a situated view on information literacy: epistemological issues and practical solutions through...

A situated view onInformation Literacy:

Epistemological issues and practical solutions through analysis of participatory media in

learning environments

Fredrik HanellPhD student

Library and Information StudiesLund University

I3 2011 / 110621 / Fredrik Hanell: A Situated View on Information Literacy

A socio-cultural perspective

Säljö (2010):- people's activities are always situated and

mediated by tools

Activity as an empirical focus encourages the study

of people's practices (repeated historical, social, cultural and

material activities). Learning and information literacy (IL) as

embedded in contexts.

cf. Lloyd (2006); Sundin & Francke (2009); Wertsch (1991)


Information Literacy & Literacy

IL as an integral part of every literacy: as information (literacy)

practices integrated with different literacy practices. IL, as well as

learning, is situated

Lankshear & Knobel (2006, p. 64):

- “socially recognized ways of generating, communicating and negotiating meaningful content through the medium of encoded texts within contexts of participation in Discourses”

Gee (2007):

- to understand (read) and produce (write) meaning


A generic view on Information Literacy

Information Literacy


A situated view on Information Literacy

Information Literacy Information Literacy Information Literacy







What is Information Literacy?


A situated view on Information Literacy

To solve this issue, we need:

- A continuing epistemological discussion- A multitude of empirical examples


The use of participatory media within learning environments

2 cases (from higher education):

- Twitter- PING PONG


PING PONG


Twitter


The use of participatory media within learning environments

Analytical tools:

- A socio-cultural perspective- New literacy (NL)


New Literacy

Lankshear & Knobel (eg. 2003, 2007):

- New technology- New ethos


Two reasons to talk about New Literacy

- NL is useful in connecting the ”new” participatory media with the world of education and schooling (“literacies”)

- The concept is also useful in connecting use of participatory media with socio-cultural theory, and placing this use in the context of literacy and IL


Three general criteria for analysis of NL

- Collective participation- Collaboration- Distributed intelligence and expertise


PING PONG

- Collective participation- Through discussion forum, a chat-tool and a service

called “Instant Messaging”.

- Collaboration- To a certain degree (no collaborative editing, no real-

time collaboration)

- Distributed intelligence and expertise- ”Ask a question”, forum, chat-tool, IM.


Twitter

- Collective participation- Includes a social networking feature (Followers).

- Collaboration- Facilitates communication (Retweets, hashtags).

- Distributed intelligence and expertise- Barack Obama is followed by almost 6 million users.


Findings

- Both services provide both old and new technology, but only Twitter express the new ethos of NL.

- The criteria for analysis of NL are used to link central socio-cultural concepts to the use of participatory media in learning environments:

- Socially distributed cognition (cf. distributed intelligence and expertise)

- Zone of Proximal Development (cf. collaboration)- Unintentional mediation


Conclusions

- In connecting the classic work of L.S. Vygotsky to new, participatory media through the concept of NL a deeper understanding of the interaction between learner, participatory media and context is gained.

- The theoretical construct of NL serves as a bridge between ”new” participatory media and the world of education and schooling (“literacies”).

- Contributes to a continuing theoretical discussion of IL in a socio-cultural perspective.


Thank you!

Fredrik Hanell

PhD student in Library and Information Studies

Division of ALM and Book History

Department of Arts and Cultural Science

Lund University, Sweden

E-mail: [email protected]

Twitter: www.twitter.com/FredrikHanell

Paper, presentation and references: www.fredrikhanell.se/I3

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.twitter.com/FredrikHanell

http://www.fredrikhanell.se/I3

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