At the Intersection of Information Literacy, Technology, and Digital/Media

When thinking about how one consumes information, it is important to understand how technology and digital media impacts the information we process.  As educators, we consistently learn how to look for bias in the information we intake, however, now more than ever, we are learning about new forms of media our students are engaging in.  With this, it is important to facilitate learning environments that teach students and peers how to determine the validity and credibility of the information being viewed/read, especially in social media.  The Partnership for 21^st Century Learning states, “Effective citizens and workers of the 21^st century must be able to exhibit a range of functional and critical thinking skills related to information, media and technology.” (p. 5) With the everchanging media platforms and easy access to a plethora of information, it is imperative that school librarians become familiar with and challenge their own biases and information diets.

              In The Liturgists Podcast, Fake News and Media Literacy, Gungor and McHargue discuss using a guideline for evaluating an information source.  This outline includes questions one should ask themselves when reading news; is there an author named, where was the article published, is there a date of publication, does it cite sources, is the article well written, does anything in the article make me angry or afraid. This outline will help one determine whether the news they are reading is real or fake. They suggest doing the work of evaluating news using these guidelines prior to sharing the information.  While this is a tedious endeavor, isn’t it necessary in being a critical thinker and seeker of knowledge? They also dig into being a conscious consumer of media with the author of The Information Diet, Clay Johnson.  He encourages us to turn on our mindful brain when browsing digital/media information.  We need to realize that media is feeding us information for their benefit not necessarily ours.  As conscious consumers, we need to pay attention to what we are reacting to and sharing via social media.  This conversation made me evaluate my media consumption.  While I currently have social media accounts, I am not one to share articles.  I do not share anything political or news articles because I do not feel that is worthy of my time.  Clay talks about acting locally.  This has been my focus as far as a media presence.  I see serving my community as an important and necessary focus.

              As an educator, I believe that the information diet of a school librarian should include the ability to evaluate information from a plethora of sources and continuously seek an understanding of the everchanging media platforms.  As a seeker and transmitter of information, we have an obligation to view all aspects of information and recognize our own biases as well as the biases in the information we are consuming.

 References

Gungor, M. (Host). (2017, March 7).  Fake news & media literacy.  [Audio podcast episode]. In The Liturgists. https://theliturgists.com/fake-news-media-literacy-podcast-page

Paretnership for 21st Century Learning (P21). (2015). Framework for 21st Century Learning.