Dissertations on information literacy

There are a few online PhD dissertations relevant to information literacy that can be accessed via the British Library's ethos service. You have to register (free). If the thesis are not already digitised (the ones below are) then you can pay £49 to get it digitised. They include
-- What is 'digital literacy'? : a pragmatic investigation. Beshaw, Douglas A. J. Durham University, Awarded: 2012 (as a shortcut, the download is actually from http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/3446/)
-- Information literacy instruction for Kuwaiti students and the role of cultural relevance. Lesher, Teresa M. Loughborough University, Awarded: 2002
-- Negotiating information literacy pathways : learner autonomy in higher education. McDowell, Liz. University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Awarded: 2004.
-- Conceptions of effective information use and learning in a tele-health organization : a phenomenographic study of information literacy and knowledge management at work. Toledano O'Farrill, Ruben. Robert Gordon University, Awarded: 2008
-- Developing a new blended approach to fostering information literacy. Walton, Geoffrey. Loughborough University, Awarded: 2009. (Again, as a shortcut, the thesis is also availabe here https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/dspace-jspui/handle/2134/8148)
Photo by Sheila Webber: Green and gold, October 2012

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Digital and Information Literacies at Cardiff University

Earlier this month Cardiff University launched its Digital and Information Literacies Strategy: Embedding learning literacies at Cardiff University: INSRV's Digital and Information Literacies Strategy 2012-2014. This builds on their continued substantial developments in the area of information literacy, and also the JISC project they had on digital literacies.
The strategy is at http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/insrv/news/infolitstrategy.html and digital literacy project at Cardiff University has a blog here http://digidol.cf.ac.uk/ and this is the page on the JISC site, which has project documents right at the bottom of the page http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearning/developingdigitalliteracies/DigiDol.aspx
Photo by Sheila Webber: Today is Apple Day in the UK. This is part of my small crop of apples this year (bad weather has affected the British apple crops generally)

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Digital Literacy Report: consultation

Consultation is open on the American Library Association's Digital Literacy Report, produced by their OITP Digital Literacy Task Force. This is an important area where it is obviously essential to stress the valuable role of libraries and librarians. You you not have to be an ALA member to comment, but you need to register with the ALA Connect system (free). Once you do that, and log in, a comment option appears at the bottom of the page. I haven't had time to look at it thoroughly, but my informal comment from a quick glance is that the definition of "digital literacy" seems too narrowly focused ("the ability to use information and communication technologies to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information, requiring both cognitive and technical skills") and although I can see why this happened in a library context, the digital literacy researchers I know stress the social aspect of digital literacy. I think it could be a good idea to acknowledge this, even if you go on to identify a spcial place for libraries/ librarians within that.
The report can be downloaded from. http://connect.ala.org/node/187923
Comments are open until October 19th. Thanks to Lyn Parker for alerting me to this report.
Photo by Sheila Webber: Autumn perspective, taken in Second Life, September 2012

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Social media and the life cycle of rumors

A TED-London talk from Farida Vis is: Social media and the life cycle of rumors. She talks about her research into the way misinformation is spread and quashed (as mentioned in an earlier post)
Farida will also be speaking at the OKFestival in Helsinki 17-22 September 2012. This festival looks interesting, of relevance to Media and Information Literacy, and I think some sessions will be streaming to the web.

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Alfabetización digital y competencias informacionales: substantial Spanish publication on Info and digital literacies

The Fundación Telefónica, Spain, has published (free online) a substantial item:
Area Moreira, M., Gutiérrez Martín, A. and Vidal Fernández, F. (2012) Alfabetización digital y competencias informacionales. [Digital and Information Literacy] Madrid: Fundación Telefónica. ISBN: 978-84-08-00823-1
My Spanish is poor, but I can report that there are three chapters: one on the importance of (in particular) digital literacies in society today, one on education of the faculty in multiple literacies (including how teachers need to use technology in teaching) and one on informed homes and families, looking at digital and information literacies as regards members of the family, school etc. There is an introduction which identifies that there are new definitions of literacy and illiteracy, which are no longer just to do with reading and writing, and introduces the main topics of the book. I think there is rather more emphasis on digital literacy than information literacy, but still this seems a very useful work. One of the authors has blogged about the book here (in Spanish)http://ordenadoresenelaula.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/libro-alfabetizacion-digital-y.htmlThis is the book in pdf format https://ddv.ull.es/users/manarea/public/libro_%20Alfabetizacion_digital.pdf
Photo by Sheila Webber: graduation on Wednesday, Sheffield University

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The Digital University: A Proposed Framework for Strategic Development

Information Literacy figures prominently in the presentation that was given by Bill Johnston and Sheila MacNeill at the Employer Engagement in a Digital Age Conference in Greenwich on 4th July 2012, The Digital University - A Proposed Framework for Strategic Development. They gave a workshop around what it means to be an (information literate) digital university. I have embedded the presentation below, and you may (if you are interested in digital literacy, employability etc.) find other presentations from the conference of interest at
https://showtime.gre.ac.uk/index.php/ecentre/apt2012/schedConf/presentations
Sheila MacNeill's blog is at http://blogs.cetis.ac.uk/sheilamacneill/ and she and Bill have posted on it about their ideas.

The Digital University - A Proposed Framework for Strategic Development

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Developing Digital Literacies Briefing Paper

Last month JISC published a short Developing Digital Literacies Briefing Paper which provides soundbites from 12 projects it is funding in UK Higher and Further education. JISC defines digital literacy as "those capabilities which fit an individual for living, learning and working in a digital society" and there is a focus on digital literacy for employability and academic success (rather than a more socially constructed view of digital literacy). There are some emerging messages which seem common sense e.g. that students need to be supported by staff in developing their digital literacy. The report is at http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/briefingpapers/2012/developing-digital-literacies.aspx and the Developing Digital Literacies programme page is at http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearning/developingdigitalliteracies
Photo by Sheila Webber, June 2012

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Digital literacy in social sciences: articles

Just published, the lasted issue of the open access journal ELiSS - Enhancing Learning and Teaching in the Social Sciences (Volume 4, Issue 2, May 2012) focuses on Digital Literacies. The home page for the issue is at http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/journals/eliss/volume-4-2. The editorial Digital literacy: digital maturity or digital bravery? summarises the range of articles, authored by UK academics and educational researchers, which are entitled:

- Making digital literacy a success in taught marketing courses (Robin Johnson, David Edmundson-Bird and Brendan J Keegan)
- Institutional strategies for supporting learners in a digital age (Rhona Sharpe and Greg Benfield)
- Learning journeys: exploring approaches to learner digital literary acquisition (Lyn Greaves, Claire Bradley and Debbie Holley)
- The process and affective environment of students personal information management (Sara Robinson and Frances Johnson)
- Bravery, technological literacy and political philosophy: replacing oral presentations with student­-created video presentations(Pete Woodcock)
Photo by Sheila Webber: Jubilee in Tescos, June 2012

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