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Information Literacy

Explore how to find and assess new information.
Books on shelves or open, within screens for computers and other devices
© MuchMania/Shutterstock.com

We might also grow our network by making new connections to people, organisations, services and (non-media) information sources (on and offline).

This means we should consider:

  1. How to find new connections (to people and information)
  2. How to trust those connections (critically evaluate and assess the reliability of them)

To do so, the American Library Association suggests we need to:

Search for information effectively and efficiently
Evaluate information and its sources critically
Understand the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information
Access and use information ethically and legally

We have already seen the dangers of our filter bubbles, so we need to ask ourselves:

You may also want to consider how you will store and reuse anything you find, and whether you will need to access the new information sources from multiple devices. If so, free Web-based or Cloud-based storage services be of help, such as:

Zotero (Open Source software)

GoogleDrive

Mendeley

Dropbox

Evernote

We may also choose to grow our network by joining new communities, such as forums, groups or new social media platforms. Joining any new group, on or offline, can be beneficial, but also a bit daunting, so it’s worth checking out these questions before getting involved:

  • Who are the administrators and/or owners of the online community? Is there a ‘Contact Us’, ‘About Us’ or ‘Help’ button somewhere on the page?

  • How active is the community? How many posts are there from how many different members per day?

  • How can you assess and trust the people you are interacting with in the community (are there many anonymous members, or are members identifiable by name or photo)?

  • Are the community ‘rules and regulations’ easily accessible and easily understood?

  • Can you see any examples of flaming (heated, personal online arguments), trolling (posting controversial comments online intended to provoke an emotional reaction) or other types of online abuse?

  • How authoritative and trustworthy is the ‘original poster’ and the information in their posts?

What methods do you use for finding and assessing information and checking out online communities?

Share any specific examples of good practice that you know of in the comments below.

© University of Southampton
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