Collective aspects of information literacy in developing countries: a Bangladeshi case
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-09-2021-0185 |
| Published date | 21 February 2022 |
| Date | 21 February 2022 |
| Pages | 1305-1320 |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Records management & preservation,Document management,Classification & cataloguing,Information behaviour & retrieval,Collection building & management,Scholarly communications/publishing,Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
| Author | Misita Anwar,Gillian Oliver,Viviane Frings-Hessami,Manika Saha,Anindita Sarker |
Collective aspects of information
literacy in developing countries:
a Bangladeshi case
Misita Anwar, Gillian Oliver, Viviane Frings-Hessami, Manika Saha
and Anindita Sarker
Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to report on the explorationof women farmers’information literacy (IL)
in the context of rural Bangladesh within the context of an ICT-based women empowerment project.
Design/methodology/approach –This study uses thematic analysis of qualitative data collected during a
culturally sensitive workshop on IL with a group of project participants.
Findings –The findings showed that women understood their information needs and where to find
information, which indicates that participants had some basic IL skills. However, the online environment
presented challenges for them to evaluate the quality of the information and its relevance to their daily
activities. The cultural complexity of IL was observed with the rural women’s information practices affected by
family patterns, community and religion, amongst other social factors. Collective practices are made highly
evident by the women’s natural tendency to share phones and information and by the way information is
maintained. While the collective practices are very useful in utilising information for daily needs, the downside
is that women are potentially vulnerable to threats in an online environment when sharing confidential
information.
Originality/value –This article shows that in the context of rural Bangladesh, women farmers’information-
seeking behaviour and practices of sharing and creating information are influenced by sociocultural
characteristics. It describes how the women’s situational context of collectivity and power relations influence
their ways of handling information.
Keywords Information literacy, ICT4D, Women farmers, Collectivity
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
The rural-urban digital divide in the developing world contributes to ongoing economic and
societal inequalities. Members of remote rural communities typically have limited
opportunities to access the information that could make a difference to their lives and
well-being. Mobile phones can provide the means by which the digital divide can be bridged,
and opportunities for empowering marginalised communities. In Bangladesh, awareness of
mobile Internet is growing quickly, but remains lower for women. Lack of literacy, lack of
digital skills and absence of family approval are some of the main barriers to use mobile
Internet (GSMA, 2020). Oxfam Bangladesh in conjunction with researchers at Monash
University, Australia, implemented an ICT-based women’s empowerment project by working
with a network of community-based organisations in diverse regions in Bangladesh between
2015 and 2019. The aim of the project was to better equip women farmers with mobile
technology; to facilitate their access to the information resources that will enable them to deal
with agriculture and climate-related issues (including early warning systems for
emergencies); and to link them with local government, NGOs and the marketplace.
The project interventions provided women farmers with smartphones, training and
access to information services. This created a unique community-led information gathering,
Collective
aspects of
information
literacy
1305
Research was undertaken as part of Monash University's PROTIC project, supported by funding from
The Empowerment Charitable Trust.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0022-0418.htm
Received 20 September 2021
Revised 20 January 2022
Accepted 24 January 2022
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 78 No. 6, 2022
pp. 1305-1320
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/JD-09-2021-0185
sharing and storing practice. It is worth mentioning that prior to the project intervention,
none of the participants used smartphones. Despite assumed low levels of literacy, during the
project, some women kept information in notebooks and used wall charts to share
information like medicine names (Stillman et al., 2021). Identifying the characteristics and
influences of information literacy (IL) in the context of this community will enable the
development of context-sensitive training and guidance for the use of technological tools by
community members in diverse cultural settings. Exploring IL in developing countries
requires a consideration of context-specific aspects of information needs and knowledge
creation. At the same time, there is limited knowledge that can enlighten us to understand
how marginalised communities’culture and practice shape the IL of a society in terms of
information collection, storage, evaluation and utilisation in their daily life activities.
The purpose of this paper is to report on the exploration of women farmers’IL in the
context of rural Bangladeshi participants in the Monash-Oxfam project. The findings are
based on data collected during a workshop held in Dhaka and subsequent focus group
discussions in a participating village in 2019. The paper begins with a review of the literature
relating to IL in developing countries and then provides the contextual details of Bangladesh
and the Monash-Oxfam project. The next part of the paper reports on the workshop to explore
women’s IL. The discussion section considers contextual specific aspects of IL and highlights
the cultural differences in ways rural communities identify and express information needs.
The final conclusion provides suggestions for further research.
2. The cultural complexities of information literacy
Information and the skills to use it are needed in every society, but the ways that individuals
and groups may identify and express information needs are affected by social and cultural
factors including family patterns, language and religion, amongst others. While the concept
of IL is valid across cultures, any information-based development initiatives have to take
account of cultural differences that are shaped by these factors. However, Dorner and
Gorman (2006) stated that many of the existing models of IL are “contextually grounded in
Western social and intellectual structures”(p. 1). They added that there are differences
between the contexts from which IL models derived and the contexts in which they are being
applied; this needs to be considered when adopting a particular model for developing
societies (Dorner and Gorman, 2006). Therefore, they suggested that contextual variables
affecting how and why individuals learn are important in exploring IL in developing
contexts. Indeed, the conceptions and practices of IL should consider the nature of
information and how people engage with it and acknowledge that different contexts may
exercise different approaches (Todd, 2017).
Information skills evolve and are practised within their contexts and appropriation of
various technologies. IL is embedded in the activities of particular groups and communities
(Tuominen et al., 2005). IL research has recognised that information and knowledge are
socially produced and distributed (Lloyd, 2006). It has been suggested that research on IL
should shift its focus towards socially- and community-oriented dimensions including the
role of communities, social construction and the collectivities, and to question how social
dimensions can be integrated and reflected in IL models, programmes or standards
(
Spiranec, 2015).
Most IL empirical research has been conducted within educational and workplace
settings. Research in everyday life settings is needed to gain more insight into the complex
and ambiguous notion of IL (Eckerdal, 2013). However, this kind of research is scarce. A
review conducted by Martzoukou and Sayyad Abdi (2017) shows that existing IL research
with an emphasis on different everyday life settings is limited and, overall, lacks a holistic
view. The review discusses IL in everyday life within several themes including leisure,
JD
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