Information Literacy
In This Chapter…
Learning Objectives
- Recognize the challenges associated with our current information environment
- Understand the layout of the following chapters and how they relate to your project
Summary
The challenges of our current information environment often make us feel like there is too much information and it is all equally bad. While perfect, black and white answers rarely exist, it is entirely possible to move toward better information. The skills and habits in these chapters may be different than other advice you have gotten, but they will help you learn enough about your wicked problem that you can contribute to making it better.
Our Information Environment
Our information environments are getting more complex, more polarized, and more fragmented. Just a few decades ago, everyone in the United States got their news from the same three networks or the same five newspapers. Today we must navigate, evaluate, and choose among thousands of different content producers and platforms. The proliferation of messages and channels means that it is now possible (and quite common) to choose information sources that closely align with one’s identity, preferences and existing beliefs. This also means that it is possible (and also quite common) to be exposed to a completely different set of information than the person sitting next to you.
Even when we don’t consciously choose sources based on one particular point of view, the platforms we use may choose it for us. Social media feeds and search engines decide what to show us based on algorithms, rule-based procedures for completing a task. The algorithms that determine what each of us sees in our search results and social media feeds are based on the rich, detailed data companies have collected on our past behavior and preferences.
Algorithms aren’t intrinsically bad, but they can have negative and unintended consequences depending on how they are created and applied. A company may only be trying to keep you on their website for as long as possible to increase their advertising revenue. But what happens when they discover that showing you content that evokes a strong emotional response is the best way to do that? What happens when content creators discover that their most polarizing content gets the most views? It’s no wonder our society is so polarized.
With such a large array of sources filled with increasingly polarized content, how are we supposed to get to the truth? How are we supposed to understand our wicked problem well enough to try to make it better?
Information Cynicism[1]
“Without feeling empowered to sort fiction on the web, a lot of students are merely cynical and believe they can’t trust anything” ~Michael Caulfield[2]
This probably isn’t the first time you’ve thought about the problems described above. Within all these competing messages, you may have even begun to feel cynical about the possibility of figuring out the accuracy of anything. If you feel this w