Information Literacy and Fake News - Blog Post #2

Technology allows us to consume incredible amounts of information and perspectives all at once, but learning how to navigate that much content, much less teach students how to navigate it, is a challenge. The School Library Journal article “Truth, truthiness, triangulation: A news literacy toolkits for a ‘post-truth’ world” examines the ways the meaning of “truth” has changed in journalism and tools that school librarians can use to incorporate news literacy in lessons of information literacy (Valenza, 2016). Information literacy requires us to always be critically thinking about things we read and see. But in a digital space like social media or blogs where so many of use find our news, it seems that the rules for critical analysis don’t apply. I think this is partly due to the casual way we interact with technology and media on a daily basis. On the internet, a political opinion piece exists alongside a link to a BuzzFeed quiz and our friend’s vacation photos. Social media especially lumps all this content together in a way that doesn’t always prepare us to know when to read critically, and can present the news as another piece of content to passively consume. When that type of content shows up on the same timeline or page, it feels like all information has equal importance, or can be treated the same. The SLJ states that we need to teach information literacy that “involve[s] sustained critical thinking, a practice to engage in regularly as we read and view and inquire with learners of all ages across disciplines” (Valenza, 2016). I think by teaching information literacy in this way where it is ingrained in all aspects of learning and every grade levels, it sets up students to always have a critical/analytical mindset with everything they see online. This generation of current students will probably face many new media literacy challenges throughout their lives as technology and media evolve. Therefore, it is important that we not just teach them how to spot current “trends” in media like fake news, but teach them how to recognize all kinds of misinformation and how to approach all information they consume, either passively or actively, with healthy skepticism.

The Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education from the Association of College & Research Libraries (2016) was very useful in considering what the long term goals are for information literacy practices. I think the first framework “Authority is Constructed and Contextual” is especially important. Teaching students about different kinds of authority and where certain organizational authority comes from is essential. The framework calls for a balance of respecting “the expertise that authority represents while remaining skeptical of the systems that have elevated that authority and information created by it” (Association of College & Research Libraries, 2016). This could be a difficult framework to teach in a school setting, but crucial to getting students to look for authentic credibility in their sources. As a school librarian, this is one area in my information diet that I plan to focus on going forward. I like that this framework goes beyond just checking that a source is credible but also evaluating what it is that makes that source credible. Similar to the steps outlined in The Liturgists Podcast episode “Fake News & Media Literacy” where one of the hosts goes through a multistep process of evaluating an article, creating a process that begins with skepticism is an essential step in developing an information literacy practice for students (Gungor, 2017). Thinking about my own information diet, I can see where I fall into common traps. The information diet of a school librarians should be one that leads by example since we influence our students. When we let our biases influence how we teach information literacy, we could be deviating from the goal of media literacy. The kind of information diet that I am striving for, and one that I hope will help me as a school librarian, contains carefully collected sources of news that present differing opinions and perspectives.

The Information, Media and Technology Skills outlined in the Partnership for 21st Century Learning Framework (2015) aligns with these goals. The “Media Literacy: Analyze Media” section especially aligns with this practice as it asks students to be able to “examine how individuals interpret messages differently…and how media can influence beliefs and behaviors.” Questioning sources, even ones that are credible, is a good way to point out those biases. The “ICT Literacy: Apply Technology Effectively” includes the appropriate use of digital technology “to successfully function in a knowledge economy.” I liked this wording as it implies the power of knowledge and therefore the power of something like fake news or misinformation. Just like the ISTE and AASL standards, the Framework for Literacy for Higher Education and Framework for 21st Century Learning can help to effectively incorporate these kinds of lessons in the school library.

References: 

Association of College & Research Libraries. (2016, January 11). Framework for Literacy for Higher Education. https://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ilframework#authority

Gungor, M. (Host). (2017, March 7). Fake news & media literacy (No. 18) [Audio podcast episode]. In The Liturgists Podcast. https://theliturgists.com/fake-news-media-literacy-podcast-page/

Partnership for 21st Century Learning. (2015). P21 Framework Definitions. https://www.battelleforkids.org/networks/p21/frameworks-resources

Valenza, J. (2016, November 26). Truth, truthiness, triangulation: A news literacy toolkit for a "post-truth" world. School Library Journal. https://blogs.slj.com/neverendingsearch/2016/11/26/truth-truthiness-triangulation-and-the-librarian-way-a-news-literacy-toolkit-for-a-post-truth-world/