Contextualising risk: the unfolding information work and practices of people during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

PurposeThe aim of this study is to investigate people's information practices as the SARS-CoV-2 virus took hold in the UK. Of particular interest is how people transition into newly created pandemic information environments and the ways information literacy practices come into view.Design/methodology/approachThe qualitative research design comprised one-to-one in-depth interviews conducted virtually towards the end of the UK's first lockdown phase in May–July 2020. Data were coded and analysed by the researchers using constant comparative and situated analysis techniques.FindingsTransition into new pandemic information environments was shaped by an unfolding phase, an intensification phase and a stable phase. Information literacy emerged as a form of safeguarding as participants engaged in information activities designed to mitigate health, legal, financial and well-being risks produced by the pandemic.Research limitations/implicationsTime constraints meant that the sample from the first phase of this study skewed female.Practical implicationsFindings establish foundational knowledge for public health and information professionals tasked with shaping public communication during times of crisis.Social implicationsThis paper contributes to understandings of the role that information and information literacy play within global and long-term crises.Originality/valueThis is one of the first studies to explore information practices during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Saturation, acceleration and information pathologies: the conditions that influence the emergence of information literacy safeguarding practice in COVID-19-environments

“…Analytically, safeguarding can therefore be defined as the “agentic information focused work that participants undertook (i.e. their information literacy practice) to understand and then to mitigate the instrumental risk established via government discourse” (Lloyd and Hicks, 2021, p. 1,059).…”

Time and temporality in library and information science

“…, 2021; Johansson et al. , 2021; Lloyd and Hicks, 2021). The examples both require and enable rethinking of data, documents and associated information practices to account for the temporal dynamics at play.…”

“…Armstrong et al, 2019;Lee and Cook, 2020). Other examples illustrate how unexpected, large-scale events dramatically change needs and practices of data and document production and use for risk assessment and response, and for resilience measures on social, organisational, and individual levels as described in relation to events such as wildfires and terrorist attacks (Borglund, 2020;Compton, 2020) and global pandemics (Harrison et al, 2021;Johansson et al, 2021;Lloyd and Hicks, 2021). The examples both require and enable rethinking of data, documents and associated information practices to account for the temporal dynamics at play.…”

Remembering COVID-19; or, a duty to document the coronavirus pandemic

“…Current COVID-19 documentary initiatives undertaken by LAMs are still evolving as the pandemic itself continues to re-emerge in multiple waves of contagion across the globe. There is an emerging literature on these initiatives and other roles played by LAMs during the coronavirus pandemic (Acker and Chaiet, 2020; Alajmi and Albudaiwi, 2020; Burch, 2020; Dwivedi, 2020; Erll, 2020a, 2020b; Hobbins, 2020; Holland, 2021; Jones, 2020; Kosciejew, 2021; Lloyd and Hicks, 2021; Machovec, 2020; Martínez-Cardama and Pacios, 2020; Matthews, 2020; Neatrour et al, 2020; Oyelude, 2020; Rieger, 2020; Shankar et al, 2021; Tammaro, 2020; Wang and Lund, 2020; Xie et al, 2020). There are useful lists and guides with COVID-19 information, initiatives and services compiled by various cultural memory institutions and professional associations.…”