Chasing Frankenstein’s monster: information literacy in the black box society

Published date26 September 2019
Pages1475-1485
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/JD-02-2019-0035
Date26 September 2019
AuthorAnnemaree Lloyd
Subject MatterLibrary & information science
Chasing Frankensteins
monster: information literacy
in the black box society
Annemaree Lloyd
University College London, London, UK
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to introduce and examine algorithmic culture and consider the
implications of algorithms for information literacy practice. The questions for information literacy scholars
and educators are how can one understand the impact of algorithms on agency and performativity, and how
can one address and plan for it in their educational and instructional practices?
Design/methodology/approach In this study, algorithmic culture and implications for information
literacy are conceptualised from a sociocultural perspective.
Findings To understand the multiplicity and entanglement of algorithmic culture in everyday lives
requires information literacy practice that encourages deeper examination of the relationship among the
epistemic views, practical usages and performative consequences of algorithmic culture. Without trying to
conflate the role of the information sciences, this approach opens new avenues of research, teaching and more
focused attention on information literacy as a sustainable practice.
Originality/value The concept of algorithmic culture is introduced and explored in relation to information
literacy and its literacies.
Keywords Information literacy, Theory, Sociocultural theory, Algorithmic culture, Algorithmic literacy,
Information literacy education
Paper type Conceptual paper
Introduction
The incorporation and acceptance of algorithms into everyday life has implications for the
practice of information literacy. This premise is based on the view that the ubiquity of
algorithms intersects with everyday life with the potential to reshape practices and culture.
Subsequently, algorithms should be viewed as a feature with the potential to create or
remake the conditions for everyday life by enabling and/or constraining conceptions of
reality, agency and performativity (Roberge and Seyfert, 2016). The question for
information literacy scholars and educators is how do we understand the impact of
algorithms on agency and performativity and how do we address and plan for it in our
educational and instructional practices?
To be clear, this paper is not about data literacy defined as the component of
information literacy that enables individuals to access, interpret, critically assess, manage,
handle and ethically use in data(Prado and Marzal, 2013, pp. 124-125). It is about the
foundational concept of information literacy that establishes the theoretical foundations
from which media, digital and data literacies are referenced ( Lloyd, 2017a, b).
The theory of information literacy that has been proposed (Lloyd, 2017a, b) states that
informationliteracy is a practice that is enactedin a social setting. It is a suite of activities and
skills that reference structured and embodied knowledges and ways of knowing relevant to
the context. Information literacy is defined as a way of knowing. We are entangled with
information through sites of knowledge from which we draw to create our information
landscapes.The information sources in thosesites of knowledge may be social (local, nuanced
or tacit), physical (embodied, corporeal and referencing the experience of doing), epistemic
(grounded in rules and structures and explicitly expressed), digital and/or analogue, or
embedded in the workplace, education or community; they may require knowledge of
technology and online formats and may be written or presented in other visual forms.
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 75 No. 6, 2019
pp. 1475-1485
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/JD-02-2019-0035
Received 24 February 2019
Revised 21 May 2019
Accepted 28 May 2019
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0022-0418.htm
1475
Chasing
Frankensteins
monster

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