trade Publications | Current Information; | Professionals, Practitioners, Scholars with similar interests | Article length varies; |
Scholarly / Academic Journals | In-depth research or review; | Scholars, Researchers, Professionals, Students | Technical jargon; |
Non-Fiction Books | Background and historical content; | General public to Scholars and Students | Dated information; |
Monographs | Scholarly research; | Scholars and Students | Dated information; |
Textbooks | Content organized to promote learning; | Students | Dated information |
A packaging commonly called “grey literature” doesn’t fit well in the table. It includes a wide variety of documents that are not published in the traditional sense. This difference alone, however, does not make them any less credible as an information source. A few examples you may have encountered are conference papers, academic courseware or lecture notes, company annual reports, reports by government agencies, unpublished letters or manuscripts, or patents.
Where do videos fall in this list? Video is certainly a package type – but let’s think of it more as a medium or platform. Like the box of Cheerios®, we’d have to consider the package contents. Is it an episode of Pup Academy or The Office? Perhaps it is a documentary produced by a scholar or an instructional video. The content is very different, but the package is essential the same.
Not to complicate things further, but any of the traditional “print” packages – newspaper, magazine, journal, book, etc. – may also be available on an alternate platform. A book re-presented as an audio or e-book does not change its place in the table, just its medium.
No matter the packaging, its platform, or how credible its creator may seem, it is always a good practice as an information consumer to run through the 5 Ws before adopting the information as truth. We’ll dig into the 5 Ws in the next section.
References
Mackey, T.P. & Jacobson, T.E. (2014). Metaliterary: Reinventing information literacy to empower learners. American Library Association.
Managing Information
Open the Flood Gates
Even in the short time you’ve spent reading this chapter, you’ve probably been bombarded with information. This could be any combination class content, roommate conversations, learning the campus community, managing social media connections or content creators you follow, questions from family, advice from student services, current events, and more.
How do you make sense of it all, keep it balanced, and not become overwhelmed? That's the trick. Interestingly, this is not just a digital-age phenomenon. Concern over the abundance of information has existed for as long as there has been recorded information (Bawden, 2020) – yet we still struggle with sifting through the mountain of information to find the golden nuggets.
How tall is the mountain? In the 1970s, researchers estimated that it would take seven hundred years to read one year’s research in chemistry. Imagine! 1970 – before the digital age. Fifty years later, the roughly 4.6 billion people that make up the global Internet community spent an average of 6 hours 43 minutes a day online consuming and generating information across dozens of platforms (Kemp, 2020). TikTok, which launched in 2016, has grown to over 1 billion users in 150 countries who view 649,000 videos every minute (Doyle, 2021; Heitman, 2021).
Effect of Overload
In a heavy downpour, water chooses the path of least resistance. The runoff can stress retaining walls and ditches designed to contain it, becoming saturated, fatigued, and eventually failing.
Think of the information in similar terms. Our own internal systems that should be equipped to manage the influx of information become overloaded, resulting in information fatigue. Like physical fatigue, information fatigue can cause exhaustion, lack of motivation, decreased attention to detail, and difficulty concentrating.
It has been proposed that information fatigue is contributing to the spread of misinformation (Bawden, 2020). Now, of course, we aren’t intentionally feeding the misinformation monster. Just like we don’t intentionally put off completing an assignment, doing our laundry, or paying a bill, we don’t intend to share misinformation. We’re just tired and our content filters are overwhelmed . . . so we click “share”. Oops.
Managing the Deluge
So, how do you keep from becoming overwhelmed by information? The easiest answer is to turn off the faucet. But is that realistic? Some people are successful at taking device-free breaks for a day or two and report that it is refreshing. Though it sounds great, is it feasible, especially as a college student with so much going on?
The Information Ecosystem: Whey we're overwhelmed | Rahaf Harfoush | The Lavin 2019 | on YouTube at https://youtu.be/s-1rSDJvo2U.
Think about balancing information consumption as you would balance a healthy food diet. In the chapter on Health & Wellness, you watched a video about how the food you eat affects your brain along with ten tips for maintaining adequate nutrition. Your information diet could follow the same premise. Set aside the tasty junk food or sweet tidbits and choose nutritious alternatives. We’re picky about where we will and won’t eat – perhaps we should replicate this habit in our information consumption.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
So, how do you decide what to let through the filter and onto your plate? Remember the 5 Ws from grade school: Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How? We can – and should – apply the same decision-making process to the information we encounter (University Libraries, 2020).
- Who wrote / created it?
Are they an authority on the subject? An expert on the topic? Do others reference their work and consider them a credible source? - What was their purpose?
Is the information accurate and constructed or written well? Can the information be verified against other sources? Is the information biased or does it have an agenda? - When was it created / published?
Is the information current or outdated? If you’re looking for a historical perspective or at a primary source from a historical event, an older date is probably okay. But if you’re researching a STEM topic, the newer the better. - Where was the information posted or published and is that source stable?
The platform the information is on may be just as important as the information itself. Is it a respected, unbiased platform or one with an agenda? Is the platform stable and what organization sponsors the platform or channel? After all that, is the platform and its information relevant to your information search - Why does this information or its hosted platform exist?
In the ‘where’ we focus on the platform - what about the information itself. What is its purpose and is it biased? - How is it all tied together?
Does is the information - and the rest of the information you’ve encountered on the topic - make sense? Do the sources agree with one another? If not, be prepared to explain the differences - this is helpful when you are assigned a pro/con paper in a class.
If something doesn’t look or feel right, check it out. If it tugged at your emotions, it is okay to be skeptical of the creator’s purpose. Check it out. You are part of your community’s information filter system. Sift through the information you find before bring it inside your circle or promote it to the wider information community.
Neil deGrasse Tyson: How Science Literacy Can Save Us from the Internet | Big Think | on YouTube at https://youtu.be/7fMDR1nMlmE.
References
Bawden, D. & Robinson, L. (2020). Information overload: An overview. In D. P. Redlawsk (Ed.), Oxford Encyclopedia of Political Decision Making. Oxford University Press. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/286715468.pdf
Doyle, B. (2021, June 14). TikTok statistics – Updated June 2021. Wallaroo. https://wallaroomedia.com/blog/social-media/tiktok-statistics/
Heitman, S. (2021, May 21). What happens in an internet minute in 2021: 88 fascinating online stats. LOCALiQ. https://localiq.com/blog/what-happens-in-an-internet-minute-2021/
Kemp, S. (2020, Jan 30). Digital 2020: Global digital overview. We Are Social. https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/01/digital-2020-3-8-billion-people-use-social-media
University Libraries. (2020). Ask the 5 W questions: Savvy info consumers. In Research Guides: University of Washington. https://guides.lib.uw.edu/research/evaluate/5ws
The Information Ecosystem
In previous Science classes, you likely learned about ecosystems. To jog your memory, ecosystems are communities of organisms living together in a physical environment that interact with and depend on one another. They can vary in size and generally the more biodiverse and energy-rich the ecosystem the more stable and resilient it is in the face of diversity (Khan Academy, 2021). National Geographic (2011) sums up ecosystems as “geographic area[s] where plants, animals, and other organisms, as well as weather and landscapes, work together to form a bubble of life.” Let’s use the same construct from science and apply it to information.
The information ecosystem includes information communities of varying size and type, creating information bubbles where the actions of those in the community impact the health, resilience, and stability of the system. Staying within and protecting the bubble protects the members of the community.
| Consider this... Who is in your information ecosystem? What are its boundaries? Does it have defining characteristics? Who are your fellow inhabitants? |
Inside the Bubble
The information bubble you commonly find yourself in is your “personal information network” or PIN. You trust the people in your PIN, interact with them regularly, and rely on them as a resource for mutual development, growth, and support. They may be people you know personally, such as friends and family, or channels or influencers you follow - and you may belong to more than one PIN. The interesting thing about PINs is that they tend to filter the flow of information into or out of the bubble.
The struggle is PINs may filter too much, preventing access to information from a variety of sources or perspectives and echoing beliefs from within the bubble. Common terms associated with these phenomena are echo chamber, filter bubble, and confirmation bias. Though they have meaning as stand-alone terms, they contribute to and support one another. Co-inhabitants in your PIN echo or repeat perspectives and opinions (GCF Global), confirming your bias and tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information that supports your prior beliefs or values (Wikipedia, 2021).
PINs naturally create a bubble, but the skin of the bubble is reinforced by app-based algorithms that filter content based on your online behavior. Think of the For You Page (fyp) on TikTok. The content is driven by an algorithm that tracks what you watch, building the next fyp list based on prior behavior. Netflix, Apple TV, and Spotify have similar algorithms, as does much of what you experience on the Internet – even the ads that appear in the sidebars on news sites.
Using the illustration below [Figure 2.1], think of the circle at the middle as your PIN. You and your community members are inside, safe and secure. On the perimeter are platforms you visit, each simultaneously tracking your online browsing trends and, in attempt to personalize your experience on their platforms, filter the content that you see – Netflix, TikTok, Amazon, etc. Outside the bubble are diverse sources and perspectives that may not be making it into your bubble.
On one hand, living in the security of the bubble may be good. It can serve as a force field or firewall that protects you (and your co-inhabitants) from attacks such as malware or viruses, hackers, stalkers, bullies, and trolls. When it comes to being a responsible information consumer, the bubble can also get in the way. It limits your ability to decipher between misinformation, satire, or propaganda and credible, documented sources. This evaluation process is what aids you in becoming an informed information consumer, conversationalist, and creator – to being information literate.
| Consider this... What is your filter bubble? Do you see trends in what appears in your “fyp” or watch list? How can you break the algorithm to see a wider range of perspectives? |
Bursting the Bubble
The first step to bursting the filter bubble is to intentionally search for and interact with content from perspectives that don’t match yours.
Second, consider where your information has been coming from and carefully evaluate and cross-reference the source content. If it is questionable, don’t boost its impact by sharing or liking it.
Finally, refer back to and practice the 5 Ws mentioned in the previous section - who, what, when, where, why, and how. Sometimes this means discarding information from within the bubble and bringing in new information.
How can you burst your filter bubble? | BBC Trending (2017) | on YouTube at https://youtu.be/mh1dLvGe06Y.
Did you hear something on the news and you’re not quite sure it is true? It’s okay to check it out! Try these websites to verify if it is shareworthy: |
References
GCF Global. (n.d.). Digital media literacy: What is an echo chamber? https://edu.gcfglobal.org/en/digital-media-literacy/what-is-an-echo-chamber/1/
Khan Academy. (2021). What is an ecosystem? Science. https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/ecology/intro-to-ecosystems/a/what-is-an-ecosystem
National Geographic Society. (2011). Ecosystem. Resource library. https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/ecosystem/
Wikipedia contributors. (2021). Confirmation bias. In Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias
Building on Information Literacy
We’ve defined information literacy, listed the ways we experience information, explored the information ecosystem, and discussed managing the deluge. How do we use these concepts to build information literacy skills?
As mentioned in the first section, literacy builds over time and continues throughout life. Literacy is also a blend of other literacies and proficiency in one area helps develop another. They layer over time, equipping us to find the golden nuggets buried in the mountain of information. As the complexity of the mountain terrain changes, our ability to locate, evaluate, and effectively use literacy skills to meet the challenge confirms that we are information literate.
No matter the situation we seek information in the same sequence: recognize the need for information, determine how (and where) to find the information, select and evaluate the information using the 5 Ws, process and use the information in a way that best fits the original need, sometimes resulting in a new information product.
Literacy in Context
Along with the types of literacy listed at the beginning of the chapter, literacy is also contextual. Is that confusing? Your skill set contains multiple literacies - but we apply those skills differently in different scenarios.
Foundational Literacy. We’ve covered this already - it is our traditional understanding of literacy: reading, writing, and our foundation for meaning-making. Educators don’t associate literacy solely with reading and writing, even though that seems to be the emphasis. They consider literacy as a constellation of skills, adding mathematics, speech, speech comprehension and many other forms to the mix (Kirsch, 2001a).
Media Literacy. Considered to be 21st century skills, media literacy is marked by the ability to access, evaluate, share, create, and participate in media in a variety of forms (CML). Media is likely your primary source of information, formal and informal, static and dynamic, to find out what is going on in the world around you and answer daily what-ifs. Viewers are also information creators through sharing, commenting on or liking posts and influencing the story and its spread (Lombard, 2010)
Health Literacy. As a patient, you are an information seeker. Sometimes this leads us to websites, social media, the local pharmacist, or literature from the doctor’s office. Health literacy is dependent on your ability to understand and use the information in decision making (CDC, 2021), safely manage the use of medication, and gain control over your well-being (ABC, 2021). Advice from credible sources and lived experiences with ailments and remedies increases our knowledge and, therefore, literacy. New information is created through your practitioner’s documentation of your medical journey through treatment and recovery (Lombard, 2010). A deeper discussion can be found in the Health and Wellness chapter.
Mental / Emotional Literacy. A concept developed by Australian scholars, M/E literacy is the knowledge and belief about mental disorders that can help to recognize, manage, and prevent them (Jorm, 2000). It aids in recognizing psychological distress, understanding risk and causes, and applying self-help interventions. Mental health carries stigmas, prejudice, and discrimination that can quickly be squashed with mental / emotional literacy (APA, 2021), opening opportunities for treatment and support.
Financial Literacy. Financial Literacy is the ability to understand and effectively use financial skills, including personal financial management, budgeting, and investing, to make better financial decisions. Whether you’re budgeting for everyday spending, strategizing how you’ll pay for college, or planning for the long-term, effective money management with help further your personal goals (Fernando, 2021).
Knowing how the world of money works helps protect you from becoming a victim of financial fraud, too. If an investment sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Unfortunately, swindlers stalk individuals and small and large businesses. Financial literacy helps insulate you from those attacks. A deeper discussion about financial literacy is in chapter 2.
Cultural Literacy. When learning to read, you also learned to decipher the symbols of the language you were learning, their shape, sound, meaning, etc., and how they combined to form grammar and, later, vocabulary. Some of these components were tied to culture.
A culturally literate person knows a given culture’s signs and symbols, including its language, dialects, stories, lifestyle, traditions, beliefs, history, etc., or a nation, people, or social group. A person does not have to be from that culture to be culturally literate; literacy does equip them to understand that culture with fluency and engage with the culture (ABC, 2021).
In an information-rich diverse global community, developing cultural literacy is a crucial component to understanding and appreciating others’ experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives. This not only helps us interact and collaborate effectively in the academic environment but also in work life and social communities (WSU, 2019).
Numerical Literacy. Also known as numeracy, numerical or mathematical literacy is the ability to reason and apply simple numerical concepts, logical thinking, reasoning, and reading graphs. Like foundational literacy, your numeracy skills have developed as you’ve transitioned through math lessons in school - and will continue to develop. Even if your college major requires limited coursework in mathematics, you will continue to experience and grow in numeracy through life’s normal demands for mathematics.
Remember asking “will I ever use this”? You may not use advanced math topics in your everyday life, but you will likely cook, read receipts, play or watch a sport, paint a room, or calculate a tip. Like 21st century skills, numeracy is important to employers in the hiring process. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has linked weak numerical literacy to weak health literacy. Because basic mathematics and reasoning skills seep into multiple areas of our lives, this makes sense. Investigate chapter 8 for more discussion on Mathematics in college.
Life Literacy. Life literacy emphasizes the importance of lifelong and life-wide learning to help you live your life to its fullest. School, work, family, and community are important areas in your life. In and through each you will continue to develop literacies that will lead you to a more productive, healthy, and successful life experience filled with information’s golden nuggets.
References
ABC. (2021). Cultural literacy. ABC life literacy Canada. https://abclifeliteracy.ca/cultural-literacy/
APA. (2021). Stigma, prejudice and discrimination against people with mental illness. https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/stigma-and-discrimination
CDC. (2021). Health literacy basics: Understanding literacy & numeracy. https://www.cdc.gov/healthliteracy/learn/UnderstandingLiteracy.html
CML. (n.d.). Media literacy: A definition and more. Center for Media Literacy. https://www.medialit.org/media-literacy-definition-and-more
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Chapter Summary
Becoming Information Literate is a lifelong and life-wide process that will enrich interactions with information and individuals in the academic, social, and professional aspects of life. As an information consumer you are also emerging as a scholar in your areas of interest through information creation, both formal and informal. Future courses in your major or minor will provide opportunities to dig deeper into research and contribute to scholarly conversations, though you are welcome to dig deeper on your own through electives and in making connections with classmates and instructors.
In this chapter we have explored the responsibilities of living, learning, and working in an interconnected, information-rich world, how to strategically decipher and integrate information into your knowledge base and value system while enriching your learning and understanding that being information literate equips you to identify, find, evaluate, use, and create information effectively. Remember, examine everything with a critical eye. Employ not only your five senses, but also the 5 Ws – who, what, when, where, why, and how – inside your bubble and beyond.