Information Literacy in Higher Education: A Sociocultural Perspective [1st ed.] 9783030500139, 9783030500146

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SPRINGER BRIEFS IN EDUC ATION

Fabiola Cabra-Torres  Gloria Patricia Marciales Vivas  Harold Castañeda-Peña  Jorge Winston Barbosa-Chacón  Leonardo Melo González · Oscar Gilberto Hernández Salamanca

Information Literacy in Higher Education A Sociocultural Perspective

SpringerBriefs in Education

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Fabiola Cabra-­ Torres • Gloria Patricia Marciales  Vivas • Harold Castañeda-Peña • Jorge  Winston Barbosa-Chacón • Leonardo Melo  González • Oscar Gilberto Hernández Salamanca

Information Literacy in Higher Education A Sociocultural Perspective

Fabiola Cabra-Torres Facultad de Educación Pontificia Universidad Javeriana Bogotá, Colombia

Gloria Patricia Marciales Vivas Facultad de Psicología Pontificia Universidad Javeriana Bogotá, Colombia

Harold Castañeda-Peña Doctorado Interinstitucional en Educación Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas Bogotá, Colombia

Jorge Winston Barbosa-Chacón Instituto de Proyección Regional y Educación a Distancia Universidad Industrial de Santander Bucaramanga, Santander, Colombia

Leonardo Melo González Facultad de Comunicación y Lenguaje Pontificia Universidad Javeriana Bogotá, Colombia

Oscar Gilberto Hernández Salamanca Facultad de Educación Universidad Pedagógica Nacional Bogotá, Colombia

Translated from the Spanish language edition: "Competencias informacionales: rutas de exploración en la enseñanza universitaria", Copyright (c) 2016, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Universidad Industrial de Santander and the authors. ISSN 2211-1921     ISSN 2211-193X (electronic) SpringerBriefs in Education ISBN 978-3-030-50013-9    ISBN 978-3-030-50014-6 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50014-6 © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2016, 2020 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

Preface

The present volume is a theoretical and empirical contribution to the study of information literacy (IL) in higher education. As such, it offers a sociocultural approach to studies of IL in higher education, where personal accounts, skills, and performance(s) in learning situations and intersubjective relationships are examined and resignified for a more profound understanding of IL. The volume reassesses the technical paradigm of IL, reifying information as a social category to inform pathways to university teaching. Research-based chapters include new methodologies to conduct studies about skills from the standpoint of information users so that they may characterize their information profiles. The careers of some university teachers are also included and analyzed, considering their own methods for developing their IL to improve their teaching practices. In a nutshell, this volume offers an interesting view of IL, whose current changes are transforming teaching in university contexts as well as in the information society. The book is organized into six chapters. The first chapter “The study of information literacy in university education” reviews international research on IL in educational contexts. There is a focus on Latin American research and its influence on pedagogical practices. The chapter asserts the importance of supporting information-­ literacy-­situated research in educational contexts, including local knowledge(s) coming from schools and universities. The second chapter “The concept of information in the documentation and information science fields” provides a theoretical background to the concept of information as discussed in documentation and information science, in order to place the research in the following chapters in an established tradition. A historical review is offered of the theories proposed since the middle of the twentieth century, grouped into three paradigms, which are labeled as physical or objective, cognitive or subjective, and sociocultural. The chapter closes with the acknowledgment that, at the present time, it is the sociocultural paradigm that best frames the discussion of the research described in the remaining chapters of the book. The next chapter “Methodological proposal for the observation of information literacies” (Chap. 3) introduces conceptual frameworks and methodological procedures that support a sociocultural approach to researching IL. The concept of IL is v

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Preface

revisited and a multi-level observation instrument is described, as well as its design process. Lessons derived from this information-literacy-observation instrument and process are discussed for the benefit of IL researchers. The following two chapters directly focus on the IL of students and teachers. Chapter 4, “Informational literacy profiles of university students,” draws on an intertwined understanding (Chaps. 1 and 2) of IL, based on a semiotic and sociocultural framework. Data was gathered at two moments between 2009 and 2012, using an information-literacy-profile questionnaire (ILPQ), in-depth interviews, and think-aloud protocols while the respondents were doing an academic task (see Chap. 3). The results showed that university students tend to maintain the same information literacy profile during their studies. Findings also indicated students’ tendency to move between profiles. These movements depend on students’ access to and evaluation and use of information for academic tasks. These findings suggest a number of recommendations for higher education which are discussed at length at the end of the chapter. And, in Chap. 5, “Information literacy and experiences of university professors,” the skills of teachers and their ways of relating them to knowledge are explored. The chapter analyzes the generational changes in teaching and the diverse links teachers and students establish with technology. It also presents the results of a study of the path of two teachers as information users, and the changes in their teaching methods resulting from their use of digital tools. The concluding chapter, “Shifts in information literacy research,” presents some of the conceptual and methodological changes in information literacy research, as well as emerging research issues in the Latin American context. The first section presents the work of the Colombian research group “Information Society and Learning,” which focuses on the study of IL in university courses. The second section discusses some of the milestones of IL in Latin America. This final chapter focuses on the sociocultural approach, in which the social and cultural experiences of the subjects are important: this approach has guided our investigation of informational competences. We believe that the changes in mentality and socialization which take place in the new learning environments are significantly affected by differences in socioeconomic status, gender, age, language, whether a person lives in a city or the countryside, whether a person participates in virtual or face-to-face communities and access to the mass communications media and the markets of material consumer goods and cultural capital.

Preface

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They are likewise influenced by public policies, ideological and commercial interests, globalization, and the monopolies, in the public and private sectors, which manage education and mass communication. Bogotá, Colombia  Fabiola Cabra-Torres Bogotá, Colombia   Gloria Patricia Marciales Vivas Bogotá, Colombia   Harold Castañeda-Peña Bogotá, Colombia   Leonardo Melo González Bucaramanga, Colombia   Jorge Winston Barbosa-Chacna Bogotá, Colombia   Oscar Gilberto Hernández Salamanca

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas, Universidad Industrial de Santander, and Universidad Pedagógica Nacional for supporting the research process of our group “Aprendizaje y sociedad de la información” (Information Society and Learning). We would also like to express our gratitude for the support which we have received, for more than a decade, from the research centers and units at the four universities: Vicerrectoría de Investigación—Pontificia Universidad Javeriana; Centro de Investigaciones y Desarrollo Científico—Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas; Vicerrectoría de Investigación y Extensión—Universidad Industrial de Santander; and Centro de Investigaciones—Universidad Pedagógica Nacional. They have contributed to the multidisciplinary and interinstitutional studies which our research group has carried out since 2003. Finally, we owe much to students and professors who have shared their experiences with us and helped us to understand the diverse aspects of information literacy in the university context.

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Contents

1 The Study of Information Literacy in University Education����������������   1 1.1 A Pedagogical Analysis of Information Literacy��������������������������������   1 1.2 Trends and Core Concepts������������������������������������������������������������������   3 1.3 Study Topics����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   5 1.4 Information Literacy for Contemporary Universities ������������������������   7 References����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   8 2 The Concept of Information in the Documentation and Information Science Fields����������������������������������������������������������������  15 2.1 Introduction����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  15 2.2 Physical or Systems-Oriented Paradigm��������������������������������������������  17 2.3 Subjective or Cognitive Paradigm������������������������������������������������������  20 2.4 Socio-Cognitive Paradigm������������������������������������������������������������������  24 2.5 Final Thoughts������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  27 References����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  27 3 Methodological Proposal for the Observation of Information Literacy ����������������������������������������������������������������������������  29 3.1 Introduction����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  29 3.2 Theoretical Frame ������������������������������������������������������������������������������  30 3.3 Conceptual Framework for the Design of the Observational Instrument����������������������������������������������������������  32 3.4 The Observational Instrument������������������������������������������������������������  34 3.4.1 Scenarios ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������  35 3.4.2 Self-assessment Test of Information Literacy������������������������  37 3.4.3 Semi-structured Interview������������������������������������������������������  38 3.5 Data Analysis��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  38 3.6 Final Ideas������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  39 References����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  42 4 Information Literacy Profiles of University Students����������������������������  45 4.1 Introduction����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  45 xi

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4.2 Profiles of IL ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  46 4.2.1 The Collector Profile��������������������������������������������������������������  47 4.2.2 Verifier Profile������������������������������������������������������������������������  47 4.2.3 Reflective Profile��������������������������������������������������������������������  47 4.3 Attachments Based on the Beliefs of IL ��������������������������������������������  48 4.3.1 “What I was told at School: Do not get into El Rincón del Vago (“Dunce’s corner”)”: Attachments and Beliefs ����������������������  48 4.3.2 “The Final Year Helped Me a Lot to Learn How to Use Bibliographies”: Previous Attachments at School������������������������������������������������������������  51 4.3.3 “My Parents Have Believed that the Person Who Is Going to Be Successful Is Not Someone Who Is Studying”: Previous Attachments at Home����������������  55 4.3.4 “In the University, They Often Say that What One Searches for on the Internet Is Useless”: Pre-university Attachments������������������������������������  56 4.3.5 “This Engineer Taught Me a Lot About the Field of Computers”: Previous Attachments at Work��������������������������������������������������������������  58 4.4 Conclusion������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  59 References����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  61 5 Information Literacy and Experiences of University Professors����������  63 5.1 Introduction����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  63 5.2 The Intergenerational Challenge: A Critique of the Notion that the Generation Gap Makes a Dialogue Impossible������������������������������������������������������������������������  65 5.3 The Experience, Information Literacy, and Teaching Practice ������������������������������������������������������������������������  69 5.3.1 An Approach to Understanding the Informational Competence of the University Teacher��������������������������������������������������������  69 5.3.2 Objective and Procedure of Analysis��������������������������������������  70 5.3.3 The Interviewees ��������������������������������������������������������������������  72 5.3.4 The Vital Experiences ������������������������������������������������������������  72 5.3.5 The Advent of Digital Sources: The Transition from Print to Digital Formats��������������������������������������������������  73 5.3.6 How Teachers Perceive Themselves and Their Students������������������������������������������������������������������  74 5.3.7 Informational Competence and Teaching Practice: The Vision of a Digital Immigrant��������������������������  76 5.4 Issues Related to Access to Information and Criteria������������������������  77 5.4.1 The Combined Use of Printed and Digital Sources����������������  77 5.4.2 Think Better About the Problem ��������������������������������������������  78

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5.4.3 The Evaluation and Credibility of Information Sources��������  80 5.4.4 Some Implications for the University Context�����������������������  82 References����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  85 6 Shifts in Information Literacy Research ������������������������������������������������  87 6.1 Introduction����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  87 6.2 Information Literacy in the Learning Context: Two Stances��������������  88 6.2.1 The First Stance: Research on Information-Seeking Strategies��������������������������������������������������������������������������������  88 6.2.2 Second Stance: The Study of Transitions in Social Practices ������������������������������������������������������������������  90 6.3 IL in University Students: Revisiting the Concept ����������������������������  93 6.3.1 Profiling IL in Higher Education Students�����������������������������  94 6.3.2 Digital Natives as Information Users: Transitions from Print to Digital Format ��������������������������������������������������  95 6.3.3 The Phenomenography of Information Skills: Profiles and Transitions������������������������������������������������������������������������  96 6.4 Trends in IL in Latin America������������������������������������������������������������  98 6.4.1 The Digital Divide and Social Inclusion in the Information Society������������������������������������������������������  98 6.4.2 Recommendations����������������������������������������������������������������  101 References��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  102 Index������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  107

List of Figures

Fig. 3.1 The three perspectives integrated into the observational instrument (Source: Own)�������������������������������������������������������������������� 31 Fig. 4.1 Previous attachments (Source: Own)���������������������������������������������������� 50 Fig. 4.2 Aspects that shape beliefs about IL which originate in the student–teacher relationship at school (Source: Own)���������������� 53 Fig. 4.3 Aspects which shape attachments in the IL originating in the family (Source: Own)���������������������������������������������� 56 Fig. 4.4 Aspects which shape attachments (subject–peers/teachers) and beliefs (subject–information) in IL which originate in the university (Source: Own)������������������������������������������������������������ 57 Fig. 4.5 Aspects which shape attachments (subject–peers/teachers) and beliefs (subject–information) in the IL originating at work (Source: Own)�������������������������������������������������������������������������� 59 Fig. 5.1 Production and analysis of stories (Source: Own)�������������������������������� 71 Fig. 5.2 Vital experiences (Source: interview transcript) ���������������������������������� 74 Fig. 5.3 Teachers’ accounts of their relationship with students (Source: interviews transcript)�������������������������������������������������������������� 79 Fig. 5.4 Guiding students to access information (Source: Own) ���������������������� 80 Fig. 5.5 Information-seeking approaches (Source: interviews transcript)�������������������������������������������������������������� 83 Fig. 5.6 Informational and critical literacy (Source: Markless, 2009, p. 35)������������������������������������������������������������ 84 Fig. 6.1 Changes in the focus of research advocated by the “Information Society and Learning” research group (Source: Own)�������������������������������������������������������������� 92 Fig. 6.2 Dimensions of the inquiry into IL (Source: Own)�������������������������������� 96

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List of Tables

Table 2.1 Authors who discuss the three information paradigms������������������������ 16 Table 3.1 Modalities of information literacy competence������������������������������������ 33 Table 3.2 Categories and subcategories for each modality of information literacy�������������������������������������������������������������������������� 36 Table 3.3 Actions performed by an expert in information science ���������������������� 38 Table 3.4 Matrix used to record the subjects’ methods of accessing, evaluating, and using information sources������������������������������������������ 39 Table 3.5 Example of a question in the self-assessment test�������������������������������� 40 Table 3.6 Example of the matrix for classifying the answers������������������������������ 40 Table 3.7 Example of the semi-structured interview protocol������������������������������ 41 Table 3.8 Potentiative modality—example of categories, subcategories, and profiles�������������������������������������������������������������������� 42 Table 4.1 Attachments in IL according to profiles������������������������������������������������ 49 Table 4.2 Attachments in the IL of university students���������������������������������������� 60 Table 5.1 Binary oppositions of the native-­immigrant metaphor ������������������������ 67 Table 5.2 Constituent elements of the cultural context of the subjects who use information sources���������������������������������������� 70 Table 5.3 Participants’ descriptions���������������������������������������������������������������������� 72 Table 5.4 Milestones in the information search���������������������������������������������������� 75 Table 5.5 Transitions from printed to digital format�������������������������������������������� 77 Table 5.6 What changed in the information-seeking experience?������������������������ 78 Table 5.7 The teachers’ arguments about guiding students to search for information���������������������������������������������������������������������� 81 Table 5.8 Arguments and criteria for assessing the quality of sources���������������� 82 Table 6.1 Types of IL profiles and characteristics������������������������������������������������ 94

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About the Authors

Fabiola  Cabra-Torres  is a Professor at the Department of Education at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (PUJ, Bogotá- Colombia). She received her Ph.D. degree in Educational Innovation from the Universidad de Deusto (Spain). She coauthored three books: Las ciencias sociales y humanas en la actual Sociedad del conocimiento: Escenarios de indagación inter y transdisciplinar (2018); Competencias informacionales: Rutas de exploración en la enseñanza universitaria (2016); and Nativos digitales: transiciones del formato impreso al digital (2013). Her research deals with information skills in the university. She has also published papers about teaching practices and learning assessment in the information society. Gloria Marciales Vivas  is a Professor in the field of Educational Psychology at the Department of Psychology at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (PUJ, Bogotá, Colombia). She received her PhD degree in Philosophy and Education from the Universidad Complutense, Madrid (Spain). She is leader of the research group “Aprendizaje y sociedad de la información” (“Information Society and Learning”), which takes a multidisciplinary approach to information literacy and learning processes in digital natives. She coauthored three books: Las ciencias sociales y humanas en la actual Sociedad del conocimiento: Escenarios de indagación inter y transdisciplinar (2018); Competencias informacionales: Rutas de exploración en la enseñanza universitaria (2016); and Nativos digitales: transiciones del formato impreso al digital (2013). She coauthored articles with her research group that include the following: “Profiling Information literacy in higher education: Traces of a local longitudinal study”; “Cyberbullying and Education: A Review of Emergent Issues in Latin America Research”; and “Comunicación electrónica y cyberbullying: Temas emergentes para la investigación e intervención socioeducativa.” Harold  Castañeda-Peña  teaches at Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas, School of Science and Education. He has a Ph.D. in Education from Goldsmiths, University of London, UK.  He has published studies of information literacies in Colombian and Latin American journals. His research interests include information literacy, gender, and videogaming in the teaching of English. xix

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About the Authors

Jorge Winston Barbosa-Chacón  is Assistant Professor at the Institute of Regional Projection and Distance Education of the Universidad Industrial de Santander (UIS), Colombia. He is an electromechanical engineer from the Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia, specialist in university teaching, and has a Master’s in computer science from the UIS. His research areas include information skills, learning-teaching and assessment, distance learning and virtual education, and the systematization of educational experiences. Leonardo  Melo  González  is an Assistant Professor at the Information Science Department of the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (Bogotá, Colombia). He has a Master’s in Library and Information Science from the University of Texas at Austin and worked for 10 years in the Dallas Public Library system. He has published studies of trends in information science in Latin America and information skills in university students, and a chapter in the book Competencias informacionales: Rutas de exploración en la enseñanza universitaria (2016). His research interests include electronic government, information skills, and public libraries. Oscar Gilberto Hernández Salamanca  is an Assistant Professor at the School of Education at the Universidad Pedagógica Nacional (Colombia). He studied psychology at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, has a Master’s in social science, with a major in educational policy (FLACSO, Argentina), and is studying for a PhD in psychology at the Universidad de Buenos Aires (Argentina). His interests revolve around school cultures, and teaching and learning processes from a sociocultural perspective.

Chapter 1

The Study of Information Literacy in University Education

Abstract  Some features and trends of the study of information literacy (IL) over the past 5 years are presented. Both the conceptual trends and research topics in this field already reflect the concerns or problems involving the introduction of information and communication technologies (ICTs) into classrooms. The methods used to study them also show a specific way of understanding them, and ideas about appropriation processes can be inferred from them. Access to knowledge in digital formats has sparked many discussions in the social sciences. Keywords  Educational environment · Educational sciences · Higher education · ICT · Information literacy · IL · Information technology · Learning · Pedagogy · Psychology · Psychopedagogy · Students · Teachers · Teaching and training · Universities · University curriculum

1.1  A Pedagogical Analysis of Information Literacy IL is a concept which refers to a set of skills through which students gain access to knowledge within the framework of contemporary socio-educational conditions. In addition to undertaking purely psychological analyses, it is worth delving into the most important questions of pedagogy, understood as a specialized reflection on education. A pedagogical approach to IL entails thinking about its impact on the practices of educational institutions, as well as the representations and imaginaries related to the roles of teachers and students. Pedagogy may be defined as a specialized knowledge of educational methods. Through it, the details implicit in the underlying subjective meanings of these prac-

© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 F. Cabra-Torres et al., Information Literacy in Higher Education, SpringerBriefs in Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50014-6_1

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tices are analyzed. The emergence of ICT in education has gradually led to targeted analyses of their use in teaching. This has also required a specific conceptual and epistemological framework for understanding and explaining them, which, in strict terms, is still under construction. The pedagogy of IL facilitates an in-depth examination of its impact on education. A number of recent studies have made progress in this field (Aguaded, 2017; How, Meeks, Robinson, et al., 2019; Jarosz & Kutay, 2017; Makarova & Makarova, 2018; Nupairoj, 2016; Paneru, 2018; Pinto, Fernández-Pascual, & Marco, 2019; Rivera-Rogel, Zuluaga-Arias, Ramírez, et al., 2017). They propose that analyses of these questions should give a priority to the objectives of using ICT in education. These authors generally insist on overcoming the instrumentalization of these tools in educational practice, understood as the uncritical and unreflective use of technology in educational processes, which they believe, reduces the benefits of the use of ICTs in education. Although their use has been strongly promoted, further studies of their impact on the culture of schools and universities need to be done. Information technologies should not be seen as an end in themselves, but as means to an end, because, unless they are correctly applied, they do not improve teaching and learning. The ways in which knowledge is transmitted, constructed, and consumed in contemporary universities is mediated by cultural factors which, as we know, influence the specific abilities of students and teachers. This problem is likely to challenge the very foundations of education, as we traditionally know it. The traditional roles of both students and teachers are beginning to be changed by the use of ICT. Thus, there is a need for theoretical models which analyze the introduction of ICT into education. These models should investigate concepts, like instruction, teaching, transmission, facilitation, and didactics, which are key to understanding the correct use of ICT.  In turn, specific ideas about education and the image of teachers and students can be inferred from them. The meaning of being a teacher or student today is far different from what they were half a century ago. This also involves analyzing the cultural and historical circumstances that have promoted the use of ICT in education. The social environment of the university system has had an impact on its academic purpose and the training of students and teachers. It has transformed them to such an extent that some have chosen to focus on training students for their professions, while others have turned into technological centers dedicated to innovation. A pedagogical analysis of IL means discussing such trends in order to examine their implicit concepts of education, and in general, the sociocultural environment in which universities operate. This is a way to maintain a consensus about the proper application of ICT and improving its framework for learning.

1.2  Trends and Core Concepts

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1.2  Trends and Core Concepts The concepts of teaching ICT at the university level may be grouped into five cores: (a) skills, (b) specific sciences, (c) perception, (d) transference, and (e) social environment. Each reveals a specific aspect of studying this phenomenon, which in turn follows a pattern interlace. The specific use of ICT in education may be inferred from the respective core. A study of the concepts throws light on the skills required for an interaction with ICT in education and ways to develop those skills (Esparza-Morales, Tarango, & Machin-Mastromatteo, 2017; Macmillan, 2015; Marzal, Prado, & Burgoa, 2015; Phuapan, Viriyavejakul, & Pimdee, 2016; Rapchak, Nolfi, Turk, et al., 2018; Singh & Kumar, 2019). These studies also discuss the impact of these skills on people’s attitudes toward ICT. IL, in turn, is associated with the ethical use of information. This is important because there is an increasing need to raise awareness about the responsible use of data. In a sense, this is a way of taking the human dimension into account in the midst of the avalanche of contemporary technology. Since education involves human interactions, this question is fundamental. Nevertheless, this core also raises the need to develop skills which meet the high academic and professional standards of a competitive field, which means, for example, analyzing the impact of IL on academic performance and ways to improve that performance. The basic challenge is to find the most efficient way for people to acquire the IL needed for their university education. The second core refers to research focused on a specific discipline. The main argument is that professional practice should be complemented by ICT and IL. Depending on the discipline, this complement requires a specific set of skills. For example, nurses can improve healthcare, occupational therapists can strengthen their interventions, and meteorologists can avoid errors in predictions, etc. This can be incorporated into university education. Studies of this subject stress the urgent need for courses on the use of IL (Fleming-Castaldy, 2018; Frank & Pharo, 2016; Jo & Ha, 2019; Manso-Perea, Cuevas-Cerveró, & González-Cervantes, 2019; O’Doherty, Lougheed, Hannigan, et  al., 2019; Pinto & Pascual, 2016; Whittaker, Hodge, Mares, et al., 2015). However, these authors tend to relegate its impact on the activities of teachers and students to the background. While the abovementioned need is reasonable, it is essential that it be accompanied by pedagogical analyses. It is not only a question of requiring university teachers and students to use ICT and IL, but we also need to think about their impact on the content of the subjects being taught. In this way, these disciplines would not be reduced to an exclusive reliance on such technologies. Perhaps it would also make more sense to examine the link between the specific knowledge of each profession and the use of ICT. Perception is the third core. It brings together research into the ideas, attitudes, opinions, etc., of those who use ICT and their IL (Díaz, 2015; Pinto & Guerrero-­ Quesada, 2017; Pinto & Pascual, 2016; Podgornik, Dolničar, & Glažar, 2017;

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Yearwood, Foasberg, & Rosenberg, 2015). Those investigators also defend the importance of understanding the subjective factors which shape the use of IL in certain people and situations. It is very important because, as is well known educational changes not only involve intellectual and technical factors but also a subjective one, which includes the perception of a specific activity by teachers and students. In general, it means understanding what university students and teachers think about the role of ICT in their education and the extent to which they can acquire the relevant skills on their own, which influences their management of ICT. The abovementioned studies confirm the importance of designing participatory strategies for incorporating ICT into education. It is not only a question of simply proposing them to, or even imposing them on, teachers and students but also means that their belief in and commitment to these initiatives should be taken into account. This type of knowledge is likely to contain the reasons why ICTs are ineffective teaching tools in certain contexts. In addition, this line of research group opens the possibility of analyzing IL from a cultural standpoint. The fourth trend or conceptual core is transference. This refers to the study of how IL is spread from one context or group of people to others in higher education: For example, the transference of such knowledge from groups focused on ICT to other, non-specialized groups, or between groups in different disciplines, or between teachers and students, and even between groups of immigrants in certain countries. Through these analyses, it focuses on the impact of contextual factors on the formation of IL, as well as on their functioning. The results of these investigations mention the need to understand IL as appropriate to culture, by linking its meaning with the surrounding conditions (Gullbekk, Boyum, & Byström, 2015; Kreps, 2017; Raish & Rimland, 2016; Román-García, AlmansaMartínez, & Cruz-Díaz, 2016; Silva, Morales, Lázaro-Cantabrana, et  al., 2019; Testers, Gegenfurtner, van Geel, et al., 2019). Their main argument is that such competences are related to the demands of the specific contexts where they are developed. This is why the specific institutional character of a university is a problem. Not all of these educational centers exhibit the same profile; some are more oriented toward research than the future jobs of their students, and some are funded by the state while others are official bodies; likewise, some have a much broader enrollment than others, etc.; for those reasons, the use of both ICT and IL will differ. The above means that a teaching strategy or particular activity which works in one academic environment will not necessarily work in another. The fifth core has to do with the social environment. This has been the subject of studies which analyze the use of general and educational IL in specific geographical areas (Ercikan, Asil, & Grover, 2018; Glik, Massey, Gipson, et al., 2016; González-­ Fernández, Ramírez-García, & Salcines-Talledo, 2018; Hewagamage & Hewagamage, 2015; Pötzsch, 2016; Wang, Lavonen, & Tirri, 2018). They pay special attention to the link between local aspects which eventually have an impact on the use of ICT and the development of the corresponding skills. How do ICT function in countries as different from each other as China, Finland, Spain, Senegal, Sri Lanka, etc.? These studies discuss the universal nature of IL or

1.3  Study Topics

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its unique application to the specific circumstances of the academic environment, as well as the way globalization affects local cultures, including university education. Ultimately, the priority of this research is the concrete appropriation of the use of ICT in specific cultural environments. From a pedagogical point of view, the universal use of IL might imply a certain cultural and educational homogenization. This is an idea widely rejected by “non-­ central” countries, defined as those with less economic power and less influence on global decisions because they regard it as a new form of taxation by “central countries.” Perhaps one way to avoid this is to adapt the supposed universal principles of IL to local cultural interests or values. Thus, a sense of belonging about the use of ICT is created, and the “non-central” countries attain a certain level of independence when they decide how to use them for educational purposes. The intention of these five trends or conceptual cores, each with its own nuances, is to connect individual skills at ICT and the characteristics of the societies where they are used. Of course, this task is not easy, either from an epistemological or ontological point of view. A knowledge of virtual phenomena and how to strengthen it requires further research. However, the abovementioned studies have shown progress in this respect, especially in understanding that the use of ICT and IL is more of a sociocultural phenomenon than a purely technological one.

1.3  Study Topics In addition to the trends or conceptual cores, which refer to the theoretical study of IL in university teaching, three major concerns can be seen in the research which has been done so far: (a) measurement, (b) use, and (c) teaching. The first refers to finding reliable methods for determining the degree of information competency; the second investigates practical procedures, and the third focuses on training. Studying the measurement of IL involves designing tools and using them to determine the degree of skills. In some cases, they establish the degree of digital literacy of a group of university students, or look for correlations with other variables, such as the level of schooling, or the digital gaps between different institutions or societies (Borges & García-Quismondo, 2017; Gerick, Eickelmann, & Bos, 2017; Holliday, Dance, Davis, et  al., 2015; Marzal & Borges, 2017; Marzal & Saurina, 2015; Sánchez & Maldonado-Radillo, 2015; Willson & Angell, 2017). In addition to such psychometric analyses, these studies advance the implementation of IL and facilitate the design of methods for teaching it. As is well known, its positivist epistemological foundation encourages these types of activities, and they can maximize the use of IL. The most common criteria for creating measuring tools are their practical use in education, their assessment of knowledge of ICT, and their capacity to evaluate the information being transmitted. The sense of measuring IL is to make comparisons of different types and obtain reliable data about its use and the training of students. As usual, in the medium term, this will entail the validation of the required scales and tools. Such measurements

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can be improved, and not just with respect to this field itself, but its definition as well. The second area of study is the use of ICT and their relationship to IL. This basically describes the variety of actions related to such use at different scopes and levels. Behavior, cognition, and the institutional framework are the most common concerns, that is, we need to understand what happens in their daily use and come up with a theoretical framework for analyzing its application to certain conditions. This field of research focuses on studying the variety of possibilities for implementing IL (Álvarez-Álvarez & Del Mar Boillos-Pereira, 2015; Beheshti, Bilal, Mackey, et al., 2016; Chacón et al., 2015; Charles, 2015; Chiang & Tzou, 2018; Kim & Huber, 2017; Marcos-Treceño, 2018; Pinto & Uribe-Tirado, 2017; Siemensma, Ritchie, & Lewis, 2017; Warren, 2018; Yap & Manabat, 2018). In addition to describing the cognitive and behavioral aspects of this subject, these studies have discussed programs to strengthen such skills in educational institutions and the complementary use of the Internet or specialized libraries. Some of these investigations argue that there is a need to promote cultural skills that facilitate the use of ICT. Studying the use of ICT is a way to understand how IL works. This makes sense because while ICTs are not a completely new development, their incorporation into general education does result in novel situations. The canons of scientific research show that exploratory and descriptive inquiries are recommendable in a study of these questions and provide an important source of socio-educational knowledge. The third area of study has to do with teaching itself. The following studies have analyzed different ways to strengthen training in IL (Baggett, Connell, & Thome, 2018; Bingham, Wirjapranata, & Bartley, 2017; Barbosa-Chacón, Marciales-Vivas, & Castañeda-Peña, 2015; McKeever, Bates, & Reilly, 2017; Dempsey, Dalal, Dokus, et al., 2015; Franzen & Bannon, 2016; Ghahari & Ebrahimi, 2018; Martín, 2018; Moreno-Pulido & Sánchez-Fernández, 2015; Preyones, Cabrera, Costoff, et al., 2016; Wadson, 2019; Warren, 2018; Woodward, 2015). This is a very interesting topic because it highlights the pedagogical aspect of this field and shows that certain characteristics of teachers and students must be taken into account when teaching IL. These studies also emphasize the need for collaborative teaching methods and the usefulness of comparing them, in order to find effective methods to achieve the required objectives, which include the proper training of teachers, recursion in students and importance of libraries as training centers in digital competences, due to the current need to consult information. What talents should a university teacher develop in order to teach IL? As is well known, mastery of a subject in itself is not enough, the teacher also needs the skills which are required to impart the specific type of knowledge. Finding the right balance between rigor and the way the subject is taught is a perennial debate in pedagogy and it has a direct influence on the progress of students. The pedagogy of ICT and IL will require a serious analysis of these questions.

1.4  Information Literacy for Contemporary Universities

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1.4  Information Literacy for Contemporary Universities Although the definition of IL is still open, there are currently several aspects which crosscut the different proposals. One is understood to be a set of skills for localizing, evaluating, and using information in digital environments. Localization is defined as the ability to place data in an increasingly dense framework; evaluation as an estimate of the quality of that data and use as the effectiveness in linking different data in practical situations. These skills are not really new as they are usually fostered in educational settings. What is the difference between locating, evaluating, and using non-digital information, on the one hand, and doing the same with digital information, on the other? In addition to the question of formats, for example, printed books compared to computers, there is probably a greater cognitive demand on the user in the ­interaction of digital information. The amount of data handled simultaneously is much higher, as is the speed of access. The ontological understanding of virtuality is a serious problem, as shown in the methods for studying it. The validation of psychometric scales for IL which seek the standardization, quasi-experimental studies (Fabbi, 2015; García Llorente, Martínez Abad, & Rodríguez Conde, 2019; Sandercock, 2016; Yoshida, 2018) and qualitative studies of the cultural and subjective factors which influence people’s interaction with digital information all try to improve the ways of handling it (Bury, Craig, & Shujah, 2017; Gómez-Hernández, Hernández-Pedreño, & Romero-Sánchez, 2017; Keselman, Ahmed, Williamson, et al., 2015; Svensson, Carlzén, & Agardh, 2017). Moreover, to make the challenge even more complex, such skills can only be taught at universities, and they have gone through rapid changes in recent decades. Recent international discussions of the relevance of the humanities have questioned the social function and intellectual rigor of those field and in a certain way seek to orient universities toward the corporate world. Ultimately, their aim is to justify the reasons why a person should go to a university today. And it is in this context that the teaching of IL lies. Both the conceptual trends and study topics about IL reflect that approach. The skills which IL require are now focused on certain sciences or disciplines, and provide an in-depth teaching of virtuality, the transfer of skills between dissimilar environments and the impact of the social environment on those skills. For the same reason, current research focuses on measuring implicit skills, their use or practical applications, and suitable teaching methods. In other words, what has happened in recent years is that researchers have been trying to understand these new developments, not in the sense of the skills themselves, but the specific data which people have access to and interact with. The difficult thing is not to study the capabilities themselves, but how digital data impact, transform, change, etc., those capabilities. In that dichotomy such concepts as personal identity and the nature of educational institutions are also being questioned.

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IL in a contemporary university reflects the conditions of the so-called information society. It could not be otherwise, due to the social prestige which these institutions enjoy, despite their flaws. Higher education has always been linked to different societies or particular demands for the creation and circulation of knowledge. One example of this are current proposals for distance and virtual education which eliminate the need for person to person teaching, with all of its limitations. Everything indicates that IL and the use of ICT will increasingly be adopted by universities. Perhaps this is why the sociocultural context has acquired so much importance in the study of IL in university education in recent years. It is not enough to universally define the skills which comprise them, nor standardize measurements, it is also crucial to situate them in concrete environments, which in turn are shaped by the culture in which they are found and the characteristics of each university. Finally, it is worth noting that studies of this phenomenon have increasingly strengthened its application to teaching. It is not the same to use terms such as instruction, transmission, training, construction, and development about IL. Each word implies a different theoretical perspective. In a way, the use of ICT influences the self-representation of all its users. More research needs to be done on the informational skills of teachers and students.

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rior de posgrado competencial]. Investigacion Bibliotecologica, 29(66), 139–168. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.ibbai.2016.02.029. Marzal, M. Á. & Saurina, E. (2015). Diagnosis of the state of information literacy (IL) in Chilean universities [Diagnóstico del estado de la alfabetización en información (ALFIN) en las universidades chilenas]. Perspectivas em Ciencia da Informacao, 20(2), 58–78. https://doi. org/10.1590/1981-5344/2070. McKeever, C., Bates, J., & Reilly, J. (2017). School library staff perspectives on teacher information literacy and collaboration. Journal of Information Literacy, 11(2), 51–68. https://doi. org/10.11645/11.2.2187 Moreno-Pulido, A. & Sánchez-Fernández, R. (2015). Library roles in information literacy for postgraduate distance learning students at Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED) [Papel de la biblioteca en la enseñanza de competencias informacionales en posgrados de la Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED)]. Profesional de la Informacion, 24(5), 665–673. https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2015.sep.15. Nupairoj, N. (2016). The ecosystem of media literacy: A holistic approach to media education. Comunicar, 24(49), 29–37. https://doi.org/10.3916/C49-2016-03 O’Doherty, D., Lougheed, J., Hannigan, A., et al. (2019). Internet skills of medical faculty and students: Is there a difference? BMC Medical Education, 19(1), 39. https://doi.org/10.1186/ s12909-019-1475-4 Paneru, D. R. (2018). Information communication technologies in teaching English as a foreign language: analysing EFL teachers’ TPACK in Czech elementary schools [Informacijsko-­ komunikacijske tehnologije pri poučevanju angleščine kot tujega jezika: Analiza TPACK pri učiteljih angleščine kot tujega jezika v čeških osnovnih šolah. Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal, 8(3), 141–163. https://doi.org/10.26529/cepsj.499. Phuapan, P., Viriyavejakul, C., & Pimdee, P. (2016). An analysis of digital literacy skills among Thai university seniors. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning, 11(3), 24–31. Pinto, M., Fernández-Pascual, R., & Marco, F. J. G. (2019). Self-learning of information literacy competencies in higher education: The perspective of social sciences students. College and Research Libraries, 80(2), 215–237. Pinto, M. & Guerrero-Quesada, D. (2017). How Spanish university students perceive information competencies: a case study [Cómo perciben las competencias informacionales los estudiantes universitarios españoles: Un estudio de caso]. Investigacion Bibliotecologica, 31(73), 213–236. Pinto, M., & Pascual, R. F. (2016). Exploring LIS students’ beliefs in importance and self-efficacy of core information literacy competencies. College and Research Libraries, 77(6), 703–726. Pinto, M. & Uribe-Tirado, A. (2017). Presence of information literacy training (IL) in the Ibero-­ American national libraries [Presencia de la formación en competencias informacionales (Alfin) en las bibliotecas nacionales iberoamericanas]. Investigacion Bibliotecologica, 31(71), 73–102. Podgornik, B. B., Dolničar, D., & Glažar, S. A. (2017). Does the information literacy of university students depend on their scientific literacy? Eurasia Journal of Mathematics Science and Technology Education, 13(7), 3869–3891. Pötzsch, H. (2016). Materialist perspectives on digital technologies: Informing debates on digital literacy and competence. Nordicom Review, 37(1), 119–132. Preyones, L. B., Cabrera, M., & Costoff, A. D. et al. (2016). Exploratory experiment with support teachers at the plan CEIBAL (Uruguay) as an component for the creation of a model of information literacy [Experiencia exploratoria con Maestros de Apoyo del Plan Ceibal (Uruguay) como insumo para la creación de un Modelo de Alfabetización en Información]. Revista Interamericana de Bibliotecologia, 39(1), 15–22. Raish, V., & Rimland, E. (2016). Employer perceptions of critical information literacy skills and digital badges. College and Research Libraries, 77(1), 87–113.

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Rapchak, M. E., Nolfi, D. A., Turk, M. T., et al. (2018). Implementing an interprofessional information literacy course: Impact on student abilities and attitudes. Journal of the Medical Library Association, 106(4), 464–470. https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2018.455 Rivera-Rogel, D., Zuluaga-Arias, L. I., Ramírez, N. M. M., et al. (2017). Media competencies for the citizenship training of teachers from Andean America: Colombia and Ecuador. Paideia, 27(66), 80–89. https://doi.org/10.1590/1982-43272766201710 Román-García, S., Almansa-Martínez, A., & Cruz-Díaz, M. R. (2016). Adults and elders and their use of ICT. Media competence of digital immigrants. Comunicar, 24(49), 101–110. https://doi. org/10.3916/C49-2016-10 Sánchez, M. D. C. T. & Maldonado-Radillo, S. E. (2015). Information literacy in higher education: design of a mensuration tool [Alfabetización informacional en instituciones de educación superior: diseño de un instrumento de medición]. Biblios, (60), 14–31. https://doi.org/10.15517/eci. v9i2.35774. Sandercock, P. (2016). Instructor perceptions of student information literacy: Comparing international IL models to reality. Journal of Information Literacy, 10(1), 3–29. https://doi. org/10.11645/10.1.2065 Siemensma, G., Ritchie, A., & Lewis, S. (2017). Shaping the professional landscape through research, advocacy and education—an Australian perspective. Health Information and Libraries Journal, 34(2), 171–176. https://doi.org/10.1111/hir.12180 Silva, J., Morales, M., Lázaro-Cantabrana, J., et al. (2019). Digital teaching competence in initial training: Case studies from Chile and Uruguay. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 27(93), 1–30. https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.27.3822 Singh, R., & Kumar, S. (2019). Information literacy competency level of social science researchers with respect to information use ethics: A study. DESIDOC Journal of Library and Information Technology, 39(2), 101–108. https://doi.org/10.14429/djlit.39.2.13507 Svensson, P., Carlzén, K., & Agardh, A. (2017). Exposure to culturally sensitive sexual health information and impact on health literacy: A qualitative study among newly arrived refugee women in Sweden. Culture, Health and Sexuality, 19(7), 752–766. https://doi.org/10.1080/13 691058.2016.1259503 Testers, L., Gegenfurtner, A., van Geel, R., et al. (2019). From monocontextual to multicontextual transfer: Organizational determinants of the intention to transfer generic information literacy competences to multiple contexts. Frontline Learning Research, 7(1), 23–42. https://doi. org/10.14786/flr.v7i1.359 Wadson, K. (2019). Collaborative and interactive teaching approaches have a positive impact on information literacy instruction supporting evidence-based practice in work placements. Evidence Based Library and Information Practice, 14(1), 62–64. https://doi.org/10.18438/ eblip29530 Wang, Y., Lavonen, J., & Tirri, K. (2018). Aims for learning 21st century competencies in national primary science curricula in China and Finland. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 14(6), 2081–2095. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/86363 Warren, R. (2018). Low levels of teacher information literacy awareness and collaboration between librarians and teachers in information literacy instruction. Evidence Based Library and Information Practice, 13(3), 88–90. https://doi.org/10.18438/eblip29459 Whittaker, M., Hodge, N., Mares, R. E., et al. (2015). Preparing for the data revolution: Identifying minimum health information competencies among the health workforce. Human Resources for Health, 13(1), 17. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12960-015-0002-x Willson, G., & Angell, K. (2017). Mapping the Association of College and Research Libraries information literacy framework and nursing professional standards onto an assessment rubric. Journal of the Medical Library Association, 105(2), 150–154. https://doi.org/10.5195/ JMLA.2017.39 Woodward, K. M. (2015). Information literacy in competency-based education: Reflections on the flex option at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. College and Research Libraries News, 76(3), 118–121. https://doi.org/10.5860/crln.76.3.9273

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Yap, J., & Manabat, A. (2018). When the library steps in: Introducing media and information literacy as a programme for library professionals. Journal of Information Literacy, 12(2), 131–141. https://doi.org/10.11645/12.2.2514 Yearwood, S. L., Foasberg, N. M., & Rosenberg, K. D. (2015). A survey of librarian perceptions of information literacy techniques. Communications in Information Literacy, 9(2), 186–197. https://doi.org/10.15760/comminfolit.2015.9.2.185 Yoshida, M. (2018). An investigation of the social network system competencies of high school students in Japan. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning, 13(5), 4–18. https://doi.org/10.3991/ijet.v13i05.8101

Chapter 2

The Concept of Information in the Documentation and Information Science Fields

Abstract  In this chapter the main approaches to the concept of information are presented, as they have been set forth in the documentation and information science fields from the middle to the late twentieth century. To explain them, several authors have grouped them into three paradigms—physical or systems-oriented, subjective or cognitive, and socio-cognitive—which we will describe, focusing on the main representatives of each. Finally, we argue that the socio-cognitive paradigm, with its emphasis on the social context of information practices (beliefs, assumptions, behaviors, and evaluations, among others), provides the best epistemological framework for understanding the research on information literacy in higher education. Keywords  Information science · Documentation · Information paradigms · Physical paradigm · Cognitive paradigm · Socio-cognitive paradigm · Concept of information · Sense-making · Mathematical theory of communication · Theories of information · Communication model · Domain analysis · Discursive communities

2.1  Introduction This chapter presents some definitions of the concept of information proposed by various authors in the fields of information science and documentation. The review ranges from the middle to the late twentieth century, a period that could be considered as fundamental for the development of these disciplines. The description of these theoretical developments aims at defining a context that provides a frame of reference for the discussion on information and informational competencies in the context of this work.

© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 F. Cabra-Torres et al., Information Literacy in Higher Education, SpringerBriefs in Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50014-6_2

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To explain what a paradigm is, we cite the definition of the historian of science Thomas Kuhn (2004): “By choosing this term, I mean to suggest that some accepted examples of actual scientific practice—examples which include law, theory, application and instrumentation together - provide models from which spring particular coherent traditions of scientific research.” (p. 38). The theories that we will discuss fit into Kuhn’s definition. The first set of theories conceive of information as an objective, physical phenomenon, external and independent of human beings, and could be labeled a physical or systems-oriented paradigm; the second understands information to be a subjective phenomenon, dependent on the cognitive processes of the subjects and may be called a subjective or cognitive paradigm (Fernández Molina, 1994); the third places information in a context where the subjects are members of a social network that shapes the information they exchange (Hjørland, 2002). This last, which the author calls socio-cognitive, is the one we employ in our research and can be linked to the methodological approach to the study of informational competencies in university students in Chap. 3, as well as in Chap. 4’s analysis of the information-seeking profiles of students, who shape their beliefs and interests in the midst of social environments (family, school, university, work), which shape those beliefs in turn (for example, that Wikipedia is not a reliable source of information) and determine the user profiles (collector, verifier, reflective) set forth in this study. A very similar role of social contexts and individuals’ relationship to information can be seen in Chap. 5, where interviews reveal how the family and academic environment shape their use of information and confirm the findings of Chap. 4. Many authors have discussed these three paradigms since the mid-90s, even though they use different terms. However, the underlying concepts have much in common. The following table lists some authors and the terms they have used (the articles are listed in the “References”) (Table 2.1). Even though these paradigms have been published in roughly the order shown in the table (physical, cognitive, socio-cognitive), it would be misleading to think they have overturned the previous ones. An exception would be the physical paradigm, which is nowadays on the wane, and only seen in some studies of information Table 2.1  Authors who discuss the three information paradigms Author and year Rendón Rojas (1996) Saracevic (1999) Ørom (2000) Fernández Molina and Moya-Anegón (2002) Capurro and Hjørland (2003) Veja Almeida, Fernández Molina, and Linares Columbié (2009) Hjørland, (2014) Source: Own

First paradigm Syntactic Narrow sense Physical Positivist

Second paradigm Semantic Broader sense Cognitive Cognitive

Third paradigm Pragmatic Broadest sense Alternative Sociological

Physical Physical

Cognitive Cognitive

Social Social

Physical, systems-oriented

Subjective and cognitive

Social and cultural

2.2  Physical or Systems-Oriented Paradigm

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retrieval. The other two, with variations, are still very current, although the cognitive paradigm might have seen better days, and the socio-cognitive one is a new trend which is still evolving. Finally, it should be remembered that grouping theories into paradigms is a subtle matter: most paradigms rely on certain assumptions about information, but, to a certain extent, they may include ideas from others. For the purposes of this chapter, however, this categorization not only follows an already established tradition but it also clarifies concepts that might otherwise be opaque.

2.2  Physical or Systems-Oriented Paradigm The first attempts to formulate a theory of information science were done in the physical sciences and engineering. From the mid-twentieth century to the end of the 1960s, the prevailing paradigm was inspired by the exact sciences. Information was then conceived of as an objective physical reality, capable of being measured and expressed in a mathematical language and independent, to some extent, of potential receivers. One of the most influential theories was that of Claude Shannon, an engineer at Bell Labs, who in 1948 published an article entitled “A Mathematical Theory of Communication,” which set forth an abstract and highly formalized concept of information. Shannon’s purpose was not only to analyze the transfer of messages in communication systems (telegraph, radio, television, telephone) but also to develop a general communication theory which would deal with what, according to the author, was the fundamental problem of communication, that is, to reproduce at point B, exactly or approximately, a message generated at point A (Shannon, 1948). His interest was to study the effects of noise in the distorted transmission of messages, and to propose an efficient and inexpensive model of message transmission in several types of communication systems. Shannon presented a model of the communicative process which, with variations, would eventually be adopted by researchers in communication, linguistics, and the incipient field of information science. This model represented a communicative system formed by five components: (1) an information source, which generates the message to be sent to its destination, the message being of various types (a sequence of letters in a telegram or radio and television signals, among others); (2) a transmitter or device to transform the message into a signal transmissible by a channel; (3) a channel, the means used to transmit the signal from the transmitter to the receiver; (4) a receiver, which performs the inverse operation of the transmitter, by transforming the signal into the original message; and (5) a destination, the person for whom the message is intended. In this model, information is not the same as the content of the message, what is communicated, but the receiver’s probability of receiving the signal sent by the source, the key question being if this signal confirms the expectations of the receiver. Information is thought of as reducing uncertainty to a greater or lesser extent. If, for example, the source can choose between two signals, the receiver will receive one of the two, that is, the probability of receiving one of the two signals is 50%.

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Conversely, if the choice is between ten signals, the probability of the receiver getting a particular signal is 10%. In the first case there is less uncertainty than in the second because the signal finally received will have a greater probability (50%) of being chosen than in the second case, in which the received signal has only a smaller probability (10%) of being selected. Since the receiver has less uncertainty about the outcome in the first case, the received signal provides less information than in the second, where, since the uncertainty is greater, the signal that reaches the receiver is more informative. In other words, a message that confirms the expectations of the receiver is uninformative, while one that does not is more informative. When the uncertainty is lower, the signal received contains less information than when the uncertainty is greater: that is, the received signal contains more information. The amount of information can be measured in bits (binary digits) and expressed in mathematical terms. In this model the content is not what defines information. Instead, it is the probability of receiving a signal and the receiver’s expectations about the message that is actually transmitted. As Fernández Molina (1994) says, Shannon’s is only a syntactic theory, since it does not deal with the meaning of messages; although it would be more appropriate to say that it is a probabilistic theory, given that information is defined in terms of probability and not syntax. In any case, it is clear that this theory does not define information in semantic or pragmatic terms. As stated by Shannon (1948, p. 379), “Frequently the messages have meaning; that is, they refer or are correlated according to some system with certain physical or conceptual entities. These semantic aspects of communication are irrelevant to the engineering problem. The significant aspect is that the actual message is one selected from a set of possible messages.” This is perhaps the main limitation on applying this theory to the complex processes for the exchange of information between human beings, in which assigning meaning to messages which are sent and received and the context in which that occurs is essential for the communication of information. Despite this limitation, aspects of this theory have influenced models which conceive of information as mainly subjective. Two deserve a mention: the communicative model with its components, which has been adapted by other disciplines, and the idea that information changes the state of the receiver by reducing uncertainty. If the message confirms what the receiver already knows, there is no change in his state, there is no information. The idea that information brings about a change in the receiver is present, in one way or another, in the subjective theories of information, and it might be traced back to Shannon’s model. This subjective aspect is implicit in the Information Literacy model discussed in Chap. 1, which, speaking of the relationship between Information Literacy (IL) and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), points out the fact that this relationship has long been used to develop skills for managing information, first in print media, and then, in digital networks: the Internet and the World Wide Web. These core skills (locating, evaluating and using information) are, to varying degrees, subjective, especially evaluation, since it is the user (or receiver in the classic communicative model) who decides whether the items found in a search reduce his or her uncertainty, and are therefore informative. In this regard, one could say that the IL model is influenced by the physical paradigm.

2.2  Physical or Systems-Oriented Paradigm

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More recent concepts hold that information is a basic property of the universe, such as matter and energy. An example of this trend is the work of Tom Stonier, who seeks a general theory of information that expands on Shannon’s but refines it to include technological advances in information processing. For this author, information is part of the physical universe and can be treated as a physical entity, like matter and energy. According to Stonier, if a physical system has an organized structure and can be described by an algorithm, it contains information. A typical example of a structured organic entity is DNA, which by the mere fact that it has a complex organization of physical elements and the ability to reproduce—a basic characteristic of a system which perpetuates life forms—is by nature informative. The classical model of information, which includes a source and a receiver, has no relevance here, since neither in the structure of DNA nor its replication can one find agents which send and receive information, even though information is transmitted. A basic idea in this theory is that information exists independently of anyone perceiving it, of a receiver; it is this characteristic that makes it objective. Not only the information contained in structures of the physical world is an objective reality, but it is also true of the information produced by human beings and recorded and stored in different supports (stone, tablets, papyri, codices, books, magnetic and electronic media), since it has a separate existence from human beings. The fact that it is not perceived, decoded, and interpreted does not invalidate the reality that there is information in such supports. Another example would be radio waves, which transmit information even though we cannot perceive them without the help of a radio receiver. Stonier says that we should understand the distinction between the detection and interpretation of information, and information itself, which is independent of the subject’s perception, and he proposes a typology of information, in accordance with two types: structural and kinetic. The structural would be the information contained in a system, whether or not it is perceived, such as the information in a DNA molecule or a book; and the kinetic would be the same content when it is transmitted, perceived, interpreted, or processed, such as the genetic information contained in the DNA when it is processed in the nucleus of a cell, or the information contained in a book when it is transmitted to and interpreted by a reader. Structural information is, so to speak, the raw material of kinetic information. Thus, the objective nature of this theory rests on the abovementioned distinction: Stonier believes that there cannot be kinetic information without the structural kind, but structural information without kinetic information is possible. A similar but slightly more inclusive approach is that of Marcia Bates, which links the objective and subjective concepts of information by placing them in a spectrum that spans the physical, biological, anthropological and cultural worlds. According to Bates (2005), information exists for organisms in many emerging levels and hence follows the gradation of that spectrum, with new configurations in each level. The foundation of her theory is a distinction between structural and kinetic information that is similar to Stonier’s, but it uses another nomenclature: information 1 is the pattern of the organization of matter and energy, and information 2 is some pattern of organization to which a living being assigns meaning. A

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closed book, for example, is information 1, while that same book, when read, becomes information 2, since a reader makes sense of it. By focusing on the pattern of matter, and not matter itself, it is much more precise than Stonier’s theory, and seems to agree with the warning of Norbert Wiener, the founder of cybernetics (Wiener, 1948, p. 255), that information is information, not matter or energy. In addition, Bates is interested in a theory of information that not only links the abovementioned levels (physical, biological, anthropological, cultural) but also accounts for the role of information and its processing in the evolutionary process of living organisms. Thus, according to Bates, the perception of patterns is more efficient than the perception of isolated stimuli, and this might amount to an adaptive advantage for the survival of species with this trait, including homo sapiens. The fact that information exists in emerging levels makes its storage and use more efficient for the vital purposes of human beings. Thus, this theory links the objective and subjective approaches although it places more emphasis on the physical and objective side of information.

2.3  Subjective or Cognitive Paradigm The subjective approach, which conceives of information as a process traversed by the dynamics of subjectivity, began to emerge in the late 70s and early 80s and has developed to this day. Although it does not constitute a homogeneous paradigm, its exponents share certain postulates, and explicitly or implicitly criticize the physical and objective approach and seek to overcome its limitations. The first information theorists were either engineers or worked in the exact or applied sciences and regarded information from a positivist perspective. The theories centered on the subject recognize that in every process of information exchange between a sender and a receiver, subjective factors are a crucial part such as the values, interests, prior knowledge, beliefs, intentions, or desires without which information cannot be understood. It is now common to refer to these theories as a cognitive approach since cognitive processes occur in the agents who participate in the communication of information (the sender and receiver). Fernández Molina (1994) cites Marc De Mey, a researcher who, in 1977, proposed a definition of this approach which applies to information science: “Any information processing, whether perceptual or symbolic, is mediated by a system of categories or concepts that, for the information processing device, are a model of their world” (De May, 1977). Despite their different emphases, subjective theories share the belief that the focus on any understanding of information exchange should be the subjects who participate in it. However, as we noted earlier, these theories build on the objective approach, particularly Shannon’s theory, in developing and adapting the communication model and the idea that information produces a change in the agents involved in its transmission. One of the first examples of the cognitive approach was that of Allan Pratt (1977), who built on the idea of the image set forth by the British economist Kenneth Boulding in his book The image: knowledge in life and society (Boulding, 1956).

2.3  Subjective or Cognitive Paradigm

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Boulding distinguishes between knowledge, with its claims of objectivity and validity, and an image of the world, which consists of subjective knowledge. The image is what each subject believes is true—his or her mental concept of the environment, which is shaped by the subject’s accumulated experiences and determines his or her behavior. As the subject interacts with his surroundings, the image is altered, and it is this changing image that influences behavior. Thus, the image is affected by messages, among other experiences, which means that information is conceived of as a series of structured experiences, and the content of a message as the change it produces in the image. Pratt draws on this notion of the image, and the traditional communicative model which emphasizes the sender and receiver, to claim that information is an event that occurs at a moment in the communication process and has an effect on the receiver. The sender has an image and the sender’s purpose in transmitting a message is to change the image of the receiver. The sender’s message is composed of three elements: purpose (the sender’s intention, the change he or she wants to cause in the receiver’s image); the medium through which the message is sent and the language in which it is encoded. At the other end of the channel, the receiver must share the sender’s language and be predisposed to receive the message, in line with the purpose of the sender, which is to change the image of the receiver, who must have a prior knowledge of and belief in that purpose. According to Pratt (1977, p. 215), “information is the alteration of the image that occurs when a message is received.” Thus, information is conceived of as a moment in the communication process, specifically, the effect that the sender’s message has on the image of the receiver. This model applies to interpersonal, face-to-face communication, in which the roles of sender and receiver are quickly exchanged, but even more so to communication mediated by a graphic register, which takes a tangible and lasting form in a variety of physical supports, and accounts for a large part of the communication of information between senders and receivers. As mentioned in Chap. 1, information and communication technologies (ICT) are one of the main mediators in the communication between university students and information, typically embodied in a variety of documents. Pratt has influenced other authors, like Nicholas Belkin, who, in his theory of information as structure (Belkin & Robertson, 1976), defines information as that which brings about a change in structures, specifically the knowledge structure of a sender or a receiver. In accordance with Pratt’s notion of a graphic register, Belkin calls texts a collection of structured signs which are transmitted by a sender to a receiver, effecting a change in the latter’s image and defines information as “the structure of any text that is capable of changing the structure of a receiver’s image” (Belkin & Robertson, 1976, p. 201). The influence of Pratt is also seen in what Belkin terms the “anomalous state of knowledge” (ASK), that is, the subject’s lack of knowledge and the associated need to correct such an “anomaly” with an information search process. Where Pratt refers to the “predisposition” of the receiver, Belkin speaks of the receiver’s awareness of the precarious state of his image and his wish to correct that by a search for information. Thus, in his view, the exchange of information is a communicative process in which a sender and a receiver interact.

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The sender communicates an aspect of his image or knowledge of the world, shaping it to his purpose and knowledge of the potential recipients. The message then assumes a structure that is communicable in a text. The receiver, on the other hand, aware of the “anomalous” state of his knowledge, looks at messages from multiple senders, some of which will be able to “change the structure” of his image and thus correct the anomalous state. It will be these messages that provide useful information to the receiver, while those which do not correct that anomalous state will not be informative. Pratt and Belkin present two similar models, although there is a difference of emphasis between them: Pratt defines information as the event, the change of the receiver’s image when he or she receives a message, while Belkin defines it as the structure which brings about the change. Belkin’s idea of structure is taken up by Bertram Brookes (1980), who subjects it to a certain formalization that aims at a measurement of information, using what he calls the fundamental equation for documentation:

K [ S ] + ∆I = K [ S + ∆S ]



In this equation, the knowledge structure (K[S]) of a receiver comes into contact with a change in information (ΔI), resulting in a modified knowledge structure (K[S + ΔS]). This new structure implies a change, indicated by ΔS. Although the terms and symbols are not rigorously defined, this equation rests on the idea that information is what produces a change in a knowledge structure. If information and knowledge could be assigned units of measurement, it would be possible to measure the change in the structure of knowledge as an effect of the change in information. The problem is defining units that could measure information, but Brookes is not concerned with that but, rather, formalizing the intuitive notion that information is what changes a structure of knowledge. Peter Ingwersen, in turn, has attempted a synthesis of the models of Belkin and Brookes, in which the process for communicating information goes through the following stages: the receiver confronts data (expressed by signs, symbols, or words), and when he or she perceives them, they are changed into information which, stored in his memory, may change his structure of knowledge (Ingwersen, 1992). Ingwersen formulates some general propositions to explain this: information, from the point of view of the receiver, is potential until it is received; the receiver, for the sender, is also potential; if the potential information is not perceived, it remains as data for the receiver; the structure of current knowledge determines perception; information has the potential to transform the state of knowledge and to provoke decisions, change values, etc.; information consists of the transformation of knowledge structures. These ideas are expressed in the following equation:

pI − > ∆I + K [ S ] − > K [ S + ∆S ] − > pI ′



The potential information is designated by pI, of which the receiver only perceives a part (ΔI). This information interacts with the state of knowledge at a given

2.3  Subjective or Cognitive Paradigm

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moment (K[S]) and transforms it into a state of modified knowledge (K[S + ΔS]), in which ΔS expresses the change in the structure of knowledge. This modified structure can generate new information (pI′), which in turn can become potential information for other recipients. This scheme (Ingwersen, 1992, p. 127) defines information as “the result of a transformation of knowledge structures of the sender” and states that “it is something that when perceived can affect and transform the state of knowledge of the receiver.” Ingwersen adds the generation of new information to Brookes’ equation, with the idea that information is subject to a chain of production. Information is only found in human communication, but it requires that both the sender and receiver process the potential information. Computer-based information systems manipulate data and potential information, but only human beings have the ability to process information at a cognitive level, by transforming one state of knowledge into another by its interaction with potential information. The studies discussed in Chap. 6 follow this cognitive approach and generally define the search for information in terms of consecutive steps of increasing ­complexity, influenced by variables in the emotions of the users. Some of those studies point out that the fact that students are conversant with information technologies from an early age does not necessarily furnish them with the discernment to assess the quality and relevance of the information they retrieve. That processing information is an eminently cognitive skill is one of the central assumptions of this paradigm. One of the most recent examples of the subjective approach is that of Brenda Dervin, known as “sense making,” which hold that the traditional approach, based on information as an object and its transmission from one agent to another, has fundamental limitations. Instead, she proposes a subjective and constructivist theory, in which information is regarded as a construction of human beings, and the exchange of information does not consist of a transmission of previously configured messages but an activity of the subject who constructs and gives meaning to messages. Thus, information consists of the sense created by the subjects in a specific spatial and temporal context, which can change with this context and is therefore subjective: “Information is not something that exists independently and externally to human beings, but is rather a product of human observation” (Dervin, 1983, p. 4). The exchange of information is not conceived of as the transmission of “objective” and “external” information from experts to those who are less expert, but the emphasis is on how individuals use their own observations and those of others to construct their images of reality and accordingly guide their behavior. In the traditional perspective there has been an emphasis on the use of sources, for example, and not so much on the construction of meaning. Finally, Dervin assumes that giving meaning depends on the situation of the subject, and that situation tends to change. Her model (1983) has three parts: • situations, the spatiotemporal contexts in which sense is construed.

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• voids or gaps (“information needs” in the traditional approach) which the subject needs to fill in order to create meaning and place it in spatiotemporal contexts; and • the uses that the subject assigns to the created meaning. “Sense making” has proved to be a fruitful and influential way to explore the needs for and exchanges and uses of information.

2.4  Socio-Cognitive Paradigm The two paradigms discussed so far, the physical or objective and subjective or cognitive, show limitations when it comes to accounting for the experiences of actual users, such as university students, in managing information for academic purposes. As was noted above, the objective paradigm has little application to the study of communicative phenomena, as it ignores the role of meaning and intentionality. Similarly, by emphasizing the cognitive processes of isolated subjects who do not belong to a social network, the subjective or cognitive paradigm is too abstract and says little about the actual behavior of subjects. Even though the main studies of the socio-cognitive paradigm were published at the end of the twentieth century, it is worth mentioning some important forerunners. One is Jesse Shera, who has been influential in the fields of library and information science fields. In his book The foundations of education for librarianship (1972), Shera defends the need for social epistemology, the study of the entire cycle of the production and use of information and knowledge production in a social context, and the interaction of this context with the meanings and purposes of information. He links the individual and social levels (what would now correspond to the notions of agency and structure) and speaks of the mediation of information and knowledge: It [social epistemology] should lift the study of intellectual life from that of a scrutiny of the individual [emphasis added] to an inquiry into the means by which a society, nation, or culture achieves understanding of stimuli which act upon it. The focus of this new discipline should be upon the production, flow, integration, and consumption of communicated thought throughout the social fabric. From such a discipline should emerge a new body of knowledge about, and a new synthesis of, the interaction between knowledge and social activity. (p. 112)

Shera is more interested in how society, rather than the individual, shapes the information and knowledge cycle (production, circulation, integration, and use): for him, the individual is not the starting point, as the physical and cognitive paradigms assume, but an actor enmeshed in the social fabric, who responds to and to a certain extent, reflects structures already existing at a collective level. This foreshadows the broader view of Information Literacy discussed in Chap. 6, where IL is compared to a layered tapestry of beliefs, motivations, and aptitudes, formed by the society and culture of students and shaped through a variety of experiences in the lives of students, which govern their ways of interacting with information.

2.4  Socio-Cognitive Paradigm

25

Some recent studies which also emphasize the social nature of information have refined that description. Authors like Birger Hjørland, Hanne Albrechtsen, and Rafael Capurro have published critiques of the cognitive paradigm and present an analysis referred by them as a socio-cognitive approach (Capurro & Hjørland, 2003; Hjørland, 2002; Hjørland & Albrechtsen, 1995). Hjørland emphasizes the role of discursive communities, whether academic or scientific, in defining information concepts, meanings, structures, and needs, and the criteria of relevance. This perspective is referred to by the author as “domain analysis.” Starting from the idea that the appropriation of information by a user is determined by prior knowledge, and that this in turn is a social product, Hjørland and Albrecthsen present a critique of the cognitive model. In their view, “methodological individualism” has had a privileged position in cognitive studies, including studies of information: that is, knowledge is regarded as a mental state pertaining to abstract and isolated individuals, whereas they argue that it is a social and cultural construct and, as such, a product of culture and history, and that it is a mistake to focus on cognitive processes, such as learning, memory, and perception, without taking into account their social, historical, or cultural contexts. According to Hjørland (2002), the idea that users are already endowed with some concepts, have information needs, and apply criteria of relevance that do not need to be explained outside their minds is clearly insufficient. Instead, the study of such subjects should work from the social environment toward the individual. In the “socio-cognitive paradigm,” the cognitive structures are of a social and historical nature, not merely psychological and physiological, and the starting point should be what are known as discursive communities, understood as groups of academic experts, recognized by their colleagues, who jointly construct a field of knowledge, in a complicated intersubjective process that includes the publication of results, discussion of methodologies, refutation, argumentation, and citation. The fact that information is an eminently social category is evident in the complex network of social institutions which underlie discursive communities: institutions like universities and research institutes, government agencies, scientific publications, publishing houses, congresses; agents like researchers, authors, editors, information professionals, peer reviewers; and policies and procedures agreed upon by these agents which regulate key aspects of this whole network, such as the funding of research, the choice of areas of research, the criteria for evaluating research, and so forth. From the socio-cognitive standpoint, the members of a community like the one made up of students who are training for a specific career appropriate the traditions and culture of their discipline, which, in turn, influences their criteria for choosing relevant information and assessing the reliability of its sources, among other aspects: an example of how domain analysis focuses on discursive communities and their complex processes and institutions. Thus, we are very far from the isolated, decontextualized individual who processes information. The aspects that are socially determined (information needs, evaluation criteria, reliability of sources, among others) are the core of the Information Literacy model in Chap. 1, which follows the socio-cognitive paradigm and discusses its possible usefulness for IL.

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As an illustration of the influence of the users’ epistemological outlooks on their handling of information, Hjørland (2002) mentions a study of trends in psychology, by Robins, Gosling, and Craik (1999), which analyzes four schools: behaviorism, cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and psychoanalysis. The authors chose the most prestigious academic journals in each (like the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior in behaviorism), carried out a search in the Social Sciences Citation Index, which offers a bibliometric analysis of citation patterns, limited to 1999, established a ranking of the most cited journals in the four, and found that the four most important journals dedicated to behaviorism were among the first six in the ranking; in cognitive psychology, the four most important were among the first seven; in the neurosciences, the most important were among the first 17, and in psychoanalysis, they were among the first 5. In each discipline, the journals with the highest rankings were recognized to be the core ones in the respective school. Additionally, journals devoted to one school rarely cite the journals of another, because they do not regard them as possible sources of information. Hjørland concludes that such theoretical and epistemological assumptions decisively determine the use of information sources and conclude that “in relation to theory and methods for studying information needs and relevance, it proves that an epistemological approach is necessary and that such ‘mental models’ are historical, cultural, and social products. This represents quite a revolution compared to traditional ‘cognitive views”’ in information science” (2002). He notes variations in the different disciplines: those in which there is more consensus about fundamental concepts and methods, as in most of the natural sciences, are very different from those in which the consensus is lower, as tends to happen in the social sciences. He nevertheless sticks to his basic conclusion. Rafael Capurro’s study of epistemology in information science comes close to Hjørland’s ideas. According to Capurro, knowledge and information are part of a hermeneutical process in which the members of a community intersubjectively build a shared vision of the world, articulated by language, whose result is a pre-­understanding that determines the possible interpretations by the subjects. This pre-­understanding, which other authors call prejudice, without the negative connotations that this term usually has, makes it possible to interpret texts, situations, and the world in general, in such a way that objectivity is regarded as the result of our biased intersubjectivity. He concludes by noting that: “The production of meaning and the processing of linguistic signs acquires informational character when we consider them within the horizon of a community of interpreters. Information is a social category” (Capurro, 1985). Capurro’s notion of “specialized information” echoes Hjørland’s “domain analysis” in that it refers to knowledge produced by three kinds of communities: professional communities, special fields of research or action, and ones engaged in professional communication. The professional communities are composed of members who share similar theoretical and practical interests, based on prior understanding of their discipline. The special fields of research or action, where studies are not independent of epistemological approaches, are shaped by theoretical frameworks, beliefs, traditions, and interests. Finally, those which engage in professional communication represent a domain of knowledge which is shaped intersubjectively and results in objectified knowledge (Capurro, 1985).

References

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2.5  Final Thoughts The abovementioned theories about information can be (and already have been) grouped by several authors into three paradigms, according to their epistemological orientation: physical or objective, subjective or cognitive, and socio-cognitive. As for which of these paradigms would be most apt for the subject of this book, informational competence in university students, the socio-cognitive paradigm is evidently the most relevant. As will be seen in Chap. 3, the observational tool used to gauge IL behavior in university students focuses on the contexts which determine the students’ interaction with information, which are of a historical and cultural nature. This device is designed to measure the influence of their cultural and social contexts on their ­management of information. These contexts include their family, work, school, and university environments, which shape a series of beliefs and assumptions, known as a potentializing modality in the methodological section, about the nature of information and knowledge, and specific ways of relating to information corresponding to the user profiles identified in the research (collector, verifier, reflective). As Chap. 4 will show, the social environments of students shape their beliefs about information, and these beliefs are key elements in forming the abovementioned user profiles. It is worth stressing that while the behavior of some students fits them into a particular profile, some “evolve” from a simpler to a more complex relationship to information, even though most seem to stay in the same profile. To recapitulate, this relationship (which includes their information needs, selection of sources and criteria of relevance, among others) is governed by their prior knowledge (pre-understanding), those assumptions mentioned above. Thus, their informational competence, as in all communities, is mediated by an eminently social process. What Hjørland and Capurro say about academic and scientific communities applies to the community of university students. Their prior knowledge (pre-­ understanding) and assumptions or prejudices about managing information have a key influence on their informational competence. This in itself should not be surprising if we take into account that university students will later join the community of academics, scientists, and researchers, and much of what was previously spontaneous and informal for them will become systematic and formal. Consequently, the social matrix in which information and knowledge are construed is maintained and evolves.

References Bates, M. J. (2005). Information and knowledge: An evolutionary framework for information science. Information Research, 10(4), paper 239. Belkin, N. J., & Robertson, S. E. (1976). Information science and the phenomenon of information. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 27(4), 197–204. https://doi. org/10.1002/asi.4630270402 Boulding, K. (1956). The image: Knowledge in life and society. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

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Brookes, B.  C. (1980). The foundations of information science. Part I.  Philosophical aspects. Journal of Information Science, 2(3–2), 125–133. Capurro, R. (1985). Epistemology and information science. Lecture given at the Royal Institute of Technology Library Stockholm, Sweden, August 1985. Capurro, R., & Hjørland, B. (2003). The concept of information. Annual Review of Information Science and Technology, 37(1), 343–411. De May, M. (1977). The cognitive viewpoint: Its development and its scope. In M. De May (Ed.), International workshop on the cognitive viewpoint. Ghent: University of Ghent. Dervin, B. (1983). An overview of sense-making research: Concepts, methods and results. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Dallas, TX, May 1983. Fernández Molina, J.  C. (1994). Enfoques objetivo y subjetivo del concepto de información. Revista Española de Documentación Científica, 17(3), 320–331. Fernández Molina, J. C., & Moya-Anegón, F. (2002). Perspectivas epistemológicas “humanas” en la documentación. Revista Española de Documentación Científica, 25(3), 241–253. Hjørland, B. (2002). Epistemology and the socio-cognitive perspective in information science. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 53(4), 257–270. https://doi. org/10.1002/asi.10042 Hjørland, B. (2014). Theoretical development of information science: A brief history. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/ publication/262917289_Theoretical_development_of_information_science_A_brief_history. Hjørland, B., & Albrechtsen, H. (1995). Toward a new horizon in information science: Domain analysis. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 46(6), 400–425. https://doi. org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-4571(199507)46:63.0.CO;2-Y Ingwersen, P. (1992). Information and information science in context. Libri, 42(2), 99–135. Kuhn, T. (2004). La estructura de las revoluciones científicas. México: Fondo de Cultura Económica. Ørom, A. (2000). Information science, historical changes and social aspects: A Nordic outlook. Journal of Documentation, 56(1), 12–26. https://doi.org/10.1108/EUM0000000007133 Pratt, A. D. (1977). The information of the image. Libri, 27(3), 204–220. Rendón Rojas, M.  A. (1996). Hacia un nuevo paradigma en bibliotecología. Transinformação, 8(3), 17–31. Robins, R., Gosling, S., & Craik, K. (1999). An empirical analysis of trends in psychology. American Psychology, 54(2), 117–128. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.54.2.117 Saracevic, T. (1999). Information science. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 50(12), 1051–1063. https://doi.org/10.1002/ (SICI)1097-4571(1999)50:123.0.CO;2-Z Shannon, C.  E. (1948). A mathematical theory of communication. The Bell System Technical Journal, 27(3), 379–423. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1538-7305.1948.tb01338.x Shera, J. H. (1972). The foundations of education for librarianship. New York: Becker-Hayes. Veja Almeida, R. L., Fernández Molina, J. C., & Linares Columbié, R. (2009). Coordenadas paradigmáticas, históricas y epistemológicas de la ciencia de la información: una sistematización. Information Research, 14(2). Retrieved from http://informationr.net/ir/14-2/paper399.html. Wiener, N. (1948). Cybernetics: Or control and communication in the animal and the machine. New York: The Technology Press.

Chapter 3

Methodological Proposal for the Observation of Information Literacy

Abstract  This chapter introduces the conceptual framework and methodological procedures for an observational tool to characterize information literacy (IL). IL is defined in terms of the four underpinning IL modalities of existence: Potentiative, Volitional, Alethic, Deontic. This tool as a cultural instrument was designed from a semiotic standpoint based on the previous theoretical work of our “Information Society and Learning” research group. It includes a scenario of an information search, the self-assessment test, and the semi-structured interview. Some aspects of it are still left open, due to the complexity of implementing this approach in academic contexts, and the subjective nature of any observation. Keywords  Information literacy · IL · Observational instrument · Semiotic theory · IL modalities of existence · Potentiative IL modality · Volitional IL modality · Alethic IL modality · Deontic IL modality · Sociocultural approach · Situated contexts · Social practices · Epistemic subject · Fenomenography · Self-­ observation processes · Self-assessment test · Semi-structured interview · Information search task · Scenarios strategy · Construction of scenarios

3.1  Introduction This chapter discusses the conceptual framework and methodological procedures which are the foundation for the design of an observational instrument to measure information literacy (IL). It presents the following: first, the theoretical framework, which is based on structural semiotics (Alvarado, 2007; Greimas, 1989), a socio-­ cultural approach (see Chap. 2), and situated learning (Montiel-Overall, 2007); sec-

© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 F. Cabra-Torres et al., Information Literacy in Higher Education, SpringerBriefs in Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50014-6_3

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ond, the observational instrument itself, including the different facets of its design; and third, some final reflections on our methodology.

3.2  Theoretical Frame The design of instruments in the human and social sciences is dominated by the positivist paradigm, long considered the mainstream one, and it is thought that such tools are useful for quantitative measurements and predictions of behavior and ensuring objective evaluations. According to Navarro (1995), survey instruments are “the monologist expression of a dialogic relationship elicited and prohibited at the same time by these ­instruments, but without the possibility to remove this relationship.” Accordingly, this relationship is based on the principle of universality, from which, it is held, knowledge is derived. However, such knowledge universality could not reveal variations in social practices. This positivist perspective underlies the traditions and main assumptions of the social sciences, and those traditions have been responsible for their interpretative frameworks and the instruments designed from this perspective. The emphasis in instrument design in this perspective has been criticized for imposing the observer’s point of view on the observed and ignoring the complexity of the latter, the subject’s notions of reality, and the way the former’s are challenged by reality itself. Besides, although objectivity, transparency, and universality are important for instruments in the exact sciences and political science, applying them to the field of human and social sciences must be done with great care, because it might simplify the reality of social phenomena, which are plural, complex, historical, and contextual (Navarro, 1995). Despite the widespread use of that approach in the mainstream, there was an important shift in the nature of the research instruments used in the social sciences, influenced by post-positivist paradigms which hold that each instrument (e.g., surveys, tests, written interviews) is a text which interprets reality and that this interpretation reflects the non-neutral point of view of the epistemic subject who observes reality (Navarro, 1995). The instrument we designed to assess information literacy is a higher order device that challenges subjects to observe themselves. It is regarded as a higher order device because, in line with Navarro (1995), it meets two conditions: on the one hand, it invites the subject to observe himself or herself in an intentional way, from personal categories which refract the meanings. On the other hand, its usefulness depends on the subject’s willingness to cooperate with the instrument. In that way, consciousness and volition are the two inextricable and indispensable features of an instrument that assesses the relationships which shape IL: the instrument enables the subjects to take a retrospective and contextualized look of themselves and understand their daily practices in accessing, evaluating, and using information sources on the basis of three complementary

3.2 Theoretical Frame

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Self-observation

Contextual observation of the usual practices to access, use and evaluate information sources.

Observation of practices in-situ and in real time

Observation made by the researcher

Fig. 3.1  The three perspectives integrated into the observational instrument (Source: Own)

methods of observation: first, a retrospective self-observation; second, in situ observations in real time; and third, the observation that the researcher makes about the subject. Figure 3.1 shows how the three methods engage in a conversation: An instrument like this one stimulates reflexivity in an intentional way to gather up the diversity of narratives that emerge from the observed reality (Polkinghorne 1988 in Vila 1996). Like a prism, it refracts and breaks down the spectrum of social meanings to reveal the qualitatively different views of social reality the subjects have and capture patterns that give meaning to their practices. The instrument as a text yields interpretation of social reality and enhances the skills of an autonomous subject who is challenged by the information search and who answers questions that emerge from his or her reality (Navarro, 1995). The design of an instrument can follow one of two possible alternatives: the path of statistics, or the theoretical rational path. The first one is the most discussed in the literature on the subject, and the second presupposes a rational approach that is based on theoretical referents and oriented toward a knowledge of the phenomena, taking into account its complexity (Pourtois & Desmet, 1992). The design of the IL observational instrument is based on the second approach, and its objective is to analyze the meaning of the subjects’ experiences and behaviors. Observation, as a method, is the means to get a representation of what is intended to be studied (Everston & Green, 1989), and implies a methodological rigor. In the words of Bonilla and Rodríguez […] “The relevance and sensitivity of the data’s capacity to capture the non-quantifiable properties of a social problem depend on a detailed preparation, how the fieldwork is organized, the instruments used to

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observe the complex social reality and how the parameters that explain certain behavior or situation are delineated” (Bonilla & Rodríguez, 2000, p. 82).

3.3  C  onceptual Framework for the Design of the Observational Instrument The design of the observational instrument was based on reviewing the concept of IL formulated by the “Information Society and Learning” research group in previous studies (Barbosa-Chacón, Barbosa, Marciales, et al., 2010; Marciales, González, Castañeda-Peña, & Barbosa-Chacón, 2008), and the ideas of such authors as Greimas (1998) and Alvarado (2007). These authors established a hierarchical relationship between IL and its performance: the first one is considered as the higher level, and is defined as something virtual which is actualized and realized in performance; it makes it possible for a subject to act in the way he or she does (Pikkarainen, 2014); as a consequence, the action performed is not considered as IL itself (Alvarado, 2007). According to Greimas and Courtés, “In contrast to performance, which is a doing …, competence is … ‘that something’ which makes doing possible” (Greimas & Courtés, 1982, p. 44–45). It is supposed that any action involves a subject with a certain competence who is causing the events in that process. Competence is a special kind of feature or property of a subject, but it is not observable as such, and as a consequence, it can only be inferred from the action of the subject. Greimas applied certain modalities to his semiotic theory to study the meanings of any expressions that essentially describe the actions of a subject: volitional modality, alethic modality, knowing modality, and deontic modality (Pikkarainen, 2017). These modalities of competence can be reduced to four verbs in ordinary language: want, can, know, and must. The Greimasian model was challenged by Alvarado for whom “it is exceedingly limited to suppose that only knowing determines the actions of individual subjects” (Alvarado, 2007, p. 3). Alvarado tackled these limitations by expanding the modalities of doing-being, and introducing a modality of an epistemic nature, called the potentiative, which adds the subjects’ beliefs and preferences. In this concept of IL, the four modalities provide a formal means of analyzing the differences and similarities between different competences. As an example of the four modalities, there is the case of a student who explains how she looked for information about the reasons for the murder of John F. Kennedy: The first thing that I did was to enter the Internet. I searched in Google and wrote the name of John F. Kennedy, because that is the subject I was investigating. I found different options but one that caught my attention, because I thought it was very concrete, was “Murder of John F. Kennedy.” When I entered this site on Internet, I found exactly the information I was looking for. I read and took some notes. Immediately I exited the page and looked for the

3.3  Conceptual Framework for the Design of the Observational Instrument

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same information in another search engine: Yahoo. On this occasion I again found what I was looking for, but in English and with a little more information. I took some notes and after that, I went back to visit other pages where I did not find anything different. I went back to the initial page: Wikipedia, and I began to briefly write in my computer what I found, using the notes that I had and the information.1 From this description, we defined each modality and we exemplified each one of the four modalities, with excerpts from the above account, to illustrate the concepts. • The Potentiative Modality corresponds to the subject’s concepts of knowledge and how to obtain knowledge; these are expressed in the way the subject approaches the problem or responds to its challenges. For example, the student says: “I found different options but one that caught my attention, because I thought it was very concrete, was “Murder of John F. Kennedy.” • The Volitional Modality describes the expectations and needs of the subject that lead him or her to undertake an action: that is, the subject’s motivations. For example: “The first thing that I did was to enter the Internet. I searched in Google and wrote the name of John F.  Kennedy because that is the subject I was investigating.” • The Alethic Modality refers to the knowledge that the subject has about undertaking a search for information. It is supposed that the subject knows the context of the “task” and recognizes the factors involved in solving this one. For example: “The first thing that I did was to enter the Internet. I searched in Google and wrote the name of John F. Kennedy …”. • The Deontic Modality is the performance of the subject when the subject makes use of (creates, searches for, and evaluates) sources of information. This performance is expressed in the way the subject appropriates the information, and how he or she communicates the results to others. For example: “I took some notes and after that, I went back to visit other pages where I did not find anything different. I went back to the initial page: Wikipedia, and I began to write in my computer briefly.” Table 3.1 illustrates the matrix for an observational instrument based on the four modalities. Table 3.1  Modalities of information literacy competence Modalities of competence Logical relationship Subject/Object

Potentiative Volitional Alethic Beliefs Motivations Skills To believe To want To know

Subject/Subject

To adhere

To have

Deontic Performances To be To do

To be able to

Source: Alvarado, 2007, p. 5

 Text written by Camila (fictitious name). 24 years old, first year Modern Languages student.

1

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In the Potentiative Modality the concept of “beliefs” stands out; this term refers to the subject’s implicit theories of knowledge and the premises which influence the subject’s approach to knowledge. According to Hofer and Pintrich (1997), epistemological beliefs are unverified personal convictions about what knowledge is and the methods to obtain it. These beliefs are not organized by age considering psychological development, and these can vary independently from each other. Beliefs may influence the comprehension and the performance of the task because they reflect the subject’s concept of knowledge; the comprehension and specially the performance, explain what knowing means to the subject. In the Volitional Modality, psychological studies have defined the concept of motivation in different ways (Santrock, 2001). In this context, motivation is the set of reasons that move the person toward the action in a systematic way; the emphasis is on the arguments that the subject has to make to complete the task. Motivation emerges in situated learning contexts and follows a continuum from the desire to know (epistemic motivation) to the duty to know, in order to get tangible results like high grades (Hernández, 2001). According to Alvarado (2007), two factors make up the Alethic Modality: the knowledge the person has to obtain some academic task, and the person’s ability to put such knowledge into practice. Each is a necessary but not sufficient condition: the subject has to know how to find, evaluate, and use information. These skills are not innate, but the result of personal and contextual factors which arise in the course of the subject’s life. The Deontic Modality refers to the set of observable actions that the subject undertakes in order to create, evaluate, and use information in a specific learning context. It excludes any interpretation made by an observer. The key issue here is self-regulation (Pikkarainen, 2017), which can be understood in terms of three levels which are not exclusively sequential but nested and overlapping (Kukkola & Pikkarainen, 2016). The first is pragmatic; it is the one where the subject acts with objects to fulfill his or her information needs. The second is social; the subject takes into account the desires of other subjects as well his owns. Finally, the third is rationality, the ability to question both means and ends, to seek and offer reasons (Brandom, 2009). Table 3.2 defines each category in accordance with the four modalities. Taking into account this approach to IL, we choose the methodology of scenarios to observe the way students search for information.

3.4  The Observational Instrument This observational instrument has three parts: the scenario of an information search, the self-assessment test, and the semi-structured interview.

3.4  The Observational Instrument

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Table 3.2  Categories and subcategories for each modality of information literacy Category Modalities Beliefs and Preferences Potentiative Nature of knowledge Beliefs about what knowledge is It goes from a vision of knowledge as absolute toward a relativistic, contextual, and constructivist vision – – –

Process of obtaining knowledge Beliefs built into the process of knowing, by which the person comes to know Includes assessing evidence and the reliability of authorities and the justifications

– Volitional

– Alethic

– Deontic

Motivations Includes personal motivations (the student wants to) and impersonal ones (to student has to) Aptitudes Includes knowledge about how to access, evaluate, and use information sources, and the utility of this information for the academic goals (to know), and the subject’s personal or contextual resources for the task (to be able to) – Performing Behaviors that express ways to access, evaluate, and make use of the information needed for a task, in a situated context of learning

Subcategories Certainty of knowledge

Simplicity of knowledge Source of knowledge

Justification of knowledge To want

To have to To know

To be able to – Ways to access, evaluate, and use information

Source: Own

3.4.1  Scenarios This approach activates behaviors that can be observed during the solving of an information problem in a situated context. It poses a problem which requires the subject to seek information from different sources; this requirement guides the subject’s method of undertaking an informed search. It asks the subject to make judgments related to key issues, for example, cultural models, behaviors, or attitudes (Caulkins, Trosset, & Good A M, 2000). The scenarios represent a hypothetical activity that is proposed for an environment clearly defined according to the objectives pursued (Nardi, 1992). They involve people in the analysis of everyday situations of which there are different interpretations; they are enriched by semi-structured interviews about the subjects’ actions during the scenario and enable researchers to study what the subject thinks, believes, and feels as he or she does so (Campbell, 1992).

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The design of a scenario is a complex task; along the process of designing scenarios all those people aware of the situation, that is intended to be investigated, should be involved. Each scenario must have the following: • • • •

a description of the context: real or imagined a temporal location: a past, present, or possible future a set of tasks that can be done by the subjects involved in such scenarios social and cultural characteristics related in some way with the participants: to contextualize the information presented in the scenarios. According to Nardi (1992), the scenario should have five main features:

• it must be credible, relevant, and simple • it should describe an activity in a realistic manner which presents a coherent story, with interesting details • it should be, by nature, open-ended • it should place the activities in a total context: the social environment, resources, and goals • it should not be longer than one or two pages; otherwise, it will discourage the participants, and should also be concise and well-written. The scenarios should not have any bias that may affect the students’ answers. The final selection of the scenarios must be rigorous enough to satisfy experts about their clarity, relevance, and coherence and thus their validity for research. The first scenario used in the observational instrument was an excerpt from a film about JFK (Stone, Sklar, & Milchan, 1991); it posed the following question: What kind of interests were behind the murder of president John Fitzgerald Kennedy? It required students to look for information that would answer the question. Once the scenario was designed, the research group decided to test it on an expert in information science. He was asked about the relationship between J. F. Kennedy and the Vietnam War because the question is problematic in cognitive terms: depending on the standpoint of the person who uses the information, there are many ways to answer, which is precisely why we thought it would be useful for studying IL. A description of the expert’s performance is presented in Table 3.3. In addition, the scenario was subjected to a pilot test with three students of Modern Languages at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, and three of distance education at the Universidad Industrial de Santander, as we will explain below. The research group analyzed the results of the pilot test of the scenario about JFK and decided to discard it because it failed in two critical aspects: it was about a ­context too far from the experience of the students, and it brought out political biases which distorted our objectives. The group decided to use a new one, validated in previous studies (Hofer, 2004). This scenario was about “bees and their ways of communication.” In line with Hofer (2004), there were three justifications for the choice: • It was previously used, with success, in the social sciences research about competences.

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Table 3.3  Actions performed by an expert in information science The expert began the information search task with a question-problem formulated by himself, based on the assigned task. He identified the first keywords, the underlying issues, and the context of the problem; equally, he determined the geographic location and the population. In order to begin the search, he chose English as the search language. He looked for other keywords and he standardized the words using thesauri. Based on the above, the search began with an analysis of catalogs in libraries, databases, and search engines. The new keywords that emerged were standardized and translated into English. Then he identified the type of material (primary and secondary sources); he selected the type of databases (biographical, bibliographic, and university databases), and he organized the search according to the type of academic task assigned, and the time allotted for this purpose. The expert devised a search strategy using Boolean operators and established boundaries, when necessary. From the metasearch, he chose the sources, assessing their authority, bibliographical support, the level of citation, and the impact factors. Finally, he analyzed and contrasted the different sources, and reached conclusions; he considered those actions that would be needed to communicate them if necessary. Finally, he made an assessment of the sources because it would allow him judge the results, and the actions needed to redirect the process if necessary Source: Own

• The search task had been tested and validated by similar studies. • The subject is interesting to university students. The procedure was as follows: Before the beginning of the search task (scenario), the researchers held a brief conversation with each student to assess his or her opinion about the subject of the scenario. In order to clearly measure the subject’s IL, think-aloud protocols were used (Ericsson & Simon, 1993): that is, the thoughts that guided the subject each time he or she accessed and used information sources. The procedure was videotaped. The student was told that he or she had 20 min to complete the task; during this time, the subject had to imagine that he or she was taking a course on animal behavior, and had to search for the appropriate information. At the end of the 20 min, students were asked to choose the most useful sources and explain their reasons. Table 3.4 presents the scheme of the procedure: Table 3.4 shows what each observer must register in each row about all of the students’ actions. For example, in the case of To Access, the observer must register all the findings about the sources the students consulted during the search, while in the case of To Assess, the observer must ask the students about their criteria for assessing the meaning, relevance, and usefulness of those sources. In the case of To Make Use, the observer asks questions about the way the students use the sources to reach specific objectives, while To Communicate registers the final result of the search. The researchers used the findings in the matrix to design individual semi-­ structured interviews; the objective of the interview was to understand how the students access, evaluate, and make use of information sources.

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Table 3.4  Matrix used to record the subjects’ methods of accessing, evaluating, and using information sources Record of actions undertaken during the information search Deontic modality To use To evaluate To access How do you process How do you select What sources of and handle the information are you the information information sources? sources? looking for?

To communicate How do you share the information sources with others?

Source: Own

3.4.2  Self-assessment Test of Information Literacy The self-assessment test seeks to identify the practices which the students perceive as habitual in the way they access, evaluate, and use those sources. It has 16 questions; three open-ended and 13 closed. Table 3.5 presents an example of one of the questions; this is one of the subcategories of the Potentiative Modality. The answers were classified in terms of the three most characteristic practices found in the students (Table 3.6), which the research group then turned into IL profiles (see also Chap. 4, this volume). The self-assessment test was evaluated with two groups of students with three students of Modern Languages at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, and one student in the last semester of Business Technology (distance education), at the Universidad Industrial de Santander. On the basis of the results of this pilot test, the questions were reviewed by the judges to validate their consistency. After that, only the items which had a theoretical coherence and a normal distribution of answers were chosen. After that, the test was administered to two students majoring in Psychology; this time, the judges confirmed the quality of the reviewed version of the self-assessment test.

3.4.3  Semi-structured Interview The aim of the semi-structured interview is to assess the meaning of the subjects’ actions carried through a conversation with the researchers. The researchers investigated the experiences of the subjects and the manner in which their backgrounds were related to their search practices; the interview was recorded. Table 3.7 shows some of the questions which were used to throw light on one of the subcategories of the Potentiative Modality.

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Table 3.5  Example of a question in the self-assessment test Category Beliefs Nature of knowledge Personal beliefs about what the body of knowledge is. It is located on a continuum from knowledge conceived of as absolute to the idea that it is relativistic, contextual, and constructivist

Subcategory Certainty of knowledge Degree to which the person conceives of knowledge as a set of fixed, absolute truths, or as fluid, tentative, and in continuous evolution

Question Suppose that you are doing a homework assignment on the universe, and that you found the following information on Wikipedia: “Universe” is a word derived from Greek that in turn comes from unus (“one” in the sense of “unique”) In view of that, do you consider this information to be:  Verifiable  Controversial  Certain  Other (if you select “other,”’ please specify why)

Source: Own

Table 3.6  Example of the matrix for classifying the answers Category Beliefs Nature of knowledge Personal beliefs about what knowledge is. It is located on a continuum which runs from knowledge conceived of as absolute, toward the idea that knowledge is relativistic, contextual, and constructivist

Source: Own

Subcategory Certainty of knowledge Degree to which the person conceives of knowledge as a matter of fixed and absolute truths or as fluid, tentative, and in continuous evolution

Choose the answer that best reflects your actions when you make an Internet search Suppose that you are doing a homework assignment on the universe, and that you found the following information on Wikipedia: “Universe is a word derived from Greek root unus, ‘one’, in the sense of ‘unique’” Do you consider this information to be:   □Verifiable (Profile 2)   □Controversial (Profile 3)   □Certain (Profile 1)   □Other (if you select option “other,” please specify why):______________________ When I use Internet to do an academic task, I especially seek information that is:   □Verifiable (Profile 2)   □Controversial (Profile 3)   □Certain (Profile 1)   □Other (if you select option “other,” please specify which and why):______________________

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Table 3.7  Example of the semi-structured interview protocol Category Beliefs Nature of knowledge Personal beliefs about what knowledge is. It is located on a continuum which runs from knowledge conceived of as absolute, toward the idea that knowledge is relativistic, contextual, and constructivist.

Subcategory Certainty of knowledge Degree to which the person conceives of knowledge as a matter of fixed and absolute truths or as fluid, tentative, and in continuous evolution.

Question Why do you say that the information sources that you consulted are the most relevant? Which of the following criteria might have guided the information search:  True information  Verifiable information  Credible information

Source: Own

3.5  Data Analysis A categorical descriptive and closed system was used to record the data, based on a selection of the behavior patterns that account for a student’s informational competence. It was “categorical descriptive” because the behaviors, events, and processes take place within defined time-space limits, and the objective was to describe in detail how the students applied their information skills. It was “closed” because it was governed by the researchers’ categories, which were mutually exclusive. Three grids were designed for the analysis of the students’ results and classified in terms of the four modalities of IL, as follows: • One grid to register the interview answers when the student completed the task • One grid for the analysis of the student’s oral account about the actions he or she undertook to complete the search, in line with a protocol for the questions • One grid for the analysis and interpretation of the search task undertaken by the students. In this way, we identified trends in their ways of accessing, evaluating, and using information sources that were turned into profiles of the subjects’ information literacy (Castañeda-Peña, Marciales Vivas, González Niño, et al., 2010—See also Chap. 4, this volume). We understand a profile to be a register of the preferred ways of acting in a situated context. This definition does not pretend to classify or make generalizations about the users; the profile only describes the way in which the users (university students) act in an academic context, at a specific stage of their lives. The three parts of the observational instrument were subjected to a pilot test with 178 students of Psychology, Modern Languages, Business Technology and Pharmaceutical Management, in order to verify the consistency of the results in the

3.6  Final Ideas

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Table 3.8  Potentiative modality—example of categories, subcategories, and profiles Category Beliefs Nature of knowledge Personal beliefs about what knowledge is. It is located on a continuum which runs from knowledge conceived of as absolute, toward the idea that knowledge is relativistic, contextual, and constructivist

Subcategory Certainty of knowledge Degree to which the person conceives of knowledge as a matter of fixed and absolute truths or as fluid, tentative, and in continuous evolution

Question Profile 1 Statements which indicate that the information sources are considered as true or immovable Profile 2 Statements which indicate that the information sources are considered to be inputs which enable them to reach their own conclusions Profile 3 Statements which indicate that the information sources are used as tentative points of view, possibly controversial but only working hypotheses

Source: Own

different parts of the observational instrument, that is, the scenario, the self-­ assessment test of IL, and the IL semi-structured interview. After analyzing the performance of the expert in information science, and the students, adjustments were made, and the conceptual and investigative references were reviewed; the result was the methodological proposal we finally adopted. An example of each one of the categories, subcategories, and profiles is shown in Table  3.8 related to the Potentiative Modality, as well as some criteria that the observer must keep in mind to categorize the students’ actions, The results of this stage led to the final design of the observational instrument.

3.6  Final Ideas The conceptualization and the description of IL which derives from the above observational instrument is obviously complex. From a semiotic point of view, the categories act as a prism which refract the underlying meanings of the students’ ways of accessing, evaluating, and using information sources, in situated contexts, which are crossed by historical and cultural vectors. The above imposes limits on generalizations about the characteristics of IL which this instrument assesses (Barbosa-Chacón et al., 2010; Castañeda-Peña et al., 2010; Marciales et al., 2008). The instrument is regarded as a higher order one (in line with Navarro, 1995), it not only makes it possible to observe the students’ practices when they access, evaluate, and use information sources, but it also offers a critical analysis of them.

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The study of IL with any observational instrument is not neutral; according to Navarro (1995), any instrument has biases due to the epistemological, theoretical, and methodological assumptions which underlie its design and the standpoints and professional interests of the researchers. That is the reason why this instrument has a dialogical character; it makes it possible to progressively obtain higher levels of understanding and include different perspectives. The structure of IL based on the four modes of competency is a useful device for describing how the subjects access, evaluate, and use information sources insofar as it takes their lives, traditions, customs, intentions, motivations, beliefs, and reference communities into account. The profiles of IL the instrument makes provide information about the particular stage of the subjects’ lives and related cultural and historical factors. Therefore, it has a dynamic value because it recognizes that their practices will change over time. These results will guide students as they continue to use information sources in an academic context. Chapter 4 presents the three profiles and describes the beliefs, motivations, and practices that characterize each one. An observational instrument of information literacy is a situated device; this means that the data the instrument provides is relevant because it takes into account the contexts, the subjects, and their languages. The complexity of its implementation and the subjective nature of the observations raise questions which still need to be answered. How valid will the assessment tools be when they are used in new contexts and with a different pool of subjects? How can we guarantee the reliability and validity of the instrument? Those are questions which require new investigations; our research group is eager to discuss them with other scientists who are studying IL with observational instruments.

References Alvarado, G. (2007). El concepto de competencia en la perspectiva de la educación superior. In: Abstracts of the Forum El concepto de competencia: su uso en educación técnica y superior. Universidad Industrial de Santander, Bucaramanga, 25 May 2007. Barbosa-Chacón, J. W., Barbosa, J. C., Marciales, G. P., et al. (2010). Reconceptualización sobre las competencias informacionales. Una experiencia en la educación superior. Revista de Estudios Sociales, 37, 121–142. Bonilla, E., & Rodríguez, P. (2000). Más allá del dilema de los métodos. La investigación en ciencias sociales. Bogotá, Uniandes: Grupo Editorial Norma. Brandom, R. (2009). Reason in philosophy: Animating ideas. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. Campbell, R. L. (1992). Will the real scenario please stand up? SIGCHI Bull, 24(2), 6–8. Castañeda-Peña, H., Marciales Vivas, G., González Niño, L., et al. (2010). Recolectores, verificadores y reflexivos: perfiles de la competencia informacional en estudiantes universitarios de primer semestre. Revista Interamericana de Bibliotecología, 33(1), 187–209. Caulkins, D., Trosset, C., & Good A M, P. (2000). Using scenarios to construct models of identity in multiethnic settings. Field Methods, 12(4), 267–281. https://doi.org/10.1177/15258 22X0001200401

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Ericsson, K. A., & Simon, H. A. (1993). Protocol analysis: Verbal reports as data. Cambridge: The MIT Press. Everston, C. M., & Green, J. L. (1989). La observación como indagación y como método. La investigación de la enseñanza II. Métodos cualitativos y de observación. Madrid: Paidos. Greimas, A. J. (1989). Del sentido II: ensayos semióticos. Gredos, Madrid. 78–154. Greimas, A.  J., & Courtés, J. (1982). Semiotics and language: An analytical dictionary. Bloomington: University Press. Hernández, P. (2001). Psicología de la educación. Trillas, México. Hofer, B. (2004). Epistemological understanding as a metacognitive process: Thinking aloud during online searching. Educational Psychology, 39(1), 43–55. https://doi.org/10.1207/ s15326985ep3901_5 Hofer, B., & Pintrich, P. (1997). The development of epistemological theories: Beliefs about knowledge and knowing and their relation to learning. Review of Educational Research, 67, 88–140. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543067001088 Kukkola, J. & Pikkarainen, E. (2016). Edusemiotics, Existential Semiotics, and Existential Pedagogy. In I. Semetsky (Ed.), Edusemiotics—A handbook. Springer. Marciales, G., González, L., Castañeda-Peña, H., & Barbosa-Chacón, J. W. (2008). Competencias informacionales en estudiantes universitarios: una reconceptualización. Universitas Psychologica, 7(3), 613–954. Montiel-Overall, P. (2007). Information literacy: Toward a cultural model. Canadian Journal of Information and Library Science (Special Edition on Information Literacy), 31(1), 43–68. Nardi, B. A. (1992). The use of scenarios in design. ACM SIGCHI Bulletin, 24(3), 13–14. https:// doi.org/10.1145/142167.142171 Navarro, P. (1995). La encuesta como texto: un enfoque cualitativo. Comunicación presentada en el V Congreso Español de Sociología. Granada. Retrieved from http://www.carlosmanzano. net/articulos/Navarro.htm. Pikkarainen, E. (2014). Competence as a key concept of educational theory: A semiotic point of view. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 48(4), 621–636. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9752.12080 Pikkarainen E (2017) School learning as human growth. Published in: P. Siljander, K. Kontio & E.  Pikkarainen (eds.) Schools in transition: Challenges to schooling in late modern society. Rotterdam: Sense Publisher. doi https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6300-827-3_7. Pourtois, J.  P., & Desmet, H. (1992). Epistemología e instrumentación en ciencias humanas. Barcelona: Herder. Santrock, J. W. (2001). Psicología de la educación. México: McGraw Hill. Stone, O., Sklar, Z., & Milchan, A. (Producers), Stone, O. (Director). (1991). JFK [Motion picture]. Warner Bros.

Chapter 4

Information Literacy Profiles of University Students

Abstract  This chapter introduces information literacy profiles. Drawing on discursive semiotics, it argues that an analysis of the logical relations between subjects enables one to observe informationally competent subjects at the level of the potentiative mode from the standpoint of the collector, the verifier, and the reflective. The chapter reports examples where attachments and beliefs shape varied ways of relating to information, which leads to the drawing of profiles. These relationships are identifiable in the lives of the subjects in formal and non-formal contexts of education that include, for example, secondary education, family context, higher education, and the labor context. Keywords  Information literacy · University students · Information literacy profiles · Attachments · Beliefs · Collector · Verifier · Reflective · Secondary education · Family context · Higher education · Labor context

4.1  Introduction The design and application of an observation instrument for information literacy (IL), as described in the previous chapter, allowed us to characterize three IL profile types in university students who participated in the research project “Information literacy characterization of first semester students,” undertaken between 2008 and 2010. The notion of profile refers to the “habitual or preferred use of practices of information sources. Here, the concept of practice not only refers to doing something but doing something in a historical and cultural context which gives it meaning. This means that IL has a situated character” (Castañeda-Peña, Marciales Vivas,

© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 F. Cabra-Torres et al., Information Literacy in Higher Education, SpringerBriefs in Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50014-6_4

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González, et al., 2010, p. 195). In general terms, this idea allowed us to establish three profiles which are presented below, and, in an “interwoven” way, they are described in the present chapter, which is based on the potentiative modalization (see Chap. 3) with a particular emphasis on the subject–subject logical relationship, which shapes attachment. Potentiative modalization refers to the worldviews which the subject possess, which are expressed by taking a position in the face of a problem, a need, or a challenging issue (see this conceptualization in Marciales, González, Castañeda-Peña, et al., 2008). According to Alvarado (2007), who employs a discursive semiotics framework, a competent subject, “modalized by believing, assumes the social determinations and conditions needed to act: he imposes them on or gives them to himself, thus it can be understood that the two ways of ethic competence—must-do-belief and can-do-belief—can only be attributable to an actant presumed to be autonomous” (p. 5). This chapter aims to illustrate IL, the purpose of developing an instrument for its observation (see Chap. 3) and how a subject modeled by attachment guides himself by attaching two-dimensionally to the “believe must do belief” and the “believe can do belief.” That is, in his or her ethical competence, the subject shapes the belief (subject–object relationship) by attaching or not attaching himself to it, totally or partially, and being sensitive to the context of his relationship with other subjects and with himself (subject–subject relationship). Therefore, the first section summarizes the profiles obtained from the informational tool, which have been described by Castañeda-Peña et al. (2010). The second section, based on the data, discusses how the attachments in particular amount to beliefs which reveal how a subject can be profiled informationally as a collector, verifier, or reflective person.

4.2  Profiles of IL The analysis of IL as a “network” of various modes (potentiative, volitional, alethic, and deontic—see Chap. 3) allows for an epistemological shift that turns “the competence” into an action that goes beyond the “know-how” and drives it toward the “doing-being” linked to the experiences of the subject. That is to say, this understanding of the competence in the informational field makes the “modal values” (duty, willingness, power, and knowledge) (Alvarado, 2007) more apparent in different ways so that the competence becomes more tangible when an observational instrument is used. This is where the value of profiles becomes more evident, that is, when they are not regarded as monolithic and independent of each other but rather, complex structures in which a single tendency predominates. Seen in this way and in accordance with situated life experiences, the subjects move between different informational profiles and informationally reveal themselves in them. As mentioned above, these profiles pertain to the collector, the verifier, and the reflective person. They are described below.

4.2 Profiles of IL

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4.2.1  The Collector Profile This profile is characterized by actions that account for learning by trial and error in the access to and evaluation and use of information sources. This profile highlights the results of “successful” academic practices, in which success is measured by the student’s grade. One characteristic of this profile is the belief that the truth exists somewhere and that this place may be the Internet because “everything is found there” (Castañeda-Peña et al., 2010): it is also easy and fast. That belief guides the student’s search for truth and he or she tends to collect much information. This is motivated by duty, that is, what an authority figure expects of the student. In terms of access to and evaluation and use of information sources, Google and Wikipedia were found to be the main search tools, as well as the obvious keywords in the homework assignment. However, in this profile, planning is absent, and the specific information tends to be copied verbatim from the selected sources.

4.2.2  Verifier Profile This profile is characterized by actions derived from lessons the student learnt from his upbringing, family, and school. Knowledge and the way to obtain it are thus related to individual standpoints. The existence of different perspectives on a problem is appreciated, and the student assures himself that the sources of information are validated by academic or scientific authorities, such as scientific journals, the websites of specialized institutions, or even the results of investigations. Google is seen as a tool for mapping an unexplored territory, and books are a useful source that provides an overall view of the topic. Additionally, the motivations for the task are geared to the fulfillment of professional goals. The sources then chosen have different perspectives, which are verified through a sort of intertextual analysis. This analysis includes different formats such as digital and printed texts.

4.2.3  Reflective Profile This profile is characterized by actions derived from learning, in the first instance, from the way the student’s family accesses, evaluates, and uses information sources, strengthened by lessons learnt at school. In terms of beliefs about knowledge and how to obtain it, it is thought that the most relevant information comes from websites validated by academic authorities and books which broaden one’s understanding of the subject. The use of the Internet is governed by the time limits of the task. The motivations are the advancement of the student’s career and the wealth which all new knowledge

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represents. The planning of the search tends to start with the formulation of questions. Sources of information from authoritative pages are selected and validated by comparing them with other reputable sources and one’s own point of view. Thus, the analysis and evaluation of the information are based on the initial questions.

4.3  Attachments Based on the Beliefs of IL These three profiles are presented relationally below, from the theoretical perspective, based on what an instrument for observing informational competence revealed (see Chap. 3). However, it is necessary to remember that there are modal values in the different modes of IL.  This chapter will examine these in the section on the attachments about beliefs in the potentiative mode.

4.3.1  “ What I was told at School: Do not get into El Rincón del Vago (“Dunce’s corner”)”: Attachments and Beliefs “Do not get into El Rincón del Vago” were the words of a first-semester university student when she was reflecting on the criteria she thought would be useful for assessing the value of a source of information. They tentatively reveal an attachment (the subject attaches himself to the beliefs of another subject, such as his teacher or classmates)—voluntarily, not as an obligation—and that allows us to trace the way the student relates to the information. In this case, her words also enable us to characterize her IL.  As mentioned in the reconceptualization of this competence by Barbosa-Chacón, Barbosa, Marciales, et  al. (2010) and Marciales et  al. (2008), attachments are part of that interweaving which (re)configures IL, according to specific located contexts. Thus, both beliefs and attachments are part of the potentiative way of IL (Alvarado, 2007). In this regard, those who investigate this argue that attachments that form the framework of IL usually constitute or transform the beliefs and prejudices which may or may not have been acquired at the subject’s school, family, or work. That is, by studying the words of the student, it seems to be possible to observe the “modal values” (Alvarado, 2007) of duty, willingness, power, and knowledge implicit in them. It is also possible to infer how she behaves as a competent subject who attaches herself to the “must do” belief from the prescriptive logical relation of subject–object where the belief is configured. People seem not to appropriate those attachments—to do with the access to, and use and evaluation of the sources of information—as a knowledge of their own. It must be said that such beliefs and attachments culturally determine the action taken or imposed (Barbosa-Chacón et al., 2010; Marciales et al., 2008). In this sense, the attachments can be characterized by a multidirectional continuum which ranges

4.3  Attachments Based on the Beliefs of IL

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Table 4.1  Attachments in IL according to profiles Collector –  Lack of family, school, or working experiences –  He usually engages in practices that he considers successful from his own experience or from the practices imposed by the teacher, for example, based on his grade

Verifier –  Existence of family, school, or working experiences –  Family and school support are usual

Reflective –  Existence of family, school, or working experiences –  What is acquired at home or at work becomes a habit and is prolonged in school life with a certain degree of independence

Source: Adapted from Castañeda-Peña et al. (2010)

from the lack of family, school, or working experiences, to their marked adherence to orientations or “cultural determinants” about the use of information sources. In IL, attachments manifest themselves in various ways which pertain to specific practices (performances guided by beliefs) which typify trends that allow one to recognize IL profiles. Table 4.1 adapted from Castañeda-Peña et al. (2010, p. 205) shows a characterization of attachments by profile. As can be seen in Table 4.1, it is possible to argue that a person who has the collector profile: is characterized by a lack of family or school experiences that guide the use of information sources, so that their learning is by trial and error. [The collector] tends to conserve those practices [where he has obtained] ‘successful’ academic results, where success is fundamentally measured by the grade assigned by the teacher. (Castañeda-Peña et  al., 2010, p. 205)

Pedraza, Barbosa, González, et al. (2004) also pointed this out. They found that the teacher is the source of information to which the university student tends to attach himself uncritically (student–pupil relationship); in this way, processes for the acquisition of knowledge (student–object of knowledge relationship) of a technical or instrumental nature are shaped (Grundy, 1985; Habermas, 1982). That is, the student believes in the information (object) that comes from the teacher (subject), and it is in the relationship with the latter that he establishes the attachment to what he believes. Another study (Marciales et al., 2008) noted that a student with a collector profile stated the following: “The first thing I did was to go online [and] I searched in Google.” The authors argue that: What [the student] actually did to access information is linked to a precondition that organizes and/or drives her actions, in this case, what [the student] defined as ‘a particular source.’ To ‘consume’ the information [the student] establishes a relationship with it, guided by the belief that the ‘concretion’ of the information is relevant. The belief of [the student] is part of an unlimited number of presuppositions, which accumulate through time and make the students’ practices possible (in the face of their “modes” of relating to information). It is the historically constructed conception, linked to a specific purpose, which may explain why [the student] makes a particular choice of sources of information. (Marciales et al., 2008, p. 648)

Thus, the student seems to attach herself to the collection of specific sources that meet her “requirements,” for the academic task, according to her criteria.

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In the case of the verifier, family and school experiences are evident “in a way that learning in this sense derives from the accompaniment the student had. Such experiences tend to begin at the end of secondary education” (Castañeda-Peña et al., 2010, p. 205). In the case of the reflective person, the influence of the two abovementioned contexts is undoubtable, but unlike the verifier, in addition to the accompaniment, there is a transfer of habits to the school setting, that is to say, the reflective practices of information use are “strengthened by the academic experiences” (Castañeda-Peña et al., 2010, p. 205). Consequently, the configured attachment is strengthened, in the belief assumed as a modal value (Alvarado, 2007). Barbosa-­ Chacón, Barbosa, Marciales et al. (2010, p. 134) noticed this when a university student, speaking about his way of managing information for his academic assignments, said the following: “The Internet offers me the advantage of getting the information fast (…). Maybe it is a habit, and at my academic level, I am used to doing searches of that type (…). I have been taught that I have to rely on serious, respectable institutions, and not just any comments I find (…)”. Note, in this particular case, his attachment to the speed of a search engine on the Web and the “seriousness” of the sources he usually consults. His attachment is revealed by his remark that it has been “inculcated” in him, and it is assumed that it was done by another subject, whether in his formal education or not. Although in this case, it is not possible to know if the attachment happened at home, his words suggest that his way of accessing, evaluating, and using information (in view of what he says about speed and seriousness) was consolidated or fortified at his university. The attachments which shape orientations in IL are analyzed by understanding that such practices take place with other subjects in a variety of contexts. Here, those attachments are revealed by the informants’ accounts of their experiences at

Fig. 4.1 Previous attachments (Source: Own) Family

School

Previous attachments

University

Work

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their home, school, work, and university, and any of the types of profile may be shaped in these four contexts. Figure 4.1 illustrates the four types of attachments.

4.3.2  “ The Final Year Helped Me a Lot to Learn How to Use Bibliographies”: Previous Attachments at School For the collector, the school represents a place where the information that is cumulative moves and, as stated above, is oriented toward an end: the grade. The work of teachers is responsible for these success-oriented practices, and there is an explicit recognition of such an influence, but the collector’s criteria for choosing sources which are learned at school are not made explicit. Nor does this reflect the subject’s experiences at home, as DR1 admits when she says that “it was [in] the final year that there were very good teachers (…) who were strict about the [sources of information]” since “before it was like doing a rough draft”, which seems to mean, as she says, that when she was gathering information, “Well, anything would do!” That is, the collector seems to accept any source of related and cumulative information. At school, she attaches herself to that, mainly because it works. The “requirements” of the teacher—a “good” one, she says—modify this attachment, as the student is already aware of a “must be” which implies a strict assessment of the source of information. When she attaches herself to this requirement, she potentially shifts toward the verifier profile. DR says that “one must have a serious source to make a [good] draft of an essay, because if you do not have the basis to talk about a topic or formulate a hypothesis or [a] thesis or anything, then how do you intend to write the essay.” We thus see that she establishes a relationship with the information in an instrumentalized framework; in other words, she continues to carry academic assignments, with the aim of being successful. To this, she attaches herself (or directs) the practice to the context of school because that is what she believes in. However, it seems undeniable that the last year of high school triggers other ways of relating to information, both qualitatively and quantitatively, which represent variants of the collector profile that may possibly be shifting to the verifying profile. DR says that “the last year helped me a lot to learn to use bibliographies and all that (…). And if we were going to do an essay, we had to have at least three books as sources. [It was necessary] to look beyond a simple source (…). Last year they taught us a lot (…) about looking for sources, that is, not to stick with the basics”. Attachment is seen in her words about “not sticking with the basics,” which, quantitatively, means consulting “at least three sources” that are qualitatively understood to be sources that are not “simple.” In addition, it is evident that she understood the

1  The excerpts cited have been coded, for example, as DR, where the uppercase letters indicate the anonymous identity of the research participant.

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need to consult a number of sources to gather the required information. All this was shaped by her relationship with her teacher: “They taught us a lot about that.” Another indication of a shift toward the verifier profile is that LR uses a qualitative criterion, based on her wariness of “controversial” (unreliable) information sources. An example is what she has heard about Wikipedia—at her school, not university—namely, that utilizes a collective authorship, which, she suspects, may not be very reliable: she seems to have attached herself to what others told her about it. The student (LR) says: “All the teachers at school and [the university] said that [Wikipedia] was not liked so much here, but … I understand that the person… the people [who consult Wikipedia] can go to the page and update and give different opinions. This type of information might be controversial but when I have to find out about data, I believe one has to consult other information sources.” Therefore, this student seems to attach herself to a belief that the author’s personalized and identifiable voice is more reliable than the collective or polyphonic voice which you find in texts written by many authors. This belief seems to have been shaped during her transition from school to university, apparently from the subject’s relationship with her teacher and classmates. The above also seems to imply that there is a dichotomy between relevant and less relevant information, which means that one has to assess the source of the information. So, the less relevant information is on Wikipedia, and the most important is found in other sources. For MPR, the information which is “respectable” and perhaps reliable is found in an electronic format where the author is a member of a reputable institution. She implies this when she says that “the sources that are from the pages of universities or dot org are a little more serious, or dot gov, which gives us truthful information, not like Wikipedia, where people can enter and modify what they like.” Again, the tension arises from the question of the authority of the voice found in the text which is consulted (the subject with author–subject relationship). Regardless of whether a reliable university page is or is not the result of a collective authorship, it seems that the “modifiability” of the information also influences the beliefs MPR attaches herself to. In other words, information that is modified may become less credible, in terms of accuracy or reliability. Thus, this can be inferred from DR’s statement that: “they “always” said at school: Look further, you have to go to the sources, go to web bibliography.” It also reveals an attachment to the origin of the information, in terms of the measure of reliability DR learnt from her teacher at school. There seems to be a higher degree of appreciation of and attachment to a source in a print format (with bibliography) than an electronic or web format (like Wikipedia or Google), which is regarded as less reliable, perhaps due to DR’s lack of awareness about other factors that could make web information reliable. These attachments are formed at school, as with MPR, who was taught that “I need [the source] to have an author, a year of publication … and then that is the most important thing. Normally, pages like Wikipedia do not work because they are not reliable sources.” From the school experiences of the participants (the way in which the student– teacher relationship shapes attachments), it can be argued that they shape beliefs

Information authorship Collective author Institutionalized and individual author

Modifiability of information Accurate and static information Inacurate and changing information

Fig. 4.2  Aspects that shape beliefs about IL which originate in the student–teacher relationship at school (Source: Own)

Quality of information Simple sources Complex sources

Quality of information + number of sources - number of sources

Origin of information Print format (bibliography) Electronic format (Web)

4.3  Attachments Based on the Beliefs of IL 53

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about the reliability of information by means of different criteria, among which quantity, quality, origin, modifiability, or veracity stand out, as well as the reliability of the author(s). Figure 4.2 illustrates how the (re)configuration of the attachments lies along a multidirectional continuum in which the abovementioned aspects are related. Interwoven attachments which (re)configure this aspect of IL were drawn from the data provided by the participants in the project. That is, when accessing, evaluating, using, communicating, and relating to information, the person may attach himself to beliefs about an adequate number of sources while he still exhibits features of the collector profile, where the use of only simple sources of information is typical. Simple sources are those which provide various kinds of information that might be related to each other but are not processed. Similarly, the person can attach himself to the belief that the source should provide bibliographic information, which also indicates an attachment to the belief that if electronic (web) sources provide this information, the source might not be that reliable. Along the same lines, people may attach themselves to the belief that the source should provide accurate information and that the author’s voice has authority because it is acknowledged as such by the person. Thus, we see that these attachments are rooted in the person’s experience at school with his teacher or peers, especially in the final year of secondary education, when the attachments begin to shift toward another profile. In this continuum of attachments that shape the beliefs represented in Fig. 4.2, a person with verifier profile may attach himself to the belief that the number of sources is not as important as the complexity of the information which these sources provide. A person may also assess the origin of the information and determine its veracity according to the authorship of the source. However, a person with a reflective profile would distance himself from his previous attachments and establish his criteria in terms of the aspects shown in Fig. 4.2 (there are still no indications of this in the testimonies of the participants, perhaps because they are in their first university semester). At this point of the discussion, the above characteristics open up a new line of research into the possible transformations of IL attachments in people who are studying at universities or have already earned their degrees. To accomplish this, a longitudinal study of the role of the teacher is recommended. That is why Fig. 4.2 is representative but unfinished. Generalizing from the beliefs in the attachments would not be definitive; on the contrary, the hexagons with the symbol “i”— for information—represent areas of inquiry which require further studies that would cross-compare different populations. In fact, in the total number of attachments that shape beliefs, there might be aspects related to the speed of obtaining information (Barbosa-Chacón et al., 2010) and the “concretion” of the information provided by the source (Marciales et al., 2008).

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4.3.3  “ My Parents Have Believed that the Person Who Is Going to Be Successful Is Not Someone Who Is Studying”: Previous Attachments at Home In the case of the collector profile, the influence of the family on the shaping of the IL attachments is meager or nonexistent. This was shown by the interview with the informant LR undertaken by Castañeda-Peña et al. (2010): she speaks of those in her family who access sources of information with some authority and criteria, and those who do not, and the type of influence they have had. Please note how this reflects her relationship with other subjects, which modalizes her attachments. LR remarks: “My dad is a person who reads a lot, but I do not live with him, so I do not have that habit, and my brother and my mom [read] little.” LR is likely to be aware that the habit of reading nourishes the way in which a person accesses, evaluates, and uses information, and also that she does not have such a habit, despite her understanding of the “should be belief.” It seems that the university has a significant influence on the transformation of the family beliefs to which, in principle, the university students are attached. Family beliefs are sensitive to each particular context. That is, the level of the parents’ education shapes the previous attachments that are (re)configured when their child studies at a university, and that in turn (re)configures parents’ own beliefs. In an extensive commentary, BT recalls her parents’ attachments to higher education and hers, as a university student. She explained it, as follows: “My parents did not have much education and they now have a company, and they have believed that the person who is going to be successful is the one who works from 7 in the morning until 7 at night, and not the one who is preparing [for a career] or studying. Then, in some way, you get drawn into that family dynamic and in some way it begins to contaminate you too. So [I wonder] what I am studying for … or why they are paying for my studies if they do not think that the scientific thing brings more results than what they are doing right now.” LR and BT’s testimonies throw light on two more aspects of the attachments shaped by the subject’s home. The first is related to the parents’ level of education— high or low—and their beliefs about education, which would directly affect the way they see accessing, evaluating, and using information. The second aspect has to do with the practices of the access to, and use and evaluation of information which children observe and to which they may or may not attach themselves, despite their conscious “must be belief.” Taking these two new aspects into account would increase the range of possibilities illustrated in Fig. 4.2. In other words, the aspects which shape IL attachments reveal features of the profiles of the collector, verifier, and reflective person, broadened by considering the parents’ level of education and their practices of and beliefs about information. Figure 4.3 shows a “segment” of the multidirectional continuum of the attachments formed in the family. They cannot be isolated from those acquired at school, but the two kinds are closely interrelated. For the same reason, Fig. 4.3 shows hexa-

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Practices of the access to and evaluation and use of information sources acquired from parents or relatives Collector profile Verifier profile Reflective profile

Influence of the family members or parents’ level of schooling Low High

Fig. 4.3  Aspects which shape attachments in the IL originating in the family (Source: Own)

gons containing the letter “i,” which indicate other aspects not yet seen in the data, but that may be found in the family histories, depending on their characteristics. In short, the attachments acquired from the parents or family may be sufficient but not necessary for the formation of certain types of IL profiles. That is, a student with a collector profile may have close relatives with a reflective or verifying profile, but that does not imply that the attachment results from a one-to-one relationship. It may be that families do not have IL with specific profiles, but people do. Although the data also suggests such an influence, it is closely linked with the school and the university, as was mentioned above.

4.3.4  “ In the University, They Often Say that What One Searches for on the Internet Is Useless”: Pre-university Attachments Elsewhere, it has been argued that attachments and beliefs “correspond to the world views that the student possesses […], which are expressed when defending a position in the face of a challenge (a problem, a need, a question or a theme)” (Barbosa-­ Chacón et al., 2010, p. 138). In these world views, the interwoven attachments and beliefs of the potentiative modality—part of the total framework of IL—are clearly expressed. In the case of the university, the attachments seem to be (re)configured; that is, the attachments acquired from family, school, or working experiences change or new ones arise. For example, participant BT said that the information found on the Internet was superficial: “In the university they often say that what one searches for on the Internet is useless or that it is very superficial. Then one is also typecast … That is not going to work, or that will be wrong. That is why one sometimes stops thinking that those pages are going to be good.” When asked about the origin of these ideas about the Internet, BT says that it is “the academic part of the university, [and] the teachers, but usually what I can see in my classmates and what I do”. In other words, BT’s attachment to the belief that information is superficial on the Internet guides her approach.

4.3  Attachments Based on the Beliefs of IL

Practices of access, evaluation, and use of information sources from parents or relatives -Collector profile -Verifier profile -Reflective profile

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Degree of superficiality or depth of information provided by the source -Internet -Research articles, consulting their references

Fig. 4.4  Aspects which shape attachments (subject–peers/teachers) and beliefs (subject–information) in IL which originate in the university (Source: Own)

That is why BT, who may be shifting toward the verifier-reflective profile, looks for the sources in the investigations she consults. BT states: “I take that into account, that is, I do not [rely] so much on the conclusions of the investigation, it is important to know what studies that information was based on”. The experience of BT seems to show that the university makes her attach herself to the belief that the information should not be superficial and that what teachers say about the information and its sources should be followed. It also appears that peer influence shapes these attachments, but as in the case of the family, it may be necessary but not sufficient. That is, that her peers have a specific IL profile does not necessarily prove a mutual influence; although BT does follow what she sees as a trend in her peers, this may not apply to all university students (see the case presented in Barbosa-Chacón et al., 2010). Figure  4.4 illustrates two new aspects of the multidirectional continuum formed by the attachments shaped by the school and family life of users of information. Figure 4.4 shows another segment of the multidirectional continuum that the attachments seem to form, especially about beliefs. For a better understanding of how attachments operate on beliefs in the interwoven relations of IL and their profiles, further research into the aspects shown there is required, such as the manner in which university professors use, access, and evaluate information sources and the influence of the students’ peer group and circle of friends.

4.3.5  “ This Engineer Taught Me a Lot About the Field of Computers”: Previous Attachments at Work Attachments formed at work also influence the way the subject learns to access, use, and evaluate information sources in the case of students who, due to their economic situation, must combine work and studying, especially those in programs of distance learning.

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This influence is evident in the verifier and reflective profiles. Barbosa-Chacón et al. (2010) illustrate this with the account of a university student whose information competence has evolved in unfolding contexts, especially that of work. The Internet is his preferred medium of information: “I use the Internet a lot for the type of research [I do] whatever it may be, either for the university or my work or an exercise like this one.” This testimony supports the point raised by Bazarra, Casanova, and García (2001): “the Internet has become an escape route for them, a new virtual friend to which one ‘belongs’ from the beginning” (p. 163). That university student also mentioned the beneficial aspects of the Internet, especially when he has responsibilities in more than one environment: “I have always based everything on information and have great confidence in the i­ nformation provided by the Internet, it seems to me more agile and in view of the context I am in nowadays, which is to work and study, the time factor has a great influence on myself.” It seems that this student is aware that, due to its advantages of availability and agility, the Internet facilitates accessing, evaluating, and using information: thus the IL conditions are evidently related to “being able to do” and “to be able.” These tendencies are described by Marciales et al. (2008) and Barbosa-Chacón et al. (2010). It seems that the university spreads habits acquired at work, the environment to which students attach themselves, either to start with or in a parallel manner. These beliefs and customs have a correspondence with each particular context, that is, previous work experiences—translated into learning—are shaped by previous attachments which students (re)signify or repeat when their academic work requires them to use information. The lessons learnt at work are the result of the relationships built up in that context. In this case, LO, who worked in an Internet cafe, said: “The engineer that went there taught me a lot in the field of the computer (…), how to handle contents and many other things”. These are relationships where the “other” intervenes in the subject’s handling of information. By contrast, LO had one experience at work where it was he who intervened to influence others’ IL: “I started researching when I was working in the Internet cafe, yes. A normal girl arrived who needed information about scales (…), then I saw that the Internet was useful for many other things”. These two accounts reveal other aspects of how attachments arise at work which establish and renew beliefs. In the first, the availability and use of the preferred information sources affect the ways to access, evaluate, and use the information. A second aspect is the relationships between subjects (the one who intervenes and the one who is intervened). Correspondingly, these aspects must be added to those, already described, which reconfigure IL and reveal features of the profiles. In addition to the attachments formed in the family, Fig.  4.5 shows one more “segment” of this dynamic that links the subject’s unfolding scenarios, where the attachments formed at work also configurate the interwoven relationships typical of IL. In the same vein, these attachments are closely related to those acquired in the academic context. For this reason, Fig. 4.5 has empty spaces for other aspects which have not been detected yet but may be found in the diversity of work scenarios. Ultimately, the attachments formed at work determine the IL profiles whenever the subject, whatever his IL profile, goes beyond scenarios of a certain formality.

4.4 Conclusion

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Practices of accessing, evaluating, and using information sources acquired from parents or relatives -Collector profile -Verifier profile -Reflective profile

Influence of relationships between fellow workers -The one who intervenes -The intervened

Selection and attachment to information sources by criteria of convenience

Fig. 4.5  Aspects which shape attachments (subject–peers/teachers) and beliefs (subject–information) in the IL originating at work (Source: Own)

This situation leads one to suppose that a student with a particular profile may encounter situations at work which, to different degrees, influence his attachments, given the variety of working environments and his different interactions with other subjects there. Again, Fig. 4.5 is unfinished: filling in the hexagons with the letter “i” requires further research.

4.4  Conclusion The logical relations between subjects allows one to observe subjects who are competent at managing information in the potentiative mode, from the perspective of the collector, the verifier, and the reflective. Attachments and beliefs are intimately related and seem to be codependent in this mode of IL. Thus, from the data, it seems clear that, in their relationships with other subjects, the participants form attachments which express specific beliefs about the “should be belief” and the “must do belief” of the IL. These relationships are seen in the subjects’ personal experiences at high school or university, or in their families or their work. At school, attachments seem to be shaped by the relationship between the subject and his peers. The influence of the teacher is also notable. In the case of the family, we have seen how the parents’ informational profile is not simply inherited. However, there influences are nuanced. In the university, one notes the importance of the relationship between the subject and his peers and teachers. Finally, at work, colleagues, clients, and bosses are those who influence the construction of those attachments which lie in the potentiative mode of IL beliefs (see Table 4.2).

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Table 4.2  Attachments in the IL of university students Formed by the relationship between the student and teacher/peers at high school Amount of Quality of Origin of information Modifiability of Information information information information authorship Collective Accurate and Print format More or Simple static information institutional (bibliographic data) fewer sources sources authorship and Inaccurate and Electronic format Complex individual authors changing (Web—without sources information bibliographic data) Formed by the family Practices of access to and evaluation and uses of information sources learnt from parents or relatives Collector profile Verifier profile Reflective profile Formed at the university Practices of access to and evaluation, and uses of information sources learned from peers/teachers Collector profile Verifier profile Reflective profile

Influence of the family members or parents’ level of education Absence Presence

Degree of superficiality or depth of information provided by the source Internet Research articles and consultation of their references

Formed at work Practices of access to and evaluation Influence of the workplace on the and uses of information sources learnt from coworkers, clients, bosses management of information The one who intervenes Profile collector The intervened Verifier profile Reflective profile

Selection of and attachment to information sources by criteria of convenience The self

Source: Own

In addition, the information provided by the participants reveals several interrelated aspects, related to their experiences—for the specific case of university students—which may (re)configure their attachments to the way they manage information. To conclude, the attachments and beliefs take different forms, in accordance with each IL profile, though, to different degrees, they may appear in all of the profiles. The following aspects require further research: (a) analyzing the IL profiles in terms of the volitional, alethic, and deontic modalizations (see Chap. 3); (b) analyzing the profiles in terms of the different modalities in the subject–object relationship.

References

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References Alvarado, G. (2007). El concepto de competencia en la perspectiva de la educación superior. Foro El concepto de competencia: su uso en educación técnica y superior. Bucaramanga. Barbosa-Chacón, J., Barbosa, J., Marciales, G., et al. (2010). Reconceptualización sobre las competencias informacionales. Una experiencia en la Educación Superior. Revista de Estudios Sociales, (37), 121–142. Bazarra, L., Casanova, O., & García, J. (2001). Adolescentes, televisión e Internet: ¿Protagonistas o espectadores de la realidad? Documentación Social. Revista de Estudios Sociales y de Sociología Aplicada, 124. Castañeda-Peña, H., Marciales Vivas, G., González, L., et al. (2010). Recolectores, verificadores y reflexivos: perfiles de la competencia informacional en estudiantes universitarios de primer semestre. Revista Interamericana de Bibliotecología, 33(1), 187–209. Grundy, S. (1985). Curriculum: Product or praxis. Oxon, Routledge Falmer. Habermas, J. (1982). Conocimiento e Interés. Madrid: Taurus. Marciales, G., González, L., Castañeda-Peña, H., et al. (2008). Competencias informacionales en estudiantes universitarios: una reconceptualización. Universitas Pshychologica, 7(3), 613–954. Pedraza, M., Barbosa, J., González, L., et al. (2004). Informe final del proyecto diagnóstico sobre la forma como los estudiantes de pregrado de la Facultad de Comunicación y Lenguaje utilizan las fuentes de información en sus procesos de aprendizaje. Bogotá: Pontificia Universidad Javeriana.

Chapter 5

Information Literacy and Experiences of University Professors

Abstract  An account of ontological assumptions is presented in order to resignify the social categories and practices that condition and classify the use of information by university professors, the relations between their experience, information literacy, and practice. It indicates how these relations emerge from the interactions produced in cultural contexts, the use of available tools, and the types of educational experiences and the implications of training for information literacy. Based on this, these studies discuss the particularities of collective work, which must transcend the limits of specific academic disciplines, in order to transform or build knowledge. Keywords  ICT · University professor · Information literacy · Teaching practice · Teaching experience · Higher education · Knowledge · Access to information · Data evaluation · Use of information · Technology · Information · processing · Information review · University students

5.1  Introduction New technologies and digital social media have become an epistemological and cultural challenge that renews the concept of knowledge and its acquisition and circulation. When used in education, they open new doors to research and question the traditional ways of teaching and learning in universities (see Chap. 1). We are

© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 F. Cabra-Torres et al., Information Literacy in Higher Education, SpringerBriefs in Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50014-6_5

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therefore experiencing a profound cultural change in the ways of using, building, and disseminating knowledge, and higher education institutions cannot ignore it. In this respect, a remarkable phenomenon has emerged in the twenty-first century which is the overabundance of information that circulates through different media, in different formats, and uses multiple technologies. It causes what some have called “infoxication” in the users of information, where an excess of information surpasses the human capacity to process it and affects in turn the capacity to filter sources which explain everyday phenomena. Hence, the challenge which universities now face is to strengthen the information literacy (IL) of students as they access, evaluate, and use information. Responding to this challenge involves developing capacities in the younger generations that will allow them to move from the simple consultation of information to the acquisition of reflective knowledge and solving of complex problems, which are fundamental skills in higher education. Although many activities which promote IL have facilitated the access to information, they still are insufficient since IL requires students to be taught how to develop skills which enable them to read texts in a critical, reflective, and transformative manner. These demands directly challenge the university as one of the institutions which strengthen literacy, along with the family, the media, the school (Area & Pessoa, 2012), and the places where future university teachers are trained. That is, the challenge is to enable the students who have been born in the digital age to master these new and daunting technologies, one which implies an intergenerational encounter and involves closing the generational breach between such youngsters and their teachers (or other adults) as they interact in situations where information plays a leading role. This, in turn, entails learning who these youngsters who attend our classrooms are and how they act. As Serres and Cudina (2014) states: “Before teaching anything to anyone, it is necessary to at least get to know who they are. Who enters the school, the institute, the lyceum, the university today?” (p.  13): that is how one understands that there is a new perception of the world in these generations: These children live, then, in the virtual world. The cognitive sciences show that the use of the Net, the reading or writing of messages with the thumbs and searching for information in Wikipedia or Facebook do not stimulate the same neurons or the same cortical zones as the use of a book, chalk or notebook. They can manipulate a large amount of information at the same time. They do not know or integrate, or synthesize like us, their predecessors. They no longer have the same brain. By cell phone, they access any person; by GPS, any place; by the Net, to any piece of knowledge: they occupy a topological space of neighborhoods, while we lived in a metric space, measured by distances. They no longer inhabit the same space. (Serres & Cudina, 2014, p. 21)

In universities, young people between the ages of 17 and 25 are regarded as the first users of many of the new digital technologies. They live, therefore, amidst the urgencies, tensions, and social paradoxes of a world that is barely opening itself up to new technological and computerized environments, and they experience the impact of technology on various fields of their society and culture with a greater intensity.

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Nowadays, these young people see themselves as active agents, who make decisions about how to respond to the demands of technologies, their social life, and their work at university (Thompson, 2015), but they feel distant from and sometimes judged by those who fail to understand their empathy for technology. These cultural changes and situations of uncertainty, which derive from a hyper-­ connected and over-informed world, not only test the teacher’s job but also encourage him/her to reflect and rethink about his/her relationship with others and the possible ways of linking him/her with knowledge and with the world. “Thinking about an enriched teaching job for this age probably implies leaving behind some models that tied the certainty of the instrumental to an authoritarian and impoverished relationship with knowledge. The role of the teacher cannot be thought of today as a role written in advance” (Southwell, 2010, p. 2). Neither can it be built on the basis of social representations that hinder the dialogue between generations. The first section of this chapter offers a critical analysis of some of the representations and metaphors that seek to characterize some of the generational changes in the use of technologies and in which the role of the teacher is prescribed. The second section analyzes the experiences of teachers in terms of the relationships between the experience, IL, and teaching practices. The final section discusses some of the implications of IL for universities with the aim of resignifying the role of professors as mediators of the acquisition of knowledge and the development of critical IL skills in students.

5.2  T  he Intergenerational Challenge: A Critique of the Notion that the Generation Gap Makes a Dialogue Impossible The metaphor of the digital immigrant, among others, has led to a discourse and a social representation that in some ways has influenced the representation of the teacher’s informational and digital competences. These narratives devalue their position and do not recognize that, in their role as counselors, they focus on the deficit of ICT skills or that, in universities, the teachers are best equipped to contextualize, select, and interpret information, based on their professional knowledge. In addition, they ignore their role in helping students to acquire, interpret, and synthesize knowledge, based on data, and criteria for assessing its relevance and credibility (Siri, 2010). The metaphor of “digital natives” (Prensky, 2001) has been widely used in discussions of this kind and implies a radical change in education. It strengthens the idea of an unbridgeable gap between adults and youngsters (Stoerger, 2009). However, some of the objections to it are as follows: first, its assumption of an unreal dichotomy between digital and analog technologies which excludes cultural hybrids with heterogeneous features that nevertheless share a common place.

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5  Information Literacy and Experiences of University Professors The metaphor suggests that the worlds of the digital and the analogical are divided or separate, when in reality they complement each other and live in harmony. Let’s see some examples: ICT have facilitated and accelerated the creation of analogical texts (books, newspapers, advertising); many digital devices have analogue components and vice versa (CD in books, instruction manuals in electronic and mobile agendas), the transference of information from digital to analogue media and vice versa. In short, many current literacy practices integrate analog and digital resources without difficulty. (Cassany & Ayala, 2008, p. 63)

Second, the metaphor gives young people a leading role in the use of new media, while it underestimates the importance of what adults do: In other words, the notion of digital natives tends to assign the responsibility for the initiatives and dynamism of the new media to young people and it usually ignores what adults can do to promote richer, more relevant and more challenging uses of these technologies. (Dussel, 2012, p. 12)

Such metaphors based on the relationship between young people and adults often strengthen the idea of an intergenerational gap which assumes that “young people/students carry along the novices and adults/teachers do not know about it or they resist it” (Pinkasz, 2012, p. 221). This implies, in turn, that young people easily adapt to the new technologies, while adults are rigid and resist them. According to Helsper (2008), this polarized perception partly explains why young people are reluctant to seek help and advice from their elders and underestimate the risks and dangers of an overreliance on the Net. As Pinkasz (2012, p. 225) points out, “it is not productive to postulate the existence of polar modes of the appropriation of technologies by [the younger and older] generations, such as a resistant mode and an adherent mode, a reactive mode and a proactive mode, an opaque mode and a transparent mode, a distant mode and a direct mode.” Third, the teacher belongs to the community of digital immigrants, so his/her role is limited with respect to the knowledge of young people. The marked idealization of enthusiastic discourses about the inclusion of new technologies in schools has led to the abandonment of the fact that, as in the case of any other kind of knowledge, teachers play a fundamental role in teaching the use of these tools, due to the simple fact that young people do not associate these technologies with the education imparted at school, or the acquisition of academic knowledge or the dissemination of experiences and ideas. (Bossolasco & Storni, 2012, p. 9)

In semantic terms, the digital natives/immigrants metaphor signify that the student is superior in a technology-based society and, on the contrary, the teacher and others who lack technological skills are marginal. Because it is simplistic, this label results in an inequitable and hierarchical power structure and fails to explain the complex attitudes and diversity of students. It leads to various types of exclusion and affects the subjects in different ways. On the one hand, “the criterion that defines the generation is based on the homogeneous use of technology by the same age group” (Pinkasz, 2012, p. 221). As a generational category, it ignores the distinctions of class, gender, ethnicity, or territory and assumes that adults do not have a skilled use of technologies (Dussel, 2012).

5.2  The Intergenerational Challenge: A Critique of the Notion that the Generation Gap…

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Table 5.1  Binary oppositions of the native-­immigrant metaphor Digital native Student Fast Young Future Multitasking Image Playful Looking forward Digital Action Constant connection

Digital immigrant Teacher Slow Old Past, legacy Serial, logical thinking Text Serious Looking toward the past Analog Knowledge Isolation

Source: Taken from Bayne and Ross (2011)

According to Bayne and Ross (2011), it homogenizes diverse groups of individuals through the use of a crude categorization. In their view, more emphasis “should be placed on their diversity than dichotomy” (p. 160). Although generational changes imply changes in the links with technology, it is not about technology itself, but what new technologies allow for in terms of collaboration, interaction and participation in social life (marketing, advertising, citizenship, the academy, public discussion); that is, it is about starting from the new areas of relationship and interaction which digital tools afford. According to Herold (2012), this generational discourse is not interested in the creation or emergence of an inclusive society; instead, it focuses on the exclusion of people (adults) from the new developments in society due to their lack of knowledge and skill, and promotes the idea of a society, based on the use of new technologies and networking, which excludes more people than it includes. It is common knowledge that the mere existence of technology does not lead to a greater expertise on the part of its users, and that many teachers who plan to use such technologies find that their students are not skilled enough at them and have not been taught the basics (Herold, 2012). Other studies show that these new generations “spend little time critically evaluat[ing] online material and do not know how to identify what is relevant and reliable; nor are they taught about it at school” (Cassany & Ayala, 2008, p. 64). Therefore, the binary metaphor is deterministic and in line with the commercialization of higher education: it also reveals a tendency to diminish the importance of the role of the teacher. Instead, the metaphor of the digital native is aligned with the corporate view of education, which calls for it to respond to the needs of the market (Bayne & Ross, 2007, 2011). Although authors like Bayne and Ross (2011) insist on the imprecision of the metaphor, what is really important for them is to analyze how it affects the way in which teachers and students conceive of their relationships with technology, and “its influence on discussions of the influence of technology on higher education”.

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These metaphors focus on characteristics which are branded as deficient, clumsy, or weak. Such categorizations rest on an ontological error which distorts the identity of the adult and/or teacher by attributing certain traits to him and, due to its implicit discrimination and vehement binary oppositions, also stigmatizes the role of the teacher, as shown in Table 5.1. In this hierarchy, the digital native has a commanding position while the immigrant has a subordinate role, as someone who must change in order to be competent, and employable, and is regarded as deficient because he is unable to shed old habits and adopt new ones and thus meet the needs of new digital students/natives (Bayne & Ross, 2011). For Herring (2008), the native-immigrant metaphor is adult-centric and ignores that young people easily move between their own perspectives (emic) and adult perspectives (etic). Since commercial interests and the media have used advertising which presents a limited view of the use of new technologies and the competences of the younger generations, educators and researchers must assume a more responsible approach to the representations that we create and endorse as part of the ethos of contemporary society. We need to be more critical of the deterministic stereotypes about the relationships, which are complex enough, as it is, between the teacher and learner, and the use of technology in higher education. Metaphors like digital natives/digital immigrants are useful when it comes to describing an emerging phenomenon, but over time they become imprecise (Stoerger, 2009), since they rely on an a priori reasoning. To replace those ­dichotomies which are thought of as generalizations from the different aspects of the phenomenon, Bossolasco and Storni (2012) propose the notion of “cultural configurations” coined by Grimson (2011), which stresses their nuances and contradictions, the tensions of what is real, and the need to recognize the diversity and heterogeneity of the notions of culture established in the collective imaginary and the social sciences. The notion of cultural configurations makes it possible to account for a world of shared experiences in which not only non-exclusive and differentiated modes of action are distinguished in terms of generational differences such as the “management” vs. “the non-­ management” of new technologies, but also expectations, assessments and motivations of students and teachers in relation to the school context. (Bossolasco & Storni, 2012, p. 11)

In that regard, the study by Bennett, Maton, and Kervin (2008) points out that the discourses about technology and generational changes resemble a kind of moral panic that inhibits rational debates as long as the younger generations are regarded as a presence that is positive but threatening to the existing academic order. Thus, it is necessary to shift the terms of the debate and acknowledge the teacher’s ability to promote the education which young people require, by integrating technology with different ways of learning, based on a more sophisticated understanding of the diversity of students “experiences with technology” (Bennett & Maton, 2010).

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Rather than being treated as a fixed and defined issue, the gap between students and teachers is really determined by the requirements of teachers, the beliefs which surround them, and the way in which new technologies are incorporated into the courses. As Jones and Shao (2011) point out, there is little evidence that students have specific demands which teachers or universities cannot meet. In higher and other levels of education, an integrating and less fragmentary metaphor is needed that recognizes the diversity of capacities and identities and thus fosters a dialogue between adults and young people as a mutual process of adaptation to the new technologies and the creation of opportunities to acquire knowledge and critical IL. Hence, studies of IL need to revise their ontological presuppositions, so as not to perpetuate social categories that homogenize or not the subjects. Below are the results of a study in which the narratives of two professors are analyzed in terms of the relationships between their personal experience, IL and teaching practices, done from a sociocultural standpoint which links them to the personal experiences, historical trends, and particular cultural contexts of the subjects who use information sources.

5.3  T  he Experience, Information Literacy, and Teaching Practice The following seven sections present an analysis of the relations between the triad: the experience, IL, and teaching practice.

5.3.1  A  n Approach to Understanding the Informational Competence of the University Teacher In the study of IL, the instruments created by culture (texts) and their use by social groups play a fundamental role. As cultural artifacts, sources of information are appropriated through practices that interweave with the social universes of the subjects (Kozulin, 2000) and give rise to habitual ways of using information sources. In the university, the habits associated with the use of information sources emerge from the intersubjective actions which take place in the culture, family, and academic disciplines of the subjects and are influenced by their tools (texts, technology, languages) and practices, and validated by their community, family, and academics. Table 5.2 shows the constituent elements of the cultural context of the subjects: their “significant others,” intersubjective actions, and cognitive habitus. The academic disciplines which shape the cognitive habitus in higher education are organized according to certain intellectual tasks and discursive practices (Becher, 2001). Consequently, IL, as a social practice, responds to the demands of specific disciplines and the broader context of higher education (Limberg et al., 2007).

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In higher education, information works in a unique way. Academics validate information through complex peer-review processes, and students must learn how information works and follow the standards of its use established by the academic community. Therefore, academic IL is the ability to read, interpret, and produce the kind of information which the academic world values (Elmborg, 2008). Understood as a social practice, IL is not limited to a set of skills acknowledged by society at large (to do with the access to and evaluation and use information) but also includes the application of these skills to specific contexts because it is a practice located and, intimately related to the task, the situation and the context in which it is updated (Limberg et al., 2007). In the current literature, IL is seen as a social practice which responds to the demands of specific academic disciplines (Limberg et al., 2007). These disciplines have their own structures and styles of communication (Elmborg, 2008), which influence how university students approach and solve information problems. In this regard, such questions as the following arise: • What are the patterns of the student’s relation to the sources of information in higher education? • In what sense has the way in which university professors find and share information in digital formats changed, and how do they present it to their students?

5.3.2  Objective and Procedure of Analysis The purpose of the analysis was to understand the experience of teachers in the transition from the print to digital formats. Hence, its methodology focuses on one moment, when the stories are created, and another, when they are analyzed, which seeks to explain the cognitive process and the procedures for understanding the Table 5.2  Constituent elements of the cultural context of the subjects who use information sources Cultural context The others. The value of this category derives from the identification of the relation of the subject with others, which takes place when all of them attribute a certain meaning to the use of cultural artifacts. That interpretation becomes part of the ways its use is learned and is shaped by a cultural outlook which interacts with the physical and social world Intersubjective actions play an important role, in that they make it possible for the subject to categorize the world and identify different perspectives for naming the world, which provides the basis for the choices he makes The cognitive habitus creates learning opportunities by making certain tools available to the subject, as well as a set of experiences that influence his understanding and use of the artifacts. Such understandings derive from the interpretation he makes of the modes of relationship which others establish with such artifacts. An important part of this habitus is the way adults teach youngsters Source: Own

5.3  The Experience, Information Literacy, and Teaching Practice

Production of the story

Analysis and interpretation of the story

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• Context of the interviewee • Situation that generates a story: a) outloud protocol, b) dialogue interview

• Selection of a comprehensive focus: Meeting with a social actor • Thematic coding of the different parts of the story in relation to relevant meanings • Identification of argumentative relationships against what was lived

Fig. 5.1  Production and analysis of stories (Source: Own)

experience of the subjects, the meaning they attribute to those experiences and the relationship between their perceptions and the institutional structures they belong to, as shown in Fig. 5.1. For the production of the stories, the participants responded to two situations. Firstly, they made a think-aloud protocol of an information search activity. Secondly, a semi-structured and dialogued interview was conducted to understand the meaning of decisions, criteria, and preferences in the search for information. For the analysis of the collected information, we chose an approach that combined deducing the thematic codes derived from the research question and the induction of categories so that two horizons of understanding are integrated: The categories (emic) of the interviewee and the understandings (etic) of the researcher. In this phenomenological approach, attention was mainly paid to the attribution of meaning of the interviewee rather than the questions of the researcher. Also, the conversations were transcribed, and their segments were grouped according to their significant meanings (the perception of self, relationship with others, experiences, and milestones in their lives). Relationships with others such as primary relational figures (relatives), those who only have institutional roles (colleagues, directors), and marginal figures were included. Likewise, the argumentative relations (influenced by necessity, cause, condition, importance) of the interviewee were examined in order to present their own point of view on their experiences. In a second level of analysis, the integrally transcribed segments were used to illustrate the phenomenon and the aspects associated with the object of analysis. One of the main aims of the analysis was to find indications of a social mechanism that has influenced the subject’s life experience, and thus reconstruct the social-­ historical world of the subject (Pretto, 2011). In the present case, it has to do with the interviewee’s immediate surroundings: the classroom, the subject he teaches, the field of knowledge, and the culture of his university.

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Table 5.3  Participants’ descriptions Faculty, Department, and Identification Gender area Teacher 1 Male Educational psychology

Years teaching 30 years

Teacher 2

25 years

Female Clinical psychology

Subject’s background –Familiarity with libraries since he was a child, due to his parents’ economic activity Frequent reader –Eager to read since childhood, stimulated by the family’s cultural capital (defined by Bourdieu, 1997)

Source: Own

5.3.3  The Interviewees The participants were university teachers who were actively involved in promoting IL in a Psychology Faculty. Several of the themes that emerged from the interviews were coded inductively and organized according to conceptual connections and the questions asked both in the think-aloud protocol and the interview. The most significant findings are presented below in Table 5.3.

5.3.4  The Vital Experiences The teachers we interviewed have been enthusiastic readers from an early age, which has had an important influence on their formation and careers, their use of information to acquire knowledge and attainment of the skills they need for their teaching and research. This may indicate that a person’s background is a major, if differentiated, factor in the development of new skills, for example, the transition from the printed formats of the library to digital formats, as illustrated in Fig. 5.2. Thus, the use of information sources is related to different milestones in their academic careers which have enabled them to consolidate search strategies and specific moments in which digital sources became important. The following experiences are illustrative as they relate to their teaching and research, the support of the library and the demands of postgraduate training (See Table 5.4 below). In the abovementioned milestones, the influence of the academic community stands out: their colleagues, students, and the librarians they have known, who, to some extent, have helped them to consolidate of certain skills necessary for their research. In some cases, their first approaches to information have come from conversations with their colleagues and then take the form of questions, as in the following remark about helping their students with bibliographies: “Sometimes I have to help the students of the School of Psychology to look for a bibliography on different subjects they are doing projects on. For example, this semester I had some

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students who wanted to work on gender identity, this is a topic that I do not handle with much ease, so I looked for a teacher in the Faculty who was an expert and could support me with an interview and give us some pointers about what to ask and how to find the information. That is how we posed the questions: how has gender identity changed in the course of history? What are the main factors responsible for this change in the gender identity of men and women? What are the challenges? I had to find information for the students, so I started going to Google Scholar, and looked for some references.” (Teacher 2)

In a reflective exercise of support and tutoring, teachers are important mediators in acquiring knowledge in the classroom, as they help to organize the chaotic offer of information which is available to students (infoxication).

5.3.5  T  he Advent of Digital Sources: The Transition from Print to Digital Formats Table 5.5 illustrates one of the topics discussed in the interviews: the transition from printed to digital formats and the way teachers have handled it. As with any emerging change in social practices, this transition is associated with the anxiety caused by the unknown and the enjoyment of new possibilities. In their accounts, the role of the university as a facilitator and some of the changes they felt stand out: “The arrival of the digital era came to us as a phenomenon (…). It also had a full institutional support […] The number of printed sources becomes smaller every day, because they are very expensive, and the number of readers of the digital version is increasing. There is no doubt that this is the main form of disseminating knowledge in the university. Moreover, there are many media outlets that are used by some of my younger colleagues or that are closer to the virtual network, for example the famous blogs for the subjects. The teachers are already asking students to send them their work in a digital version. They correct them with the famous track-changes control and return them, and as this happens, they (students) become used to what will be the type of academic writing in the medium and short term. When you write to the students, you send them the corrections, adjust their work again and send it back until it is good and it then goes through a quality filter before it is published. I have no doubt about the possibilities offered to our students by a library like this with a database and support staff.” (Teacher 1)

Some of the changes they felt about new ways of looking for information include emotions like “ease” or a “greater use of the Net.” They also remarked on the differences and similarities between consulting a print medium and finding information on a computer screen, as shown in Table 5.6. Additionally, the transition from the printed to digital format is regarded as a way to master a different logic of thought and decisions. But what does it mean for a digital immigrant? “Discovering that logic, that’s what it took for it to work, to discover that logic which is the foundation for the different seekers [of information]. I believe that this is the important thing, so the transition had to do with appropriating that logic, with learning, proceeding

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5  Information Literacy and Experiences of University Professors calmly in the face of the limitless the information and not making an opening process without closing, temporarily. That is very important for me, if I do not get lost, then I open myself a little and close it, I open another little bit and close it. I wonder: what does that tell me about my searches, what I learned here, how I can incorporate it to what I have been writing or the files that I have.” (Teacher 1)

5.3.6  How Teachers Perceive Themselves and Their Students In the teachers’ accounts, some of the collective imaginaries about the talents of students as digital natives and the difficulties adult digital immigrants have with computer skills emerge. They show how certain extended social representations, such as the metaphor of natives/digital immigrants, affect the forms of relationship and identity (Bayne & Ross, 2011). Speaking of their own abilities and conditions, they say the following: “[...] I am still very clumsy with my use and sometimes my nephews help me. It’s as if they were born in the middle of a computer and instead of a brain, they had microchips” (Teacher 1) “I use Google Scholar. As I know that I am very slow, I have to use many pedagogical strategies to make the class interesting” (Teacher 2)

Prof. 1

I studied at the National University at a time when various disciplines were forged (...). The university environment with its conferences, concerts, book launches and library was very enriching. It also made a difference to be the son of a person who during half of his life bought and sold books. I was born surrounded by books and I hope to die the same. I have been trained as a reader and a literature seeker.

Fig. 5.2  Vital experiences (Source: interview transcript)

Prof. 2

In the different stages of my life cycle, knowledge has been a very important axis, and is involved with that encounter that I have from an early age with books. So, little by little, I have gone deeper into the topics that interest me, and then that parameter of incommensurability of knowledge makes the search more fluid, it opens horizons, possibilities and understanding of the world.

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Table 5.4  Milestones in the information search Code: Milestones (Teacher 2) Updating the bibliography of the courses

Example “Now, working in the university, semester to semester, it is necessary to update the bibliography of the courses, and look for much more integral interpretations which back up the contents with research” Peer research “Participating in research with my peers in the faculty has been a wonderful thing: ‘You read this, I read that, how do we retrieve this information, I found a very important article for the investigation, etc.’ That is a daily conversation which is quite enriching in terms of where I searched, where I found it, and how it goes on to consolidate a culture of research” The support “The library teaches you. Once you go there, the librarians from the library tell you ‘look, you can search here, or here, go this way.’ This is also very important, that support that the university offers through courses and advisory sessions about it” “Doing the doctoral thesis involved another strong Doing the doctoral thesis milestone; let’s say it was the consolidation of those thousands of possible routes to seeking information”

Relations Bibliography of courses

The work of research

Advisory sessions from the library Postgraduate studies

Source: interview content analysis

Figure 5.3 illustrates their relations with their students and highlights the idea of digital natives, although they recognize nuances, namely, that some young people may be regarded as cybercasts, but others have a limited use of such technologies. According to recent studies (Bennett et  al., 2008; Cabra-Torres & Marciales-­ Vivas, 2009, 2011; Kennedy, Judd, Churchward, Gray, & Krause, 2008), the notion of a student digital native with technological skills is opposed to their failure to understanding such technology’s limitations when it comes to accessing and evaluating information and their inability to distinguish credible information from unreliable information. However, one of the interviewees argued that this new generation of students has comparative advantages, due to the interesting experiences they had before entering the university. “Do you know what my hypothesis is? First, I am convinced that we have a comparative advantage that we are not taking advantage of: schools changed faster than universities. The schools are innovative: I’m not going to say in everything, but it seems to me that these guys already arrive with talents which we are underutilizing here. Secondly, as we have been doing the same things with the same evaluations as always, then the students now cannot stand it anymore, that’s why they are “bad” in quotes. But it seems to me that those who have to review how things are being done are the teachers.” (Teacher 1)

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5.3.7  I nformational Competence and Teaching Practice: The Vision of a Digital Immigrant One of the situations that may be considered habitual in the universities is that teachers do not know the ways in which students look for information. This may be because the students search for the information they need for a homework assignment outside of the classroom, and therefore teachers do not think that it is their concern. This situation would imply, in turn, that teachers do not include IL in the courses they teach and since they do not require it of their students, the latter lack guidelines on the correct use of information and motivations to use quality contrasted information in their work. The following account tells of a different situation, because it is by a digital immigrant who imparting his expertise is important for his students. “[…] I have spent thirty years in this calling, so it does not matter whether or not we use these [the computers and search engines] since four or five years ago, they [the students] have just arrived. In this case, they are the immigrants and the natives are us, so we have to be more explicit, have more expertise.” (Teacher 1)

Although the interviewee recognizes the advantages of their familiarity with such technologies, he finds it useful to support the training of students with an intentional and explicit instruction on the sources of information. Figure 5.4 summarizes the sequence of key actions which this teacher advises his students to follow: Each of these actions is defended from a pedagogical point of view (see Table 5.7), and they show that university teachers are experts in their field and therefore to their role in the university, and as mediators of specialized knowledge, they cannot be ignored and are important in the teaching of IL. From the above, we see that the way in which the teacher links IL with aspects of his professional expertise is interesting: for example, to know the basic concerns on the local level and compare them with more globalized ones found in the information from foreign sources. The arguments of Teacher 1 point to the importance of the role of the teacher in contextualizing, selecting, and critically analyzing information with the standards of his discipline. Some authors claim that the Internet and databases are not suitable for reflexive reading, but only for scanning the information. However, a very detailed examination of the IL of teachers shows that, with their accumulated knowledge, they are experts at selecting sources, undertaking searches, and evaluating the results (Swanson, 2006) and that it is not limited to accessing information. Instead, they conceptualize and ask questions about the task before sitting down to do specific searches. For Swanson (2006), the academic world recognizes the need to facilitate skills and resources for the acquisition of knowledge and guiding students in a way that goes beyond their simple access to information.

5.4  Issues Related to Access to Information and Criteria

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Table 5.5  Transitions from printed to digital format

Source: interview transcript

5.4  Issues Related to Access to Information and Criteria The teachers we interviewed were explicit about the different criteria they used to search for information. It is worth highlighting two findings: the combined use of printed and digital sources, and the understanding of the search as a problem-­ oriented activity.

5.4.1  The Combined Use of Printed and Digital Sources “I combine both the digital and the printed. I need to combine the two strategies to appropriate, learn, deconstruct the concept and reassemble it. (…) A first search can be in the most traditional way; that is, go to the Lerner Bookstore, have a coffee and ask for all the books [on the subject] and review the indexes related to the bibliography that I have previously selected. Then, I write down what works for me and I go to the university library and ask the boys who manage the collections to help me to search for the books and I take them out. (…) I go into, for example, Google Scholar, and if I do not find anything there, I go into the wider Google. I look for, yes, different strategies, rather, there is no specific route, I search until I find [what I want]. That’s what I am trying to explain: I look here, I look there, I look in the library, I ask colleagues, I read articles, I look for them in the web; it’s [always] different, depending on the subject.” (Teacher 2)

Although the two teachers accept that they have changed their ways of searching for information and that, in fact, the Internet has many possibilities, they still con-

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Table 5.6  What changed in the information-seeking experience? Code Easiness

Changes felt/noticed “(…) I would say the easiness of accessing sources. Before, you had to program your time, go to the library or bookstore, search, have the free time. Instead, here and at any moment, you can go and click and search for the information you need.” (Teacher 2) Greater use of the “I use the net search on computers so much more now than before. I’m not Net quite the library user; I prefer to go to the bookstore to search for novelties. I encourage the use of the library, but I do not use it much.” (Teacher 1) “When it comes to skimming, I don’t think there’s a difference between There is no difference when it how I look for information in cyberspace and how I do it in a physical comes to skimming space. To know if something is useful or not, I skim and locate the titles, subtitles, structure from the text, as well as the index or summary of the documents.” (Teacher 2) “I need the printed version to read, to underline, and to get what emerges For an analytical from the text in terms of structure, in comparison to what I have thought reading you need the printed version for the article.” (Teacher 2) “Reading on the screen demands more attention from me, I still don’t use Reading on the screen differs from laptops. One gets tired more easily, when you have to be in a permanent position. I find that reading on the screen has many more limitations.” reading a printed (Teacher 1) text Source: interview content analysis

sult both digital sources of information; they go to the library and bookstore, on the one hand, and use the search engines on the Net with which they are familiar, on the other. “I now undertake the search on computer networks or on the Net, much more than before, and I am no longer a user of the library, which is a paradox, but I still like to go to bookstores to look for novelties.” (Teacher 1)

When it comes to specialized journals, the amount of information available is an advantage, and it is very attractive to access databases in the library or the multiple publications on the net which have the endorsement of peers and specialists in the field. As knowledgeable members of a discipline, teachers access information sources with clearly defined criteria and restrictions, based on a search for information about a problem they want to discuss, or they explore known sources, as illustrated in Fig. 5.5. The key words, the conjectures, and the need to delimit the topic require an important conceptual approach to the searches carried out by both teachers. In addition, they actively try to improve this methodology.

5.4.2  Think Better About the Problem “[…] In this cloud of information where you have a thousand titles, the question is how you do the exercise of searching for, retrieving and taking advantage of the information, in the sense of building arguments. For example, I have a research question and based on that

They are very skilled in this. They are natives that were born into the virtual world and not like us that we are emergers, and find many xenophobic aspects (Teacher 1)

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They are more familiar with it

Students must be given a general clue and that’s it. They have amazing skills to move online they are like fish in the sea and have never arrived to class saying they did not find any information (Teacher 1)

They are very skilled

They swim as fish in the sea

5.4  Issues Related to Access to Information and Criteria

The students are every day using and they are familiarized with the virtual world more than one thinks. Nevertheless, this is not the case for everybody, there are some that seem cybernauts and others that use it as they see fit (Teacher 1)

Fig. 5.3  Teachers’ accounts of their relationship with students (Source: interviews transcript)

question, what I’m looking for is to access pertinent information which allows me to present my argument, taking into account what others have said about the matter. So, I start with the topic that interests me and search through databases. If the subject were something I have not mastered, I would not directly seek sources of research: I would first go to the index or a theoretical work to clarify the concept.” (Teacher 2)

The interviews confirmed the fact that, regardless of the format (printed or digital), what links the different aspects of the search for information is a question or a series of questions formulated at the beginning, which are revised as one goes along. Because of its dynamic nature, the question is a trigger and enhancer of the search for information; to this is added the skill that is required to search for information in databases. For one of the interviewees, this is the fundamental principle when strengthening IL: “I believe that there are two fundamental things that must be taught: the first, that the search for information is crisscrossed by questions that allow us to define what is being found; and second: to do content analysis to place that question and those searches in the framework of communities crossed by power, and that means you have to analyze the context.” (Teacher 2)

The question has a pedagogical value. Therefore, the proposed approach helps to overcome the limitations of technical training schemes focused on an encyclopedic content and reading devoid of arguments. Encouraging the student to regard asking a question or posing a problem as a crucial aspect of the search for information changes his approach from an instrumental to a more hermeneutical one based on inquiry. As we have seen, accessing information is not a technical matter or one associated with computer skills: it requires certain conditions and criteria, as Burbules and Callister (2001) point out. This implies the development of the techniques, attitudes, and predispositions which are needed for the efficient use of resources.

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5.4.3  The Evaluation and Credibility of Information Sources According to the teachers, the main disadvantage of the net is that everyone can share information without worrying about its quality: it is essential to learn to establish criteria. In the academic context, assessing the credibility of the sources requires having specialized knowledge of one field (Burbules & Callister, 2001), so teachers can teach these criteria to students and thus guide them: “The teachers’ work also includes establishing criteria about the credibility of the sources which students can access: they must learn to distinguish between a source of dissemination and a specialized one.” (Teacher 1) As Burbules and Callister (2001) explain: Estimating credibility involves examining the sources of information (whether of individuals, groups or institutions): what experience or training do they have with respect to the material they are providing? What interests lead you to favor certain information and points of view instead of others? Do they give rise to the possibility that users interpret the information in a different way from the way it is presented? Have they previously provided reliable information or opinions? (p. 64)

Thus, the diversity of arguments about the credibility of sources is related to institutions and a reliance on peer evaluation and citations, as shown in Table 5.8. In the above accounts, a broad reliability is granted to the sources that come from intergovernmental agencies, because it is assumed that they are based on verifiable information and widely recognized to be important sources. In addition, they are valued because they provide pointers to collective efforts or current debates. But credibility also takes the form of a kind of transfer of trust: “One supposes that these large intergovernmental and multilateral institutions hire the most qualified people, or at least people with highly qualified profiles. Then one assumes that these people, in turn, obviously consult more or less reliable and therefore recognized sources. Many of the opinions expressed do not compromise the agencies which hire them, because they are awaiting critical evaluations. Those cross-checks, between independent academics and between consultants, I believe, lend a certain degree of reliability to a much wider source.” (Teacher 1)

Attribute meaning to the activity

Give a general look

Have a research protocol

Go to specialized sources

Fig. 5.4  Guiding students to access information (Source: Own)

Relevant research at the local and international level

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Table 5.7  The teachers’ arguments about guiding students to search for information Pedagogical justification (Teacher 1) It is important to add meaning to the activity. It is paradoxical that when we want to rethink the methods of university training, everything is aimed at the flexibility of the contents or the structure of the plan but not on the forms of teaching and evaluation. This creates stress in the students because they do not understand the meaning of the activity they are doing You have to guide the students to do an overview. It is what one does spontaneously with a printed book or magazine. To skim it both physically and mentally. Firstly, they must get an idea of what they are going to find and not to risk it all at once with the first thing they find The search protocol of academic sources given to students includes exploring; this prevents them from ending up with generic information from sites such as Wikipedia, which is not academically certified Taking a general look at the articles is something that students rarely or never do. They make a cropped reading, underline what interests them and I think I should guide them It is very common that they do not know how to distinguish among the types of text. I insist that they quote the author and the date to know what kind of information it is I recommend going to more specialized sources (psychology, education, pedagogy) that allow them to filter the information. There is a comparison that I would like to make and it is between Google Scholar and the people in charge of the libraries: both are selective and help guiding the search and evaluating the information. It is important that students learn what is valuable and what is not It is important that students have more contact with sources in which different experts converge; I prefer to go further and use fewer databases, although I also consult electronic journals Students have to be in contact with the most pertinent research at the local or regional level, because it does not make sense for us to go back to what has already been studied I am usually looking for international events where different experts from different countries meet in great scenarios where they discuss the most important situations that are taking place. It is important that students have a wider spectrum I usually look at Colombian and Latin American sources, like journal articles, so I can compare them. But I have also discovered that when I want them to gain a broader view, the texts of Latin American intergovernmental institutions are very useful

Key aspect To understand the meaning of the activity

Not to risk it all at once with the first thing they find Explore with a navigation chart Guide article reading Identify type of information Filtering information, going to specialized sources

To have contact with experts To know the most pertinent research at the local or regional level To keep up to date with current situations and events Compare local and international sources

Source: interview content analysis

In the case of the databases of specialized journals, importance is given to the investigative or intellectual experience of the authors and the arbitration procedure which rigorously evaluates articles in terms of the clarity of the problem, the sources, the methodology, the presentation of results, etc. Likewise, emphasis is placed on

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Table 5.8  Arguments and criteria for assessing the quality of sources Source Multilateral or intergovernmental organizations

Databases of specialized journals

Cited sources

Encyclopedia

Arguments The vast majority of multilateral or intergovernmental organizations update their information portals. The CEPAL, UNICEF, UNESCO, and ILO provide a broader view of the problem; in its pages one finds a lot of information and that is the main source that students should know about (Teacher 1) Why in databases? Well, it is where you find the most up-to-date and pertinent and valuable information: truthful information, because it has been arbitrated, it has surely been passed through a filter. These databases of specialized journals give one the assurance that what you are finding has a backing, has the experience of the researchers behind it (Teacher 1)

One begins to limit the search and to look at the sources that are cited. It is necessary to look at those which are repeated and are highly cited (Teacher 2) Wikipedia has all the difficulties in the world, but for an initial approach it is useful (Teacher 2)

Criteria • Updated • Broad view of problems

• Updated • Assessed • Peer reviewed •  Backed by researchers • Passed through a filter • Highly cited •  Useful and easy to access

Source: interview content analysis

the importance of the teacher, as the one who verifies the depth of the source and responds to the associated searching parameters. Colleagues who are knowledgeable about the search topics are also consulted, which is a valuable method to learn what the academic community thinks about the topic/problem.

5.4.4  Some Implications for the University Context Returning to the words of Burbules and Callister (2001), we should take into account that: As educators we are expected to reflect more than most people on the ways in which we can deliberately create experiences and learning opportunities that broaden the scope of human possibilities. We are also expected to worry about those who are left out of those experiences and opportunities. This is the time to start thinking seriously about the following questions: what forms are new educational technologies taking and what are we adopting along with them? Who are included in this “we” and who are not? (p. 71)

It must be said that our analysis of the popular notions about students (as digital natives), and especially of teachers (as the so-called digital immigrants), enabled us to carefully examine their influence on educational practices and their possible ontological distortion. As Siri (2010) points out:

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Teacher 1 Exploring a topic using known sources

•

• •

I review the summary to get a general idea and then, as with the printed text, I review the index, I do a bibliographic search to see the cited sources and I look at the titles and subtitles I usually explore the topic, authors whom I know are dealing with the topic or I go directly to the sources that I know I have a clear restriction from the beginning which is that I prefer sources in Spanish because my ability to read deeply and systematically in English is still very limited

Teacher 2 Information about a problem to be discussed

•

I read the abstracts to see if they give me elements that lead me to open the article to look at it, to say for example, this has nothing to do with what I want

•

I locate the titles, the subtitles, the structure that emerges from the text, either with a clue or a summary or a look at the whole text... There are no differences between how I do it in a digital format and a printed format

•

What I do is to recover the search significantly in relation to the concept [of transition], so that I can take advantage of the information in the sense of building arguments about the problem

Fig. 5.5  Information-seeking approaches (Source: interviews transcript) There is a widespread perception among teachers that they are not qualified for their profession because today students “know” more than they do. In short, there are certain epistemological obstacles that, in practice, make it difficult to construct a “spiral of knowledge” in the field of education (Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995), where the tacit and codified knowledge of teachers and students is strengthened and replenished by them. (p. 143)

Our analysis of the teachers’ accounts, which considers their careers and teaching practices, helped us to understand the significant role of teachers in the knowledge society and recognize their status as mediators in university education. It is apparent that the fact that students are exposed to a large amount of information from the Net (some of a doubtful quality) has not necessarily resulted in fundamental changes in the ways they learn (Markless, 2009), which is why mediation is essential. It is incorrect to assume, as some of the media claim, that access to the Internet is synonymous with training and knowledge: being self-taught on the Internet means entering the world’s largest library, which, although it has easy-to-use means for searching, has no librarian to consult. Every practice requires some type of feedback in order for it to be appropriated and improved, so that mediators are necessary in this scenario of excessive information, especially when the users lack the required criteria to assess it. The analysis of IL models or frameworks in general has tended to present a simplified view of IL, especially because, as the study by Markless and Streatfield (2007) notes, such frameworks: • are not linked either to the learning processes, or their inherent intricacies, such as reflection, iteration, trial and error and strategies, and learning styles

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Connect with the information

Use the information

Interact with the information

Fig. 5.6  Informational and critical literacy (Source: Markless, 2009, p. 35)

• are based on a technical view of IL with little emphasis on its cognitive and metacognitive aspects • ignore the interactions and collaborative efforts which are largely found in such methods of inquiry • do not reflect the language of the academic disciplines and are not included inside the curriculum. Consequently, these frames of reference are based on a model that is integrated into the curriculum instead of being treated as a separate subject. This aims to support pedagogical practices so that they contribute to the informational inclusion of students. When it is incorporated into teaching practices, such a model would advance critical and creative thinking, structured reflection and the active construction of knowledge, and enable students to employ a problem-solving approach to the search for and use of information. Markless and Streatfield (2007) propose a model which integrates different activities, according to the nature of the academic task. It would have an important impact on learning methods (Fig. 5.6). The three core activities of this IL framework are as follows: • Connecting with information: this refers to accessing information through orientation, exploration, targeting, and location. • Interacting with information: this refers to an evaluation of information based on critical thinking, transformation, and elaboration. • Using information: this refers to the use of information, whether to transform, communicate, and/or apply it. To sum up, the importance of this framework of informational literacy is that it can easily be used by the subjects, due to its emphasis on the transformation or construction of knowledge. Thus, students would no longer regard the search for information about their research as a simple matter of gathering information. Instead, they would understand it to be a way to find their own points of view, which would make them more independent in the acquisition of knowledge.

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References Area, M., & Pessoa, T. (2012). De lo sólido a lo líquido: Las nuevas alfabetizaciones ante los cambios culturales de la Web 2.0. Comunicar, XIX, 38, 13–12. https://doi.org/10.3916/ C38-2011-02-01 Bayne, S. & Ross, J. (2007). The ‘digital native’ and ‘digital immigrant’: A dangerous opposition. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Society for Research into Higher Education, Brighton, December 2007. Retrieved from http://www.malts.ed.ac.uk/staff/sian/natives_final. pdf. Bayne, S., & Ross, J. (2011). ‘Digital native’ and ‘digital immigrant’ discourses: a critique. In R. Land & S. Bayne (Eds.), Digital difference: Perspectives on online learning (pp. 159–169). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. Becher, T. (2001). Tribus y territorios académicos. La indagación intelectual y las culturas de las disciplinas. Barcelona: Gedisa. Bennett, S., & Maton, K. (2010). Beyond the ‘digital natives’ debate: Towards a more nuanced understanding of students’ technology experiences. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 26(5), 321–331. Bennett, S., Maton, K., & Kervin, L. (2008). The ‘digital natives’ debate: A critical review of the evidence. British Journal of Educational Technology, 39(5), 775–786. Bossolasco, M., & Storni, P. (2012). ¿Nativos digitales? Hacia una reflexión crítica de la construcción de los jóvenes como usuarios expertos de las nuevas tecnologías. Análisis de una experiencia de inclusión de las tic en la escuela. RED, Revista de Educación a Distancia, 30, 2–12. Bourdieu, P. (1997). Capital cultural, escuela y espacio social. Siglo veintiuno editores, S.A. México. Burbules, N., & Callister, T. (2001). Educación: riesgos y promesas de las nuevas tecnologías de la información. Barcelona: Granica. Cabra-Torres, F., & Marciales-Vivas, G. (2009). Mitos, realidades y preguntas de investigación sobre los nativos digitales: una revisión. Universitas Psychologica, 8(2), 323–338. Cabra-Torres, F., & Marciales-Vivas, G. (2011). Brecha digital y brecha generacional: escenarios de reflexión crítica para las ciencias sociales y humanas. In G. Remolina (Ed.), Una apuesta por la interdisciplinariedad (pp. 111–130). Bogotá: Editorial Pontificia Universidad Javeriana. Cassany, D., & Ayala, G. (2008). Nativos e inmigrantes digitales en la escuela. Participación educativa: revista del Consejo Escolar del Estado, 9(4), 57–75. Dussel, I. (2012). Más allá del mito de los ‘nativos digitales’. Jóvenes, escuela y saberes en la cultura digital. In M.  Southwell (Ed.), Entre generaciones. Exploraciones sobre educación, cultura e instituciones (pp. 183–213). Buenos Aires: Flacso, Ediciones Homo Sapiens. Elmborg, J. (2008). Alfabetización informacional crítica: implicaciones para la práctica educativa. Boletín de la Asociación Andaluza de Bibliotecarios (92–93), 103–121. Grimson, A. (2011). Los límites de la cultura: Crítica de las teorías de la identidad. Buenos Aires: Siglo XXI. Helsper, E. (2008). Digital natives and ostrich tactics? The possible implications of labelling young people as digital experts. In Beyond current horizons review paper, Challenge #2. Retrieved from http://www.beyondcurrenthorizons.org.uk/digital-natives-and-ostrich-tactics-the-possibleimplications-of-labelling-young-people-as-digital-experts/. Herold, D. (2012). Digital na(t)ives. Discourses of exclusion in an inclusive society. In E. Loos, L. Haddon, & E. Mante-Meijer (Eds.), Generational use of new media (pp. 71–86). Abingdon: Ashgate Publishing. Herring, S. C. (2008). Questioning the generational divide: technological exoticism and adult constructions of online youth identity. In D. Buckingham (Ed.), Youth, identity, and digital media (pp. 71–92). Cambridge: The MIT Press. Jones, C. H., & Shao, B. (2011). The net generation and digital natives: Implications for higher education. New York: Higher Education Academy.

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Chapter 6

Shifts in Information Literacy Research

Abstract  This chapter analyses conceptual and methodological shifts in information literacy research in learning scenarios and some emerging issues in the Latin American context. It points to the importance of transcending paradigmatic dichotomies, and overcoming dualistic views of social phenomena (competent vs incompetent; native vs immigrant; subject vs object); and asking new questions to enrich our understanding of the cultural transitions that shape contemporary social practices. This approach has led to a shift in research which has distanced themselves from deterministic views of the subject and discusses cultural changes and the subjects’ experiences. Keywords  Sociocultural approach · Digital natives · University students · Information literacy profiles · Information literacy research · Information society · Higher education · Digital literacy practices · Methodological perspectives · Phenomenography · Digital divide · Social inclusion · Latin America

6.1  Introduction This final chapter discusses some of the conceptual and methodological shifts in information literacy (IL) research, as well as emerging issues in research in the Latin American context. The first section presents the working routes of the Colombian research group “Information Society and Learning,” whose focus is the study of IL in university contexts. It describes the methodological and theoretical standpoints which have guided the studies carried out between 2005 and 2016. The second section examines some of the milestones in information literacy in Latin

© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 F. Cabra-Torres et al., Information Literacy in Higher Education, SpringerBriefs in Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50014-6_6

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America. “Information literacy has received an increasing academic attention since the mid-1970s, particularly in the USA and Australia, as a theoretical and practical response to the cultural, social and economic developments associated with the information society” (Webber & Johnston, 2000, p. 381); in contrast, the first documents on IL written by Latin American researchers only appeared in 2000.

6.2  I nformation Literacy in the Learning Context: Two Stances The new teaching paradigms in higher education address a complex ecosystem of information with which students interact constantly and use to build knowledge in active ways. Both learning and research require an access to and use and evaluation of information, as well as the creation of knowledge in a rational and ethical way: these abilities are regarded as an essential part of university students’ lives as ­learners, practitioners, and citizens. IL is also part of this landscape: “IL goes beyond surface and technical skills and deals with conceptual insights; the construction of strategies, with assessment and sense-making; and the formation of information and learning habits, with the ability to distinguish between fact and fiction, and fact and opinion, and provide arguments and collect evidence” (Špiranec, Toth, & Banet, 2009). Indeed, IL has a profound relation to the achievements of higher education and lifelong learning. This section explains two stances on IL in learning contexts, to illustrate shifts in the field of research. These two lines of inquiry in IL (information-seeking behavior models and sociocultural approach) have different scopes and epistemologies. Both follow epistemological concepts which focus, on the one hand, on the relationship between the individual and his behavior and abilities, and, on the other, on practices mediated by social and cultural factors.

6.2.1  T  he First Stance: Research on Information-Seeking Strategies An important part of the literature on IL among young university students has focused on studies on information-searching strategies, both in printed and digital sources. The various models of information searching represent different aspects of the overall problem: they are complementary and are based on the micro-level analysis of the dominant paradigm of information retrieval research (Hemantha Kumar, 2017). Much of the research has consisted of designing models to describe the phases or features of information-searching behavior in different contexts. One example is the model of Kuhlthau, Turock, George, and Belvin (1990), used to describe information

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searching in education (initiation, selection, exploration, formulation, gathering, and presentation) and the feelings, thoughts, and actions that take place during the construction of knowledge. The model has been used for both diagnosis and intervention in education. The affective variables which influence searches for information have also been studied: these are feelings of confidence, satisfaction, and optimism, or of disillusionment, frustration, confusion, uncertainty, and anxiety, according to the greater or lesser expertise of the users of information (Kuhlthau, Heinström, & Todd, 2008; Onwuegbuzie & Jiao, 1998). Some studies show that novices have no prior knowledge which would enable them to assess sources of information and tend to use superficial criteria to judge their credibility (Swanson, 2006; Wathen & Burkell, 2002). Although the use of information by students has much to do with online databases and search engines, and being able to make rational decisions in an environment overloaded with information, little attention was paid to their training in the access and use of information on the Internet in the first decade of the twenty-first century (Kirkwood, 2008). It would seem that many institutions consider informational skills as natural and already found in the so-called digital natives. This myth has been questioned by a study (Cabra-Torres & Marciales Vivas, 2009) which has shown that students tend to overestimate their skills in the belief that what they learned at school, and the use of search engines is all they need to make successful searches. Such studies indicate that the use of technologies for learning is not successful simply because young people use them in their daily lives (Rowlands, Nicholas, Williams, & Huntington, 2008); it would seem that the skills developed for the handling of printed formats are not transferred to the use of digital ones (Marciales Vivas, Cabra-Torres, Gualteros, & Mancipe, 2010), nor do the skills which young people display in their daily lives help them to read academic texts or do a task involving technologies (Kvavik, Caruso, & Morgan, 2004; Rowlands et al., 2008). In addition, young people’s notions of research have changed: they expect to find information quickly and effortlessly, and the selection of topics is guided by their degree of availability (Holiday & Li, 2004); young people scan online pages quickly, and click on hyperlinks repeatedly, rather than reading sequentially; they move quickly from one page to another, spend little time reading or digesting the information, and find it difficult to make judgments about the relevance of the pages they retrieve in the search for information (Rowlands et al., 2008). Some of the students’ judgments mainly focus on checking whether the information is current, whether it is complete or whether the views presented are facts or opinions (Metzgera, Flanagina, & Zwarun, 2003). Personal preconceptions, questions of time, and levels of difficulty in obtaining information are the aspects that influence students, even more than whether or not the information is accurate (Weiler, 2004), so that these criteria are responsible for a superficial search strategy in which information tends to be validated by its simplicity or their prior ideas and they look for information on sites they already know (Martínez, Montero, & Pedrosa, 2010).

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In some ways, the perceptions and learning skills of students reveal a poor understanding of their information needs, and they thus find it difficult to develop effective search strategies (University College London (UCL), 2008). In addition, plagiarism, an inability to find the sources of the information, a reliance on cut-and-­ paste, and the failure to understand that information and knowledge are socially produced, and have effects on social interactions also harm the search for information (Špiranec et al., 2009). In the first stance, we find that much of the research on information-seeking strategies and the cognitive and technological variables associated with IL tends to analyze, in particular, the deficit in students’ skills, and do not necessarily analyze the rupture and continuity which characterize social practices in the broader academic, cultural, and social spheres. Therefore, more comprehensive studies are required since the methods of accessing, seeking, and evaluating sources of information are one of the main components of higher education: for example, studies that would analyze the use of information sources by young people in the situations closest to their daily lives, but without succumbing to generalizations like “digital natives.”

6.2.2  S  econd Stance: The Study of Transitions in Social Practices In recent years, two approaches have guided research on IL and its application to the university: the cognitive and sociocultural approaches (see Chap. 2). The first has provided tools for understanding the cognitive and metacognitive factors which influence the way subjects access, evaluate, and use information. The sociocultural approach is important because it challenges the idea that students have deficient skills, and addresses the question of situated learning and the cultural and social environment of the users from a Vigotzkian standpoint (Montiel-Overall, 2007). Some important aspects of the sociocultural approach to IL (Barbosa-Chacón, Marciales Vivas, & Castañeda-Peña, 2015) are the following: • Human activity is situated in a context of social and cultural interaction. • Interaction with others is seen as mediator in the construction of knowledge. • The mediation of culture in the way people find meanings on the basis of information and the way they act. • Cultural and contextual differences as the foundation for shaping ideas and practices. • The influence of sociocultural factors on the development of skills. • The flexible and dynamic nature of IL. The sociocultural approach directs attention to the contexts in which the use of information sources takes place, seeking to understand the social and cultural trajectories of the subjects who make use of such sources in order to undertake a complex

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analysis of skills. It highlights IL’s situated character and its relationship with social and cultural factors: the information user is a “dynamic and changing subject.” The sociocultural approach argues that information does not exist as an objective reality (Owusu Ansach, 2003) because it is constructed by individuals in a sociocultural context. Information is determined by the way it is created in communities, the way it is transmitted, and the context of its use. Interactions are configured as spaces for the construction of meaning(s) and habitual ways of relating to information and appropriating it in specific cultural contexts. These interactions have a fundamental role in the development of skills and the acquisition of social and cultural capital (Barbosa-Chacón et al., 2015). This sociocultural framework raises the need to go beyond the approaches which ignore the cultural dimensions and significant experiences of the subjects and the communities of practice where IL takes place. Epistemologically, this implies recognizing the constructed character of knowledge in processes of social interaction, so that the development of IL would require the adoption of a social, historical, and cultural perspective that has not been fully addressed in the studies on information search (Martzoukou, 2004). This second stance, which highlights the sociocultural theories that explain IL, is the one adopted by the “Information Society and Learning” research group for studies which will be presented below. This group is an interdisciplinary one made up of language professionals, engineers, librarians, educators, and psychologists. It has a critical view of instrumental approaches to skills, looks for methodological routes to understand IL and questions the consumer information approach which regards information literacy as a neutral tool revolving around training individuals to be “computer literate” (Martin Valdunciel, 2018). As a research group, we wonder whether the consumer- and user-oriented approach, prevalent in the statements from international organizations, is the most suitable for teaching IL in higher education. Thus, for example, in the logic of consumption, someone produces information that others consume, whoever consumes pays for access, whoever produces maintains control over sources, and, as a consequence, higher education institutions focus on an efficient consumption of information in a competitive context. We believe that this approach limits the understanding of information literacy in the complex landscape of higher education. As practitioners and researchers at a university, we ask ourselves: do we promote the logic of consumption or, instead, promote a stronger historical, political, and ethical awareness in the actors and their way of managing information in today’s society? Universities should encourage students to reflect on the relationship between IL and social and cultural changes and teach them the skills needed to deal with crucial social, cognitive, and intellectual challenges so that they may fully exercise their right to all types of access to information in order to become informed citizens (Saunders, 2017). Our group considers that it is important to understand how researchers approach to social phenomena since reductionist approaches often become an epistemological obstacle to understanding dynamic realities, such as the access to and use and

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New explorations and questions • Digital Native/ Digital Inmigrant • Competent/ incompetent Go beyond dichotomies / Overcome dualisms

• Ruptures • Continuities • Transitions in social pratices

• Cultural changes • Distancing oneself from deterministic views The stance of the researcher

Fig. 6.1  Changes in the focus of research advocated by the “Information Society and Learning” research group (Source: Own)

evaluation of information in changing circumstances. You should be aware of what approach you do follow in practice. Therefore, we, as researchers, seek to transcend dualistic views of IL (competent vs incompetent; native vs immigrant; subject vs object); and ask new questions in order to enrich our understanding of the cultural changes which shape contemporary society. This has led us to distance ourselves from deterministic views and take cultural changes and the subjects’ experiences into account (Fig. 6.1). This opens a fruitful field for an epistemological approach to the cultural and relational aspects of IL: the information literate individual is seen as a social subject who participates in social processes, one who seeks to become an informed citizen (Ferreira & Dudziak, 2005). Thus, this way of understanding information rests on social interactions within a particular community (Wenger, 2001). It is worth noting that our research group favors a sociocultural approach in which situated learning is understood as a reflexive, contextual, and potentially more fruitful framework. This recognizes that it is only in concrete, historically and socially determined situations that IL skills can be understood. Instead of regarding students as information consumers, they are seen as knowledge builders whose access to and use and evaluation of information are shaped by different contexts. Furthermore, “the adoption of a sociocultural perspective on information literacy establishes and facilitates a more inclusive and holistic approach to exploring the connections between people and information” (Hicks, 2017, p. 70). The research group has focused on the analysis of three key aspects of IL in higher education: the construction of a conceptual approach (revisiting the concept of information literacy), profiling IL in university students, and discussing significant IL experiences.

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6.3  IL in University Students: Revisiting the Concept In the 2006–2007 research project, we went back to and analyzed traditional definitions of IL, drawing on the work of the American College and Research Library (ACRL) (2000) and California State University. We found that, in the past, the predominant view of librarianship was based on the notion of standardization, in which “literacy” was thought to be the exclusive responsibility of formal education and solely concerned with the mastery of technical-­ instrumental tools and procedures. Price, Becker, Clark, and Collins (2011) claim that this view of IL isolated it from its context. After studying the history of the concept, we proposed a new approach that would take into account the cultural and social context of the user, a shift pioneered by Vygotsky. This approach takes a non-instrumentalist view of the subjects’ skills in order to examine those aspects which influence and change their relations with information. From this standpoint, a special importance is given to the formation of a social subject capable of understanding the cultural factors that mediate access to information (da Weitzel, Calil, & Achilles, 2015). In this way, a complementary historical and social analysis of information literacy was established (Ferreira & Dudziak, 2005). The traditional concept was broadened by including a social dimension, in which the development of the informational skills an informed citizen needs is acknowledged to guarantee social inclusion. The study also used a semiotic approach which recognizes the cognitive, emotional, and pragmatic aspects of understanding knowledge and the prior conditions that make it possible to interact with the information. These approaches are the foundations of a new concept of IL which follows the principles of discursive semiotics (Fontanille, 2001; Greimas, 1973) and is seen in recent studies (Marciales Vivas, González, Castaneda-Peña, & Barbosa-Chacón, 2008). This concept is not only a mapping of logical possibilities (Alvarado, 2007), but it is also an intricate tapestry of associated beliefs, attachments, motivations, and aptitudes built up during one’s own life in specific formal and informal experiences of learning. This information literacy tapestry interweaves a myriad of ways of accessing, assessing and using information. In this way, the new concept addressed two specific problems of higher education: on the one hand, it helps us to understand the diverse interactions which students, as users of information, have with the diversity of available sources in their daily lives; and, on the other hand, it helps us to find the factors which might be hindering the development of the basic skills that today’s society demands. As will be seen below, sociocultural studies of the profiles of students as users of information have added to our knowledge of this topic.

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6.3.1  Profiling IL in Higher Education Students This study seeks to understand university students’ IL profiles, based on a semiotic and sociocultural approach (Castañeda-Peña, González, Marciales Vivas, Barbosa-­ Chacón, & Barbosa Herrera, 2010). These profiles are practices undertaken by university students when it comes to developing an academic task. The profile displays the most preferred forms that students display to access, assess and use information. The study argues that when students undertake an academic task, their IL practices are influenced by their age and educational background and by personal and academic experiences. We analyzed 285 students at two Colombian universities with an observational tool (profile questionnaire, spoken transcripts, and interviews, see Chap. 3). We found that 55% of first-year students in professional programs were likely to gather information and that 78% of first-year university students in technological programs tended to contrast and verify information while only between 3 and 4% would treat information critically. The cases were then placed in the following IL profiles: collectors, verifiers, and reflectors (Table 6.1). It was found that the collector profile is the most common in students who are entering the university, while the reflective profile is the least. The reflective profile refers especially to a student who learns how to learn and is not only interested in learning for academic purposes but also wants to learn in order to guide his life (Barbosa-Chacón & Castañeda-Peña, 2017). These IL profiles are not fixed but fluid and they take different forms, depending on the task at hand. They reveal the needs and problems of university students faced with academic challenges. As such, the profiles are regarded as basic texts for educators who seek to ensure that access to higher education is a genuine route to personal and social development, and that it does not frustrate university students. We Table 6.1  Types of IL profiles and characteristics Collector Belief that the truth is to be found in some external sources of information The Internet is valued because “everything may be found” there. The criteria which guide the collector’s search are as follows: (a) the amount of information retrieved and (b) its completeness Verifier Beliefs about the nature of knowledge. Knowledge is regarded as relative and contextual. The search for information mainly uses databases and the results of studies which are published online. The sources are verified by the analysis and cross-comparison of different texts Reflective Beliefs about knowledge and the way to obtain it are characterized by the recognition of the relativity of truth, and information sources are basically valued because they broaden one’s understanding Tendency to ask oneself one’s own questions before searching for sources of information Planning of such searches Source: adapted from the results found in Castañeda-Peña et al. (2010)

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recommend that more IL profiles be made of both high school and college students in order to design educational policies on information competence (Castañeda-­ Peña, Barbosa-Chacón, Marciales Vivas, & Barreto, 2015; Barbosa-Chacón & Castañeda-Peña, 2017). It is widely acknowledged that we live in an information society and that the concept of IL has evolved from using information skills in academic and working contexts to a broader one which includes digital literacy. In the past decade, access to the Internet and search engines has led to a significant change in the way young people search for and interact with information. The transition from print to digital format has been examined in our inquiry in order to understand the new digital practices in higher education and the challenges they present.

6.3.2  D  igital Natives as Information Users: Transitions from Print to Digital Format The project entitled “Digital natives: transitions from print to digital format” was carried out between 2011 and 2012. It studied the challenges in higher education deriving from the users of information’s transition from print to digital formats. A review of the literature on digital natives, studies done in different disciplines, showed, first, that the concept of IL should be put in the context of this generation, in which the Internet and other technologies have changed the characteristics of their literacy and required them to be proficient at the new technologies (Duke & Ward, 2009; Markless, 2009). Such changes in young people are particularly dependent on new tools (such as computers, mobile phones, and other devices). Second, that the digital native vs. immigrant dichotomy is unhelpful for understanding IL. We need to look for explanations which are less of an oppositional kind (between actors) than a relational one, go beyond the predominant instrumental approach and be more sensitive to the context in which the skills are used for different academic purposes (Marciales Vivas, Cabra Torres, Castañeda-Peña, Gualteros, & Mancipe, 2013). Thus, given the complexity of the digital skills required by the new formats, it would not be accurate to call young people digital natives just because they have an instrumental command of information and communication technologies (ICT). This generalization ignores the fact that few people display an efficient management of ICT in academic learning contexts (Bennett, Maton, & Kervin, 2008; Marciales Vivas et al., 2010). From the sociocultural approach we employ, a set of analytical elements were chosen to investigate the IL linked to digital formats, from a multidimensional point of view. These dimensions include the cognitive habitus, the influence of mediators, epistemological beliefs, and the culture of the particular university discipline (Fig. 6.2). The research group has advanced in an examination of the relations between the student’s family and experience at school; the use of printed and digital formats; and

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Cognitive habitus

Cultural Capital

Cultural artifacts

Mediating agents

Epistemological beliefs

Disciplinary contexts

Information Literacy

Family School Library

Concept of knowledge and the information search

Reading practices in the academic disciplines

Analysis vectors

Workplace

Fig. 6.2  Dimensions of the inquiry into IL (Source: Own)

the IL of teachers and students. In the latter, a student is recognized as a plural actor who is not only affected by his family and school but also the course of his life, as he moves through diverse scenarios that may change his IL. Finally, institutional and teaching practices play an important role in the digital literacy of students (Marciales Vivas et al., 2013). When we look at digital natives as users of information, it is clear that their IL is the result of a network of relationships influenced by their experiences, beliefs, motivations, aptitudes, and performances. Seen in this way, we notice that they prefer certain practices when they manage information. To understand this in more depth, we have turned to a phenomenographic approach.

6.3.3  T  he Phenomenography of Information Skills: Profiles and Transitions This approach is based on a non-dualistic view of human cognition which focuses on the internal relationship between a human being and the world and qualitatively describes different ways of experiencing various phenomena. Experience is understood as the relationship between the person and a specific phenomenon, where the person and the object are not seen as separate because the experience of the object builds a relationship between the subject and phenomenon. This is, therefore, a relational approach, which accounts for the variation in the ways the phenomenon is experienced and described by the subjects, which primarily occurs in the collective realm. One of the main contributions that phenomenography has made to the study of IL is understanding the search for information—its use and dynamic processes— from the experiences of the subjects (Bruce 1997; Limberg 1999; Wilson 1999),

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which allows to account for variations in the ways of perceiving and reading the world (Limberg 1999; Marton & Booth, 1997). The phenomenographical description, whether of a conception or a way of experiencing, is made in terms of critical aspects of the phenomenon in question, discerned and focused simultaneously, thus providing conceptions with an ontological status that implies a shift from methodological aspects to theoretical aspects. Thus, the questions that a phenomenographic approach attempts to answer are as follows: what are the different ways of experiencing a phenomenon and how are they related to each other? (Marciales Vivas, Castañeda-Peña, H., Barbosa-Chacón, Barreto, & Melo, 2016). Employing a phenomenographical approach, the research group analyzed events in the lives of students from the Faculties of Psychology and Communication and Language, with an average age of 18, which, in their own view, (re)configured their IL during their first 3 years at university. The data was gathered on two occasions between 2009 and 2012, using an information-literacy-profile questionnaire (ILPQ), out loud protocols while doing a task and in-depth interviews. The participants were matriculated students in 2012 who had participated in a previous study conducted in 2009, which characterized the informational skills of university students starting at the university. This methodological approach enabled us to describe the categories and dimensions which shape IL profiles. One aspect that has emerged is an identification of the factors which students believe to be associated with the development of IL, and how these vary according to the profile (see Table  6.1). For example, in the collecting profile having been taught to use sources of information at school becomes especially important for the students’ IL, while in the verifying profile, in addition to the above, reading and writing for academic work stand out, as well as the fact that they were demanding. By contrast, in the reflective profile, in addition to the fact of having been taught by a teacher, the personal effort invested in the accomplishment of academic tasks stands out. The above results are consistent with the two mechanisms they regarded as essential for the use of information sources, taking into account the cultural context of the users: first, the recognition that the other is similar to oneself, and second, the attribution of an intentional meaning to the other’s use of cultural tools (information sources) (Tomasello, 2007). The subject’s recognition of the other helps us to better understand the possible ways of using the sources; hence, the importance of being taught by the teacher. It has been argued that IL is not static as it is shaped by the dynamic character of the students’ lives and experiences of accessing, evaluating, and “consuming” information for the purposes of their education (Castañeda-Peña et al., 2010). This notion obliges us to analyze IL at different moments of their education in order to determine the “what” and the “how” of the development of IL and learn how to improve their information literacy. While many efforts at improving IL have facilitated the access to information, they are insufficient because IL requires pedagogical mediations to strengthen skills of critical reading, reflective reading, and the acquisition of specialized knowledge.

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These demands are direct challenges for the university as one of the literacy agents, together with the family, the media, and the school (Area & Pessoa, 2012). These findings lead to several recommendations for higher education. Three aspects stand out: the students should learn from a teacher how to develop the IL skills, IL activities should be incorporated into the school curriculum and instruction and the IL of peers should be taken into account. These aspects form a trilogy: the teacher, student, and peers; a trilogy which the literature on the subject has long shown is fundamental in any pedagogical relationship. Nevertheless, when students get into the university, their parents and teachers do not think that they have to further develop information skills because they assume that what they learned in primary and high school is sufficient. There are three special academic tasks which can help students to improve their IL: research projects in class, research tasks in their discipline and group work. Each helps to promote sound practices of information use in the university. According to Wang (2011), IL is improved via its application to the student’s discipline and should have an intra-curricular perspective.

6.4  Trends in IL in Latin America What follows is a brief examination of the key IL literature in Latin America, in order to show significant trends in the region. This section discusses two key issues. First, the digital divide and social inclusion as problems associated with IL and, second, recommendations on the initiatives the region should take.

6.4.1  T  he Digital Divide and Social Inclusion in the Information Society In the last three decades, one of the biggest challenges for people of Latin American countries has been the thoughtful and equitable entry into the so-called information and knowledge society. The idea of an information society poses questions about the control of and access to information and the development of learning capacities and freedoms (Hernández Salazar, 2012). One concern is about what an information literate individual needs to be able to do in this new scenario. To begin with, the notion of a “knowledge society” refers to the importance of information and knowledge, not only in terms of economic growth but also the development of skills needed to empower people, so they may actively participate as citizens in a democratic society. In this view, IL is thought of as a prerequisite for effectively participating in the society with a critical awareness. In the first decade of the twenty-first century, the digital divide—the exclusion of certain individuals and sectors of the population from access to information and

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communication technologies—became a subject of analysis in Latin America. Thus, some authors are interested in IL as an emancipatory process aimed at to social inclusion in a knowledge society (Dudizak, 2006; Ferreira & Dudziak, 2005; Suaiden, 2012). From the late 1990s until now, the Latin American view of IL has emphasized such factors as social inclusion, as opposed to social inequality: “Information literacy, at a higher level, is more than just a sum of attributes, but a process that leads to social inclusion and cohesion through the adequate mobilization of interrelated contents, which are the knowledge, skill and attitudes meant to activate the citizen” (Dudziak, 2007, p. 46). In different countries, one of the greatest challenges for ending social inequality has been to extend the benefits of the information society to people who live in marginal situations (Suaiden, 2012). However, this matrix of inequality extends to other aspects of social development and is a complex phenomenon. According to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL) (, 2016), inequality is also a matter of gender, race, age, and ethnicity. The sharp differences between different countries and regions and between rural and urban areas are another factor in inequality. Suaiden (2012) points out that the governments of Latin America and the Caribbean began to implement information societies in different ways, for example, some distributed computers in the educational system to include the population in the new society, others strengthened the media, and a few created an adequate information infrastructure. However, in some countries, their efforts were limited and had little impact on social inclusion. In the transition to the information and knowledge society, IL is an important component of these policies in the region. They are underpinned by nine “Informational Literacy Declarations” issued by Mexico, Panama, Peru, Venezuela, Brazil, and Cuba between 1997 and 2013. These declarations have opened a discussion about the building and exchange of knowledge and critical reflections on it; however, their impact has yet to be measured: for example, the extent to which they are being followed by IL actors, experts, and professional associations is still unknown (Machin-Mastromatteo & Lau, 2015). Thus, the social impact of IL seems to be a major issue in Latin America. Until the first decade of the twenty-first century, IL was still a scattered activity done mostly in university libraries (Lau, 2007): the role of the librarian is vital issue. Probably the first initiatives in Latin America took place at the Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez (UACJ) in Mexico (Machin-Mastromatteo & Lau, 2015). Nowadays, the social impact of IL seems to be a major concern for research Latin America. IL is one of the most important challenges currently facing university libraries since they are the places where many students and professors are able to access information resources in various formats (print and digital media), and the users need to apply better criteria for selecting and evaluating information. Latin American university libraries have undertaken this training by combining short and long courses or collaborations between the faculty and the librarian (Lau 2001). Recently, there has been much discussion among librarians about how these joint efforts may

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be an effective method to teach information literacy and research skills (Barcelos, Melo, & Regina, 2016). The Uribe-Tirado and Pinto (Uribe-Tirado & Pinto, 2013) study, Incorporating Information Literacy in Ibero-American University Libraries. A comparative analysis of the information from their Websites, provides a first approach to measuring the levels of IL incorporation in university libraries. It finds that of a total of 2136 Ibero-­ American university libraries (in 22 countries, including Spain, Portugal, and the Dominican Republic), only 171 have solid information literacy training programs (6.2%); at the same time, 81% (732 libraries) have stuck to rigid and traditional methods, limited to teaching their users to search for information. There are a large number of university libraries which are at an incipient stage or beginning to provide such training, while others need to expand their IL programs with new contents and methodologies, and a better understanding of the ideal of life-long learning with the development of “learning how to learn” skills (Pinto & Uribe-Tirado, 2011). The study shows that the progress of these libraries (whether in public or private universities) is directly related to institutional support, budgets, human capital, and an openness to technological and pedagogical innovations. In Latin America, libraries can contribute to the social inclusion of citizens and IL can strengthen the defense of human rights (Licea de Arenas, 2009). Nevertheless, the inequalities of the societies which surround them, structures are found and spread in the libraries themselves. For example, public libraries suffer from low budgets, meager resources, and poorly qualified personnel; besides, some of them have still not taken on the job of strengthening IL (Masis Rojas, 2009). There are reasons to believe that IL must become more inclusive and embrace diversity (Licea de Arenas, 2009). It should not be limited to the populations served by university libraries or schools; there are excluded populations in the region who face adverse conditions and obstacles to acquiring the skills required for an intelligent use of information ecosystems. Licea de Arenas (2009) believes that IL should be promoted in accordance with the identity of the region’s inhabitants and based on a respect for their diversity. For example, teaching materials should take into account the variety of languages spoken in Latin America. It stands to reason that networking would lead to an optimal exchange of resources and experiences. In Latin America, raising awareness about the importance of IL has only been gradual and step-by-step so far and occurs differently in different countries; it has mainly depended on librarians and educators, that is why the strategies have tended to be personal and informal; in view of this, there is a need for more collective and formalized actions. In 2015, the Red Latinoamericana de Competencias Informacionales— RedLADCI—was created. Its purpose is to create, share, and disseminate the experiences and knowledge of this subject in the different countries of Latin America.

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6.4.2  Recommendations We will take a quick look at the recommendations of experts in the field, in order to have a general view of some of the challenges and future opportunities for the development of IL. In the case of Latin American countries, one of the relevant concerns is the rejection of the decontextualized, ahistorical, apolitical, and hegemonic views of IL, based on the market-oriented idea of human capital. “In Latin America, more than in other regions, information literacy seems to have been conceived of as an emancipation process promoted by learning, based on the Freirean vision of critical literacy” (Dudziak, 2006, p. 8–9). As a social and cultural movement, IL trends are closely related to the challenge of building social sustainability. For some scholars, the active participation of the population of Latin American countries in the civic life may depend, to a great extent, on the degree to which their inhabitants are informationally literate. According to Berrío-Zapata, Moreira, Gonçalves Sant’Ana, and Muñoz (2016), the epistemological ruptures which Information Science has undergone—having become an interdisciplinary field open to the study of new subjects and contexts in the world, as well as the new informational behavior paradigms—should facilitate a more critical understanding of the phenomenon of the digital divide in Latin America, insofar as they value context and communities, and promise to be useful for understanding the identity of the Latin American informational user, and evaluating the impact of digital media as a globalizing agent. From this standpoint, developing a critical IL implies understanding current inequalities, hierarchies, and power relations, and rejecting homogeneous and homogenizing answers in the face of the heterogeneous realities and asymmetric relations of society. By nature, IL is a social, ethical, and political practice. Sturges and Gastinger (2010) pose the idea of information access as a human right which is related to the broader area of literacies that overcome the instrumental view of IL.  The Prague Declaration Towards an Information Literacy Society of 2003 and the Alexandria Proclamation of 2005 begin to point toward a justification of rights-based IL activities. IL is understood as “a prerequisite for participating effectively in the Information Society and part of the basic human right to lifelong learning” (Unesco, 2003). This right to information is especially relevant in Latin American democratic societies. Without good levels of IL, the overwhelming amount of information which is accessible today can simply confuse and deceive; one evidence of this is the fake news being spread nowadays. Sturges and Gastinger’s argument is that starting from a rights-based perspective makes it possible to arrive at a robust and inclusive interpretation of IL which integrates media literacy, computer literacy, web literacy, and, to some extent, civic literacy, thus developing a model that responds to human needs rather than to the priorities set by information professionals. This convergence is necessary in Latin America as the circulation of information is increasingly done through the Internet as a privileged channel for training pro-

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cesses: reading online demands a stronger critical analysis of the information, as well as the technological skills required to handle different formats and platforms and thus participate actively in cultural, economic, and social activities. As a theoretical-conceptual and methodological paradigm, IL has evolved considerably in Latin America during the last decade, as recent studies show, however, it still needs to have a more integral impact to overcome inequalities: • IL needs to be implemented in various learning environments, particularly in primary and secondary education and jobs (Uribe-Tirado & Pinto, 2017). • IL should be a priority in a range of policies beyond those concerning education and university libraries (Uribe-Tirado & Pinto, 2015), and extended to diverse citizens (adults, women, young people, people in rural areas, etc.). • IL and information rights should be incorporated into local and national policies since this has not been adequately done to date (Menou, 2002). Finally, Uribe-Tirado and Pinto (2017) recommend the publication of empirical studies to determine whether the IL activities have had any effect and the extent to which its goals are being achieved. An Information Literacy Observatory would help us to follow up the changing contexts and demands of multiple professionals, institutions, and disciplines.

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Index

A Academic careers, 72 Academic community, 72 Academic disciplines, 70 Access to information analysis, 78, 79 combined use, 77, 78 evaluation and credibility, 80, 81 IL, 64 implication, University context, 82–84 problem-oriented activity, 77 teachers guidance, 76, 80, 81 Active agents, 65 Adult perspectives (etic), 68 Alethic IL modality, 32–35 A Mathematical Theory of Communication, 17 American College and Research Library (ACRL), 93 Analogical texts, 66 Anomalous state of knowledge (ASK), 21 Attachments and beliefs, 48–49 in IL of university students, 60 pre-university, 56–57 previous attachments at home, 55–56 at school, 51–54 at work, 57–59 shape orientations, 50 to profiles, 49

B Beliefs, 34, 39–41 about education, 55 and attachments (see Attachments) electronic (web) sources, 54 family, 55 and interwoven attachments, 56 knowledge, 47 “must do belief”, 59 student–teacher relationship, 53 “should be belief”, 55, 59 Bibliographical support, 37 C Categorical descriptive, 40 Cognitive approaches, 90 Cognitive habitus, 69, 70 Cognitive sciences, 64 Collector profile, 47, 49, 51, 54 Communication model, 20 Competence, 32 Competency, 42 Competent subject, 46 Computer literate, 91 Computerized environments, 64 Concept of information definitions, 15 human beings, 16 information paradigms, 16 physical paradigm, 16 social contexts, 16

© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 F. Cabra-Torres et al., Information Literacy in Higher Education, SpringerBriefs in Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50014-6

107

Index

108 Concept of information (cont.) social environments, 16 social network, 16 socio-cognitive, 16 Consciousness, 30 Cultural change, 64, 65 Cultural configurations, 68 Cultural context, 69, 70 D Deontic IL modality, 32–35, 38 Digital divide, 98, 101 Digital formats, 73, 77 Digital immigrants, 65, 66, 68, 73, 74 Digital literacy, 95, 96 Digital natives, 66 a priori reasoning, 68 commanding position, 68 digital skills, 95 disciplines, 95 generalizations, 90 higher education challenges, 95 ICT, 95 vs. immigrant dichotomy, 95 informational skills, 89 information users, 96 inquiry dimensions, 95, 96 radical change, 65 research group, 95 students, 82 technology-based society, 66 young people, 75 Digital sources, 78 Discursive communities, 25 Documentation, 15, 22 Domain analysis, 25, 26 E Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL), 99 Educational sciences, 3 Epistemic subject, 30 Epistemological approach, 92 Epistemological beliefs, 34 F Family context, 55 Fragmentary metaphor, 69

G Generational changes, 67, 68 Generational differences, 68 Greimasian model, 32 H Higher education, 4, 8, 55 cognitive habitus, 69 commercialization, 67 data evaluation, 70 deterministic stereotypes, 68 institutions, 64 skills, 64 technology influence, 67 I Idealization, 66 IL in University students ACRL, 93 complementary historical and social analysis, 93 cultural and social context, 93 digital natives, 95–96 discursive semiotics principles, 93 IL profiles (see IL profiles, higher education students) information skills phenomenography, 96–98 information users, 93 semiotic approach, 93 standardization, 93 tapestry interweaves, 93 IL incorporation, 100 IL learning context higher education, 88 lines of inquiry, 88 sociocultural approach, 90–92 strategies (see Information-seeking strategies) university students, 88 IL modalities of existence, 32, 33, 40 IL models/frameworks, 83, 84 IL practices, 94 IL profile attachments in IL, 49 characterization, attachments, 49 collector, 47, 49 notion, 45 potentiative modalization, 46 reflective, 47 verifier, 47, 49–51

Index IL profiles, higher education students analysis, 94 digital practices, 95 information society, 95 information use and access, 94 personal and social development, 94 practices, 94 types, 94 IL research, 87 IL trends in Latin America digital divide and social exclusion, 98–100 experts recommendations challenges and opportunities, 101 convergence, 101 empirical studies, 102 human capital, 101 IL implications, 101 information access, 101 information science, 101 integral impact, inequalities, 102 Latin American informational user, 101 rights-based perspective, 101 social sustainability, 101 Information access, 101 Information and communication technologies (ICT), 18, 65, 66, 95, 99 Information literacy (IL), 64 academic environment, 5 alethic modality, 32–35 analysis, 46 “central countries” countries, 5 characteristics, 6 cognitive and behavioral aspects, 6 competences, 4 contemporary socio-educational conditions, 1 contemporary universities, 7, 8 contextual factors, 4 cultural and educational homogenization, 5 cultural and historical circumstances, 2 culture of schools and universities, 2 deontic modality, 32–35, 38 designing participatory strategies, 4 education, 2, 3 educational changes, 4 educational institutions, 1 educational processes, 2 ethical use of information, 3 field of research, 6 institutions/societies, 5 instrumentalization, 2 knowledge, 2, 5

109 measurement, 5 measuring tools, 5 models, 2 “non-central” countries, 5 observational instrument (see Observational instrument) pedagogical analyses, 3 pedagogy, 1 potentiative modality, 32–35, 38, 41 professional practice, 3 profile (see IL profile) psychometric analyses, 5 self-assessment test, 38, 39, 41 set of skills, 1 skills, 3 social environment, 2, 4 sociocultural environment, 2 socio-educational knowledge, 6 specific institutional character, 4 students, 3 teachers, 3 teaching, 2, 3 training students, 2 transference, 4 type of knowledge, 4 university teaching, 5 volitional modality, 32–35 Information-literacy-profile questionnaire (ILPQ), 97 Information paradigms, 16 Information science, 15, 17, 20, 24, 26, 101 Information search, 37, 71, 75 Information-seeking approaches, 78, 83 Information-seeking experience, 73, 78 Information-seeking strategies aspects, 88 cognitive and technological variables, 90 comprehensive studies, 90 degree of availability, 89 designing models, 88 digital natives, 89 dominant paradigm analysis, 88 information by students, 89 information search variables, 89 personal preconceptions, 89 plagiarism, 90 technology use, 89 Information skills phenomenography approach contributions, 96 critical aspects, 97 discipline and group work, 98 factors identification, 97

Index

110 Information skills phenomenography approach (cont.) higher education recommendations, 98 ILPQ, 97 information access, 97 intentional meaning attribution, 97 mechanisms, 97 non-dualistic view, human cognition, 96 participants, 97 relational approach, 96 research group, 97 Infoxication, 64, 73 Intergenerational challenge binary metaphor, 67, 68 commercial interests, 68 cultural configurations, 68 digital immigrants, 65, 66 digital natives, 65, 66, 68 fragmentary metaphor, 69 generational changes, 67 generational discourse, 67 homogeneous use, 66 narratives, 65 native-immigrant metaphor, 68 new media, 66 polarized perception, 66 technologies and networking, 67 technology integration, 68 Intergenerational encounter, 64 Intergenerational gap, 66 Intergovernmental agencies, 80 Intergovernmental and multilateral institutions, 80 Internet, 47, 50 Internet and databases, 76 Internet and search engines, 95 Intersubjective actions, 69, 70 Interwoven attachments, 54, 56 K Knowledge accumulated, 76 acquiring information, 72 active construction, 84 authoritarian and impoverished relationship, 65 and critical IL, 69 digital social media, 63 Internet access, 83 mediators, 65, 73, 76 professional, 65 reflective, 64 specialized, 80

tacit and codified, 83 technology existence, 67 topological space, 64 young people, 66 Knowledge building and exchange, 99 Knowledge society, 98 L Latin American informational user, 101 Latin American university libraries, 99 Learning, 2 N Native-immigrant metaphor, 67, 68 New digital technologies, 64 O Observational instrument competence, 32 conversation, 31 path of statistics, 31 and performance, 32 perspectives, 31 scenarios, 35, 36 self-assessment test, 38 semi-structured interview, 38, 40 situated device, 42 survey instruments, 30 theoretical framework, 29 theoretical rational path, 31 Overabundance, 64 Own perspectives (emic), 68 P Pedagogical relationship, 98 Pedagogy, 1, 2, 6 Peer-review processes, 70 Personal beliefs, 39–41 Phenomenography, see Information skills phenomenography approach Physical paradigm, 16, 18 Physical/systems-oriented paradigm basic property, 19 classical model of information, 19 communicative process, 17 complex processes, 18 evolutionary process, 20 general communication theory, 17 influential theories, 17 probability, 18

Index semantic/pragmatic terms, 18 skills, 18 structural and kinetic information, 19 structures, 19 theory of information science, 17 uncertainty, 17 Plagiarism, 90 Potentiative IL modality, 32–35, 38, 41 Potentiative modalization, 46 Predecessors, 64 Psychology, 1 Psychology Faculty, 72 R Red Latinoamericana de Competencias Informacionales (RedLADCI), 100 Reflective person, 50, 55 Reflective profile, 47, 49, 94 Resources and experiences exchanges, 100 Rights-based perspective, 101 S Scenarios strategy, 35, 36 Secondary education, 50, 54 Self-assessment test, 38, 39, 41 Self-observation processes, 31 Semiotic theory, 29, 32, 41 Semi-structured and dialogued interview, 71 Semi-structured interview, 35, 37, 38, 40, 41 Sense-making, 23, 24 Situated context, 35, 40, 41 Situated device, 42 Situated learning, 29, 34 Social groups, 69 Social inclusion factors, 99 impact, 99 knowledge society, 99 libraries, 100 Social inequality, 99, 100 Social life participation, 67 Social mechanism, 71 Social practices, 30 Social reality, 31, 32 Social sciences, 30, 36 Socio-cognitive paradigm, 24–26 Socio-cultural approach, 29 aspects, 90 challenge, 90 cultural changes, 92 framework, 91 fruitful framework, 92

111 higher education institutions, 91 information literacy, 91 information search, 91 interactions, 91 managing information, 91 objective reality, 91 perspectives, 92 social phenomena, 91 social processes, 92 use of information, 90 Sociocultural context, 8 Sociocultural framework, 91 Students, 1–6, 8 Subjective/cognitive paradigm cognitive approach, 20 computer-based information systems, 23 exchange of information, 21, 23 face-to-face communication, 21 factors, 20 homogeneous paradigm, 20 influences behavior, 21 information exchange, 20 mental concept, 21 processing information, 23 receiver, 22 sender, 22 sense making, 23, 24 socio-cognitive paradigm, 24–26 spatial and temporal context, 23 structure, 22 theory of information, 21 Survey instruments, 30 T Teachers, 1–4, 6, 8 Teaching, 2–8 Teaching experience and IL analysis digital sources, 73–74 informational competence, 69–70 objectives and procedure, 70–71 participants, 72 teacher's percieveness, 74–75 teaching practices, 76 vital experiences, 72–73 Teaching practices, 65, 69, 83, 84, 96 Technical training schemes, 79 Technology-based society, 66 Theoretical-conceptual and methodological paradigm, 102 Theories of information, 18 Think-aloud protocol, 71 Track-changes control, 73 Training, 2, 5, 6, 8

Index

112 U Universities challenges developing capacities, 64 digital age, 64 fundamental skills, higher education, 64 IL, 64 institutions, literacy, 64 University libraries, 100 University professors, 65, 69, 70 University students, 70 academic assignments, 50 attachments and beliefs, 60 attachments in IL, 60

family beliefs, 55 IL profile (see IL profile) information competence, 58 internet, 58 multidirectional continuum, 57 source of information, 49 Use of information, 69, 72, 76, 84 V Verifier profile, 47, 49–52, 54, 57, 58 Vital experiences, 74 Volition, 30 Volitional IL modality, 32–35