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Credibility and Authority in an Unregulated World
helena.francke@hb.se Swedish School of Library and Information Science, University of Borås
CSU, Wagga Wagga, 2 July 2012
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Credibility and Authority in an Unregulated World - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Credibility and Authority in an Unregulated World - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Credibility and Authority in an Unregulated World helena.francke@hb.se Swedish School of Library and Information Science, University of Bors CSU, Wagga Wagga, 2 July 2012 www.lincs.gu.se my background www.lincs.gu.se 25 Nov 2010
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www.lincs.gu.se 25 Nov 2010 Image from Wikipedia Commons
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Changing publishing patterns
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theoretical inspirations
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A sociocultural perspective
- Information literacy enacted in
various mediated activities
- Cultural tools (intellectual as well
as physical) mediate information seeking and learning experiences.
(Vygotsky 1978; Wertsch 1998; Säljö 1999)
- Mastery and appropriation
(Wertsch 1998)
Säljö, R. (1999). “Learning as the Use of Tools.” In K. Littleton & P. Light, eds. Learning and Computers. London: Routledge, 144-166. Wertsch, J. V. (1998). Mind as Action. New York: Oxford University Press. Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in Society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
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Cognitive authority
- Patrick Wilson (1983) – Second-hand knowledge
three tests put to documents:
– creator – publishing history – intrinsic plausibility – materiality (Francke 2008) interacts with the aspects above
Francke, H. (2008). (Re)creations of scholarly journals: document and information architecture in open access journals. Borås: Valfrid. Wilson, P. (1983). Second-hand knowledge: an inquiry into cognitive
- authority. Westport, CT & London: Greenwood Press.
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Contemporary forms of credibility
- Conferred credibility
- Reputed credibility
- Tabulated credibility
- Emergent credibility
- Authority approach vs.
Reliability approach
Metzger, M.J. & Flanagin, A.J. (2008). Digital media and youth: unparalleled opportunity and unprecedented responsibility. In M.J. Metzger & A.J. Flanagin (Eds.), Digital media, youth and credibilty. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 10 f. Lankes, R.D. (2008). Trusting the Internet: New approaches to credibility tools. In M.J. Metzger & A.J. Flanagin (Eds.), Digital media, youth and credibilty. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 101-121.
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the EXACT project
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Expertise, Authority and Control
- n the Internet (EXACT)
Olof Sundin Helena Francke Louise Limberg Mikael Alexandersson Anna Lundh Funded by the Swedish Research Council
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Three studies
- How is credibility negotiated and constructed by
students, teachers, and school librarians in upper secondary school in relation to Internet sources?
- Classroom studies
– observations – interviews – information seeking blogs – documents
- Teacher and school librarian focus groups
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Three studies, cont.
- How is trust in the authority of knowledge
constructed in Wikipedia and in blogs.
- Producers in social media
– interviews
– observations of writings in Wikipedia and blogs
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What is a credible source in school?
- Students’ approaches to critically evaluating
information sources –strategies of control –strategies of balance –strategies of commitment –strategies of multiplicity
The articles on [a particular web site] are written by professors, among others, which is good because I find that to be quite a credible sourse […] (Ruth/blog) He also links to lots of good pages, which I find really good. (Rachel/blog) I think they honestly want the world to be a better place […] (Pia/blog)
Francke, H., Sundin, O. & Limberg, L. (2011). ”Debating credibility: The shaping of information literacies in upper secondary schools”. Journal of Documentation, 67(4), 675-694.
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Genres and technologies
I don’t like using facts from blogs because they are very personal and full of opinions, I only want facts, pure facts. (Kajsa/blog) PETRA: But there are also blogs that contain facts. ”Now I’ve found this and that and it’s completely correct, and so on. I’ve checked it.” People write that kind of stuff too. PIA: But still, it doesn’t feel very credible. (Group 7/interview) I have changed my opinion of Wikipedia and in the future I will try to use Wikipedia as little as possible since the information there is constantly changed. (Josefin/blog)
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The assignment (discourses)
- Nuclear power
plants - pros and cons
- Facts – opinions /
neutral sources
KAJSA Although now it was sort of a matter of finding something strongly for or against. We looked at that, too. But ordinarily, I would have searched for neutral, neutrality, because it would have been for
- ur own project.
(Group 3/interview)
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What is a credible source in school?
- Educators’ conceptions of credibility in relation to
Wikipedia –control –comparing sources –relational & partial –multiplicity
[…] if they use Wikipedia, they should always double-check with another source, and that means twice the work. (Interview L:2) I think Wikipedia is a great example
- f knowledge which is actually
updated quite frequently, and which is free and independent in some sense, instead of commercial services provided by some company. (Interview T:1)
Francke, H. & Sundin, O. (2012). ”Negotiating the Role of Sources: Educators’ Conceptions of Credibility in Participatory Media.” Library & Information Science Research, 34(3): 169–175. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lisr.2011.12.004
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conclusions
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Conclusions
- Focus on facts
- Focus on authorship and on comparing sources
- Mastering what is a credible source in school
assignments while struggling to negotiate the teacher’s expectations on the assignment
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