Information literacy is a subversive activity:

Abstract

The theory of information discernment discussed here is firmly based on models, research and scholarship of information literacy coupled with theory and research in information behaviour. This paper will explore original research conducted by Walton and Hepworth and how it has developed over the last 10 years - the pilot study was reported in the very first edition of this journal in 2007. It will show that it has led to the emergence of the concept of information discernment and how Foucault’s discourse analysis theory has been used to further critically analyse its application. This paper will show how the research has been applied in a range of contexts, from enabling students in their first year of A-level study in the UK to carry out better research for their extended project qualification (EPQ), to teaching information literacy to undergraduates in various disciplines. This research will then be synthesised to create a new theory of information discernment summarised as: the ways in which social, psychological, behavioural and information source factors influence peoples’ judgements about information. I argue that information discernment should be included in future notions of information literacy and, in particular, informs the ACRL (2016) key threshold concept that authority is constructed and contextual. Attendant psychological notions of worldview, misinformation, confirmation bias, motivated reasoning and epistemic beliefs will be explored to determine how these articulate and enrich this new theory. The paper explores how this theory can be applied in practice beyond the learning environment, and argues that, ultimately, information literacy is a subversive activity which challenges received notions of the construction, communication and exchange of information and knowledge.

What academics really think about information literacy

“…Skills of synthesising and creating new knowledge are emphasised in both the ANCIL and the new ACRL IL standards and are seen by our academics as essential to both IL and learning (Secker, 2011;Coonan, 2011;ACRL, 2016). Developing the skills of information discernment (Walton, 2017) was central to our academics' view of the 'information literate' student where IL needs not only to be actively integrated within the student's learning and contextualised within their discipline (Dawes, 2019), but built, like all learning, on their prior knowledge and experiences.…”

Using information science to enhance educational preventing violent extremism programs

“…Norms (Hepworth, 2004) represent the boundaries of the context shaping how people act in a group situation. All T A B L E 1 Thematic analysis of the theory of change models of preventing violent extremism (PVE) programs using the information discernment framework (Walton, 2017;Walton & Hepworth, 2011 but one of the EPVE programs (excluding B) alluded to norms in their TOC models. This featured significantly in A (occurring on 10 occasions) identified as: "Participants understand relationship between 'British values' and community cohesion" (A), "Participants appreciate the appeal of group membership" (A), "school's behavior management systems" (A), and "reward and sanction systems" (A).…”

Reframing Information Literacy as Academic Cultural Capital: A Critical and Equity-Based Foundation for Practice, Assessment, and Scholarship

“…Indeed, in the current political climate in which information serves as a political commodity, some students or their families may view the modes of thinking related to information literacy as subversive. 54 Meyer and Land acknowledge that crossing a conceptual threshold includes an affective component, one that may "be unsettling, involving a sense of loss" for the learner. 55 Given the evidence that many marginalized student populations often experience challenges as they transition into and within college, as well as the understanding that the information literacy threshold concepts articulate the ways in which students will think like scholars, it is imperative that we take seriously the implications of the current conceptualization of information literacy for the student whose identities higher education has traditionally marginalized.…”