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Joint, N. (2003) eLiteracy and social exclusion: a global perspective. In: eLit2003: 2nd International Conference on
Information and IT Literacy, 11-13 Jun 2003, Glasgow, UK. http://eprints.cdlr.strath.ac.uk/2357/
This is an author-produced version of a presentation at eLit2003: 2nd International Conference on Information and IT Literacy, 11-13 Jun 2003, Glasgow, UK.
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e-literacy and social exclusion…
…a global view
Nick Joint, CDLR
University of Strathclyde Library
Sources
‘Library Review’ Anglophone Africa Spanish and Portuguese material from
South America South American material is rarely
available in English Translation is essential
Information Literacies are social constructs:
ILs are therefore:
Socially constructed, and thus local Plural rather than singular We construct our vision of IL to fulfil a
task We have to examine different ILs
before we can make IL work for us
Information Literacies
Low LiteracyLow Info Literacy
Low LiteracySignificant Info
Literacy
Highly e-literateHighly info-literate
Highly e-literateLess info-literate
PositiveNegative
Rich
Poor
Social critique of IL:
Definition: “ability to use”?
““Information literacy is a set of abilities requiring individuals to ‘recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information.’
(American Library Association. 1989.)
The information poor majority: Information is a commodity to be
produced and consumed. Information literacy in this sense is
only available to the rich. IT literacy is a skill for those who
have access to IT, not for those without access.
The plight of Silvana: AIDS information
Barreto’s “great minority” “this form of distribution works in such a
way as to ensure that selective information belongs only to an elite composed of a great minority.”
“the greater the quantity of information the greater the ability of the minority to consume it must be, if the costs of the information are to be recovered.”
Barreto, A.A., (1994) "A questao da informaçao", Sao Paulo em Perspectiva, 8:4 (Oct-Dec ).
This is a Post –Marxist view: Marxist view:
over production and under consumption creates an economic crisis.
The post-Marxist view is different: Raise consumption to meet over
production – ‘crisis, what crisis?’ There is still a crisis for the ‘great minority’
– it is ‘ideal’ or ‘cultural’ rather than material or economic.
The information elite
Information gatekeepers Librarians believe that if power is
transferred to the public the authority of librarians is weakened.
Democratic access to information reinforces the information professional’s authority.
Suaiden, University of Brasilia.
The information experience of the great minority
IL information users have access to the whole world of global information capital.
They experience cognitive overload, information inflation/devaluation.
Their ability to skim, evaluate and select means they only: “glimpse parts of a global culture,
rather than celebrate their own local culture”.
The information experience of the poor majority
Local or indigenous cultures: ‘the ease with which information may be
accessed is supplanting memory’ (Pacheco) limited amounts of information held in non-
electronic formats (e.g. oral or print-based indigenous heritages).
Emergence of E-literacy: vast global information resource held by
definition in electronic media. Information literacy validated information as
something independent of format.
Politically correct terminologies
INFORMATION LITERACY
Library literacy E-literacy
Information skills
Solutions (1)
How should IL be studied, defined and promoted?
South American intellectuals argue: Reject: How we used technology A to
teach IL in institution B Explore: Literary, ethnographic
studies and fictional or dramatic narratives
Solutions (2)
African views (Nigeria, Tanzania etc): Pragmatic, optimistic. Information professionals are not
omnipotent. Address issues of literacy and poverty
before issues of information literacy. Look upon the socially excluded as a
potential market.
Solutions (3)
African views (Nigeria, Tanzania etc): Use existing information literacies (Okiy
– rural public libraries).But also:
Cultivate library literacy and eliteracy along the lines of ‘developed’ countries
Solutions (4)
African views (Nigeria, Tanzania etc): Esharenana E. Adomi
145 crop farmers in Delta State Nigeria Barbara Hull .
Barriers discouraging access to libraries as agents of lifelong learning.
Boston Spa: Library and Information Commission. (Library and Information Commission Research Report 31)
Once problems of literacy are addressed, barriers are very similar!
Solutions? (1)
African views (contd.):Computerise Nigeria: 50 ethnic groups, 30 languages Language of instruction Religious beliefs discourage
information empowerment among the female gender(Orisawayi)
Solutions? (2)
African views (contd.): African rural poor in need of
primarily agricultural information
versus African urban poor in need of
AIDS information
What about this latter group?
New definitions
In the developed world: To be information literate means you must be
aware of the social dimension of information. There are notions of IL that militate against social inclusion.
Among the poor: It is possible to combine a degree of e-
literacy with a degree of indigenous information literacy to create a significant and sophisticated form of hybrid information literacy.
