Conference Agenda

Objectives

People all over the world are experiencing information overload (IO). Its definition has long focused on a large amount of information (Bawden and Robinson, 2009). Today, we can see that the problem is not only the quantity of information but also its reliability. The authors of the Information Overload Scale (IOS) defined it as “a distress associated with the perception that there is too much information” (Williamson, Eaker, and Lounsbury, 2012, p. 1). Due to the emotional burden of the situation, the emotional aspects of IO become more critical. Specifically, COVID-19 is the factor that increases the number of information and its evaluation (e.g., de Bruin, 2021) or fake news (Bermes, 2021). IO has also been the subject of research focusing on information literacy (e.g., Lauri and Virkus, 2018).

The aim of the study was to indicate the challenges and recommendations for information literacy, based on the results of national surveys on IO, providing an insight into different experiences, attitudes, emotions,, and/or education needs based on the specifics of demographic characteristics (such as age or level of education), or other potential correlation phenomena (e.g., problematic use of social media or FOMO).

Methodology

The Information Overload Scale (Williamson, Eaker, & Lounsbury, 2012) was used in two waves of representative surveys of Polish Internet users aged 15 and older. IOS focuses on emotional aspects and subjective perceptions of information overload, thus revealing individual perceptions of one’s information skills.

Outcomes

The results do not confirm the differences in IO perception between sexes. Instead, they show a reduction in perceived burdens between 2021 and 2022, which can be linked to a suspension of lockdowns and the termination of online work. The way to respond to the elements of perceived IO may be a tip for information literacy education that is tailored to a specific social group and reflects the challenges of time and circumstances.

References

Bawden, D., & Robinson, L. (2009). The dark side of information: Overload, anxiety, and other paradoxes and pathologies. Journal of Information Science, 35(2), 180–191.

Bermes, A. (2021). Information overload and fake news sharing: A transactional stress perspective exploring the mitigating role of consumers’ resilience during COVID-19. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 61, 102555.

de Bruin, K., de Haan, Y., Vliegenthart, R., Kruikemeier, S., & Boukes, M. (2021). News avoidance during the COVID-19 crisis: Understanding information overload. Digital Journalism, 9(9), 1286–1302.

Lauri, L., & Virkus, S. (2018). Information overload of academic staff in higher education institutions in Estonia. In S. Kurbanoğlu et al. (Eds.), Information Literacy in Everyday Life, The Sixth European Conference on Information Literacy, ECIL 2018, Oulu, Finland, September 24-27, 2018: Revised Selected Papers. Communications in Computer and Information Science (CCIS) 989 (pp. 347–356). Cham: Springer International Publishing.

Williamson, J., Eaker, P. E., & Lounsbury, J. (2012). The information overload scale. Proceedings of the ASIST Annual Meeting, 49(1), 1–3.

Information literacy supports higher education learners in becoming conversant in scholarship, including “sources of evidence, methods, and modes of discourse” (ACRL, 2015, p. 20). Grounded in their own expert practices, academics often have difficulty identifying challenges faced by students (Riegler, 2020), including engaging with disciplinary information. Drawing from research on publishing practices, this paper identifies specific information challenges encountered by students studying the history of science and outlines learning activities that may enable them to successfully navigate history of science scholarship.

History of science, including history of medicine, and history of technology, are burgeoning subdisciplines of history. Engaging with these fields can present information challenges for students encountering publications in these scholarly specializations. Pursuing published research in history of science and its attendant specializations requires students to, among other things, ascertain the dualistic externalist and internalist approaches in history of science. An externalist approach is concerned with larger contexts, such as social, political, and cultural issues and phenomena, whereas the internalist approach is concerned less so with context outside of the phenomena itself (Shapin, 1982).

The externalist versus internalist debate among historians in these fields results in two overarching approaches in their publications (Shapin, 1992; Yturbe, 1995). Examining these approaches informed the development of an educational model that can be used with undergraduates to focus their attention on the interpretation of the externalist versus internalist debate. Novice students’ ability to navigate this problematic space is crucial for their learning in these specializations. Students understanding the difference between both approaches can inform their information seeking, interpretation, and efforts in producing responsive and valid history of science research projects.

Hypothetically, this model can be applied with undergraduates in an introductory history of science course by introducing students to both approaches theoretically, and critically, though an examination of scholarly articles from a spectrum of history journals, including humanities and social science journals not generally associated with historical scholarship per se, but publishing historical research. Historical Abstracts and America: History and Life databases provide target databases for information triage. Utilizing a template of questions, students would be asked to categorize journal articles according to the externalist/internalist paradigm. Students further embed their categorizations within the context of historiographic best practices explicating the choices they made. Knowledge of externalist and internalist approaches equips history of science students to identify critical information aspects necessary to assess the scholarship.

References

Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL). (2015). Framework for information literacy for higher education. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ilframework

Riegler, P. (2020). Decoding the disciplines. A roundtrip from novice to expert back to novice. DiZ-Zentrum fur Hochschuldidaktik. Retrieved from https://diz-bayern.de/images/cwattachments/506_549cb112bb9684e079d3fb2f5ca21787.pdf

Shapen, S. (1992). Discipline and bounding: The history and sociology of science as seen through the externalist-internalist debate. History of Science, 30, 333–369.

Shapen, S. (1982). History of science and its sociological reconstructions. History of Science, 20, 157–211.

Yturbe, C. (1995). The history of science: Internal or external? In S. Ramirez, R. S. Cohen (Eds.), Mexican Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science (Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol. 172). Dordrecht: Springer.

Discussing the impacts of COVID19 pandemic requires both critical and reflective thinking. One approach is to introduce the idea of digital maturity (Dwivedi et al, 2020). This implies that a strategy must be developed in such a way to deal with complexity and a hybrid thinking. This approach might enable us to create the digital future of cultural institutions– (Levi et al, 2019). Our paper aims to synthesize international research and debates around the impact of the digital transition in two aspects:

• in competences, strategies and practices of information literacy in the area of digital convergence of libraries, archives, and museums; and

• in the forms of best practice and innovation in library and information science (LIS) Education by presenting the epistemological and pedagogical formats developed in new collaborative lines of action.

There is still little knowledge among the various stakeholders about the necessary changes needed to develop and update skills in information literacy for professionals employed or seeking employment in emerging markets in the cultural sector. It is up to the universities to promote the emergence of courses suitable for introducing digital skills that are needed in the redefinition of disciplinary boundaries. To meet these needs, the Lisbon Region Consortium of the Universities Portugal Project - Connecting Knowledge, the Open University and the Universidade Nova de Lisboa structured, in 2022/23, two different types of LLL courses:

• “Specialization Course in Culture and Digital Communication in Archives, Libraries and Museum (3 months); and

• “Post-graduation Degree in Digital Information Management for Libraries, Archives and Museums” (2 semesters).

The courses adopted the advantages of distance and online learning based on the methodological pillars and outcomes of the Virtual Pedagogical Model (VPM) of the Open University (Mendes et al, 2018). Thus, the courses incorportedstudent-centered learning, following the construction of the European Higher Education Area (Bologna Process); the primacy of flexibility, allowing the student to carry out his learning; the primacy of interaction, as the student is not understood as simple content receiver, but as an active element of a collaborative network of learning, where information literacy is the result; and the principle of digital literacy as a factor of social inclusion.

This cooperative experience in higher education, especially in the LIS scientific field, represents a strategical focus on the link between knowledge management and information and digital literacy in Portugal.

References

Dwivedi, Y. K., Hughes, D. L., Coombs, C., Constantiou, I., Duan, Y., Edwards, J. S., & Upadhyay, N. (2020). Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on information management research and practice: Transforming education, work and life. International Journal of Information Management, 55, 10221. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102211

Levi, H., Wally, S., Lenh, D., & Cooke, S. (2019). The Routledge international handbook of new digital practices in galleries, libraries, archives, museums and heritage sites. London: Routledge.

Mendes, A., Bastos, G., Amante, L., Aires, L., & Cardoso, T. (2018). Modelo pedagógico virtual. Cenários de desenvolvimento. Lisboa: Universidade Aberta. Retrieved from https://portal.uab.pt/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/MPV_01.pdf