Institute Highlights
Institute Announcement: 2024-2026 Seed Grant Awardees
Congratulations to recipients Dr. Leili Seifi (University of Birjand, Iran); Dr. Neda Zeraatkar (Emory University, USA) for receiving $4,000 in support of their research!
Access and Strengthen Health Information Literacy: A Toolkit to Alleviate Information Poverty in Pregnant Rural Women in Iran
This study will explore ways to alleviate the health information poverty of rural pregnant women in Iran, while identifying avenues for strengthening and increasing health information awareness of rural pregnant women who lack access to health centers and libraries.
Institute Spotlight: Algorithmic Literacy
How information needs to be accessible, especially in healthcare.
Dr. Michael Ann DeVito, our invited speaker from ID:EALS 2024, explains folk theorization’s role in fostering algorithmic literacy!
Clipped from her presentation, “Combating Epistemic Injustice and Securing Sociotechnical Visibility via Algorithmic and Allied Literacies.”
“There’s been a lot of talk about algorithmic literacy lately and rightly so. It’s a crucial literacy that I would argue we are far behind on studying, understanding, & boosting. There’s still plenty of debate over what our approach to algorithmic literacy should be, & perhaps unsurprisingly I have a rather strongly held position in that debate. I propose that our standard for algorithmic literacy should not be a static set of skills, performance on tests, or batteries of questions, or even the much-vaunted ability to code. I know as a computer scientist that’s a surprising thing to be hearing, but I really don’t think that’ll do it. Our standard for algorithmic literacy should be structural folk theorization, because it gives the individual the tools they need to think strategically, to theorize about & react to causes, & to adapt their behavior directly to the algorithmic system itself. Structural theorization essentially gives the user agency. The agency to pursue their goals, which is the very heart of a modern literacy. & also our strongest tool for helping people fight the epistemic injustice they are faced with every day. It’s not perfect, it won’t solve all of our problems, but it is a start. We know it can work, because I’ve consistently shown through my own work that some folks are already out there doing it, already out there every day using their structural folk theorization ability to break through the hermeneutical injustice of opaque unexplained socio-technical visibility systems.”
Institute Spotlight: Information’s Role in Health Equity
How information needs to be accessible, especially in healthcare.
Dr. Megan Threats, our keynote speaker from ID:EALS 2024, quotes scholar Dr. Beth St. Jean in identifying how information needs to be physically & intellectually accessible in order to ensure health equity
Clipped from her presentation titled, “InFormation for Health Justice: Utilizing Intersectionality Theory in (Health) Information Practices Research.”
“Information is very clearly one of the central resources to which one needs both physical and intellectual access in order to have a sufficient and equitable capability to be healthy.”
Institute Announcement: 2024-2026 Seed Grant Awardees
Congratulations to recipients Dr. Anwarul Islam (University of Dhaka, Bangladesh), Dr. Bhakti Gala (Central University of Gujarat, India), Dr. Aminath Riyaz (The Maldives National University, Maldives), Dr. Raj Kumar Bhardwaj (University of Delhi, India), and Tabassum Aslam (Lahore School of Economics, Punjab, Pakistan), who were awarded $4,000 in support of their research!
AI and Health Information Literacy: A study exploring the perceived usefulness, and readiness among women in South Asia
This study aims to understand how women in South Asian countries perceive the usefulness of AI in enhancing health information literacy and the factors that influence readiness to adopt AI-driven health information technologies. The outcomes of the study may assist policymakers and governments in creating health information policies tailored for women in this region, leading to better healthcare outcomes, informed decision-making, and increased gender equality
Institute Spotlight: Combating Misinformation
Critical Thinking vs. Fallacies
Dr. Elena Musi, the winner of the ID:EALS 2024 Publication Award, explains how we can empower citizens to be fact-checkers using Fallacy Theory & Human-Computer Interaction to combat misinformation.
Clipped from her presentation titled, “Critical Thinking the (Mis)Information Ecosystem: The Fake News Immunity & the Vaccinating News Chatbots.”
“Our main goal is that of reverse engineering the manipulation of information providing citizens with the means to act as fact checkers & also communication gatekeepers with the means to avoid creating in the first place, but also spreading misleading news. To do so we have combined Fallacy Theory & Human Computer Interaction. So I’ll explain what fallacies are just in a moment. So our theoretical approach tackles the infodemic through two main fields: computational rhetoric & argumentation mining & information literacies, which both requires the exercise of critical thinking, right. So I guess we all agree that the proliferation of information across the web calls for computational approaches to understand the roots of virality, meaning arguments that shape public opinion, & lines of diffusion of information in crisis scenarios. The current of our framework are fallacies. Fallacies are arguments that seems to be valid, but they’re not. We hypothesize that they work as indicators of fake news & it happened to be so.”
Institute Announcement: 2024-2026 Seed Grant Awardees
Congratulations to recipients Alexandra Howard & Amber Willenborg (University of Louisville); Dr. Nicole A. Cooke (University of South Carolina) for receiving $4,000 in support of their research!
Context & Connections: Applying the Critical Cultural Literacy Model to Community-Based Learning
This study aims to apply the Critical Cultural Literacy model to community-based learning courses to equip undergraduate students with a more holistic critical cultural literacy. The research team will develop an online toolkit that librarians and faculty can use to facilitate classroom conversations around critical cultural literacy and help students develop skills that are imperative for inclusive and equitable civic engagement.
Institute Spotlight: Restoring Cultural Context
Indigenous Knowledge Systems & Repatriation
Dr. Jessie Loyer, a featured panelist at ID:EALS 2024, explains how repatriation helps repair cultural fractures by restoring the context of artifacts, which are often viewed in isolation within museums, rather than as part of a holistic knowledge system.
Clipped from her presentation titled, “Collections Are Our Relatives: Indigenous Interventions.”
“We can think about the way that something like repatriation is repairing fracture. So here is a picture of me, I’m in the field museum in Chicago and I’m looking at a sash here that I believe it to be finger woven. I’m a weaver as well and so you can look at the way that the warp and the weft of the threads are drawn together to kind of understand how this was created. Now visiting items like this in something like a museum is so essential for this idea of a holistic knowledge system, because for many of these items they are out of context. We see them as kind of the item itself without out seeing how it functions within the entire knowledge system.”
Institute Spotlight: Information Inequity & Default News Sources
Inequity in Navigating Information Sources
Dr. Chelsea Peterson-Salahuddin, a member of our panel from ID:EALS 2024, explains how information inequity is perpetuated with default news sources & institutions and, as a result, requires more labor from underrepresented groups to seek out appropriate & applicable information.
Clipped from her presentation titled, “Towards Equitable Information: Understanding & Addressing Barriers to Black & Women of Color’s Information Access & Use.”
“There was still often though a disconnect participants talked about between their lived experiences & the default information that was often provided to them. Specifically, through mainstream U.S. news sources. So, when thinking about how news as an institution produces information marginalization & in turn information inequity, I think it’s also important to think about not only how this how this critical orientation, while not necessarily an information barrier, does necessitate an additional labor on the part of these communities in engaging in information seeking. Therefore, while not a barrier per se could be seen as a form of inequity, in that this amount of labor is not necessarily required of a white middle-class American who are engaging with these new sources, right.”
Institute Announcement: 2024-2026 Seed Grant Awardees
Congratulations to recipients Rachel Adler, Abhinav Choudhry, & Kyrie Zhixuan Zhou (University of Illinois, USA) for receiving $4,000 in support of their research!
Gamified Finance Simulator for Older Adults: A Financial Literacy & Vulnerability Intervention
This interventional study seeks to improve the financial literacy, reduce the financial vulnerability, and improve the self-efficacy of older adults through the use of a finance simulator that teaches older adults to accomplish digital banking and ecommerce tasks and learn ways to guard against online security threats.
Institute Spotlight: Information Literacy & Refugee Resettlements
Information Literacy & Independence
Dr. Ellie Abdi, a member of our panel from ID:EALS 2024, explains how information literacy can impact the journey for refugees & their experiences with resettlement & integration through independence & empowerment!
Clipped from her presentation titled, “Enhancing Refugees’ Information Experiences.”
“Considering these ways, as experiences of information literacy means that individuals who engage with a wider range of ways of experiencing information can be assumed more information literate. And because of the significance of information in the resettlement and integration process discussed earlier, being more information literate translates to a smoother journey in resettlement and integration for refugees. Also, experiencing more independent ways of using information, so the ones in the lower part of the diagram, may foster a sense of empowerment and independence. So those being able to engage with information in more independent ways may also experience a more independent resettlement and integration process.”
Join the newly formed AI Community of Practice (AI COP) for academic librarians in collaboration with The Ohio State University & Carnegie Mellon University!
The inaugural meeting will be held Wednesday, August 28th, 2023 at 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM EST / 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM PST. To participate in the first meeting, please register at https://tinyurl.com/yep72fwf
The AI COP aims to create a vibrant, inclusive community where academic librarians can explore the opportunities and challenges of artificial intelligence together. Key aspects of our community:
Open dialogue: All viewpoints on AI are respected and valued.
Knowledge sharing: Learn from colleagues and identify collaboration opportunities.
Resource development: Work together to create shared AI resources and publish them in open access institutional repositories.
Join us in shaping the future of AI in academic libraries!
Institute Spotlight: Folk Theorization in Understanding Social Media
Is there a better way we can understand & navigate social media & the information it dispenses?
Dr. Michael Ann DeVito, our invited speaker from ID:EALS 2024, explains folk theorization & how it can determine the ways society collectively interprets & navigates social media platforms, such as TikTok!
Clipped from her presentation titled, “Combating Epistemic Injustice and Securing Sociotechnical Visibility via Algorithmic and Allied Literacies”
“We turn to folk theorization because we need to make decisions anyway, whether we have the truth about a process or a platform or not. In the context of HCI and social platforms, folk theories are how we figure out how to navigate algorithmic environments, even though platforms refuse to tell us how they actually work even when we ask nicely. They are how we construct useful guesses. Folk theorization is our built-in natural cognitive bow work against platform-mediated sociotechnical epistemic injustice; a hermeneutic tool that lets us look at our situations, and without much outside data at all, rest interpretive resources out of the technology itself, and out of our collective attempts to sense make around these injustices.”
Institute Spotlight: Intersectionality as a Solution
Intersectionality as a praxis!
Dr. Megan Threats, our keynote speaker from ID:EALS 2024, discussed the importance of intersectionality as a praxis in how to approach gathering & using information in health justice for all individuals!
Clipped from her presentation titled, “InFormation for Health Justice: Utilizing Intersectionality Theory in (Health) Information Practices Research.”
“Intersectionality! I believe that intersectionality is the approach that we can use as practitioners and as researchers to better get an understanding of how we can be in formation health justice.”
Institute Highlight: 2022-2024 Seed Grant Awardees
The Institute wants to highlight the work of 2022-24 Seed Grant awardees Yvonne Eadon (The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) and Stacy Wood (University of California, Los Angeles), on their project titled “The Truth is in the Stacks: Searching for Information Literacy in Conspiracy Theory Research Institutions.”
Eadon and Wood’s work attempts to understand conspiracy theories as complex phenomena with both historical roots and contemporary implications that require persistent community input to survive and thrive. In other words: conspiracy theories are a lot of work! In this project, Eadon and Wood are interested in how resistant research communities, or people doing collective research outside of mainstream institutional settings, interact with information resources and concepts of information literacy.
As part of the Institute seed grant, Eadon and Wood have worked toward developing a database of institutions trusted and used by resistant researchers and have begun an in-depth organizational history of the one of the longest-running UFO research organizations, the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON).
Institute Highlight: 2022-2024 Seed Grant Awardees
Syeda Hina Shahid (The University of British Columbia, Canada and University of the Punjab, Pakistan) and Luanne Sinnamon (The University of British Columbia, Canada), who presented their funded research for the Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T) this past October.A first step in their Institute funded research project, Shahid and Sinnamon conducted a qualitative systematic review of the literature on scholarly communication and misconduct in the health sciences, identifying four areas of scholarly misconduct that they highlighted in their ASIS&T presentation: “in conducting research, publishing, following research protocols and determining authority.”
They are now interviewing health science researchers in Canada and Pakistan about scholarly misconduct in their contexts. Sahid and Sinnamon will leverage the insights from their interview data and the systematic review to inform the development of new approaches to information literacy instruction in health disciplines and across geographic contexts.
We are excited that they had the opportunity to present this research! If you would like to read more information about the work they presented at ASIS&T, you can do so here: https://asistdl.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pra2.886
Institute Highlight: 2022-2024 Seed Grant Awardees
Stephanie Beene (University of New Mexico) and Katie Greer (Oakland University), who received a 2022 seed grant from the Institute for Information Literacy at Purdue (IILP), recently published a new article in References Service Review titled “Library workers on the front lines of conspiracy theories in the US: one nationwide survey.” In the first national study of its kind, the authors examine how library workers in the United States interact with people who believe in conspiracy theories; the study evaluates the efficacy of various strategies librarians employ to address information disorder in their interactions with conspiracy theorists.
Beene and Greer’s IILP funded research expands on their recently published work by defining gaps in information literacy praxis and expanding current information literacy and metaliteracy frameworks to combat and prevent conspiracism.
We are so excited to see how their research continues! If you would like to read the article, you can find it here: https://lnkd.in/gK26Rsqd .
Institute Highlight: 2022-2024 Seed Grant Awardees
Matt Hannah (Purdue University), who is part of a research team that received a 2022 seed grant from the Institute for Information Literacy at Purdue (IILP), published a new article in the Journal of Information Literacy titled “Information Literacy in the Age of Internet Conspiracism.” Hannah qualitatively compares the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Framework for Information Literacy to social media posts made by adherents to the political conspiracy movement, QAnon. Hannah’s research spotlights striking similarities between the ACRL Framework and the information practices of QAnon before arguing for new information literacy models and future interventions that better account for information manipulation. These models and interventions will further allow individuals to navigate conspiracism and prevent them from falling prey to mis- and disinformation.
Hannah’s IILP funded research expands on this recommendation. A multidisciplinary team at Purdue University is examining current information literacy frameworks and public information needs to inform a new information literacy framework to respond to contemporary informational challenges.
We are excited for Dr. Hannah’s publication and can’t wait to see where his team’s research goes! If you would like to read his article, you can find it here: https://lnkd.in/gFnebPXn