1 Information and New Literacies Theory: Theories of Information Literacy, Digital Literacy, Transliteracy/Metaliteracy, and Visual Literacy

What is Information Literacy?

According to the American Library Association (ALA), information literacy is the set of skills needed to find, retrieve, analyze, and use information. Information Literacy is so important that on October 1, 2009, President Barack Obama declared that National Information Literacy Awareness Month would be observed each October. Read the President’s proclamation below:

As President Obama’s proclamation stated, information literacy forms the basis of lifelong learning and is necessary for completing tasks such as applying for a job or even performing your job, emailing your professor, or attending classes and is essential for navigating our daily lives. Developing information literacy skills helps us to help our students and patrons as they maneuver through the journey of gaining experience in locating, evaluating, organizing, using, and communicating information.

The previous standards used for teaching information literacy competencies were the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) Information Literacy Competency Standards.

While these standards are still incredibly useful for helping learners complete specific kinds of information tasks, these standards focused on the hard skills necessary to meet an information need. They are a set of skills that can be learned by performing information tasks, and the respective performance of these types of information tasks improves fluency. However, the core ideas that make up the foundation of information literacy education has evolved, so higher education and information literacy education have evolved as well.

The ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education, adopted in 2016, is “called a framework intentionally because it is based on a cluster of interconnected core concepts, with flexible options for implementation, rather than on a set of standards or learning outcomes, or any prescriptive enumeration of skills” (ACRL, 7). This framework comprised of six frames made up of knowledge practices and dispositions of learners at varying levels of experience with each frame.

For example, the frame “Scholarship as Conversation,” refers to the “conversation” that is occurring when users, often researchers, publish and respond to the works of other scholars. It is important to remember and to remind students that they too are taking part in this conversation every time they write an essay that responds to existing scholarship.

There are many other standards that exist, including individual state standards for both K-12 and Higher Education, including the American Association of School Librarians Standards and the AASL Standards Crosswalks that act as a roadmap to allow school librarians and educators to move seamlessly between the AASL Standards and other learning standards.

What is Digital Literacy?

Digital literacy is the ability to find, evaluate, utilize, share, and create content using information technologies and the Internet. In the following resource, “What Is Digital Literacy,” a library research guide (LibGuide) from Bow Valley College, the fundamental components of digital literacy are discussed, including a combination of functional, creative, and critical thinking skills. Understanding the internet, computer algorithms, and how to use computer operating systems and software are all necessary concepts to learn and eventually master. “Netiquette,” an unofficial, socially constructed set of rules for respectful behavior when communicating online, especially through email, is another unique skill set that can change depending on format, context, and your relationship with the person you are communicating with digitally. As time passes, socially accepted ideas of what constitutes good, polite digital communication changes; generationally, many younger users, or even older, less digitally literate users may have very different ideas about what is considered good, internet etiquette.

While the information in this guide might seem like common knowledge, and although the percentage of people who are digitally literate varies widely by age, level of education, race, and ethnicity, according to the U.S. Department of Education and Institute for Education Statistics, 16% of U.S. adults of working age are not digitally literate, compared to 23% worldwide.

For more information about the history and key stages of digital literacy and the models of media literacy, read Leaning (2019)  “An Approach to Digital Literacy Through the Integration of Media And Information Literacy.”

What are Transliteracy and Metaliteracy?

The terms transliteracy and metaliteracy refer to what Trimm (2011) calls a “more holistic integration of the ways in which we utilize various mediums to access information and make meaning”. While the terms are considered by many to be interchangeable, there are differences.

Ipri (2010) highlights the function of mapping as key to transliteracy, whether between languages, often with different alphabets, or in the more modern sense, between, for example, analog and digital modes of writing. In its earliest days, the concept of transliteracy was not anchored in pedagogy, but since, has developed a structure based on communication between people across various modes. Transliteracy, at its heart, is about social connection.

By their very nature, metaliteracy and transliteracy are uniquely poised to accept new literacies as they develop. Most recently, metaliteracy includes Artificial Intelligence or AI Literacy, amongst its literacies. In his presentation at the 3rd International Conference on Information Literacy, Tom Mackey of Empire State University gave a presentation on Artificial Intelligence and the Future of the Library remarking that “explored the revolutionary changes in generative artificial intelligence (AI). It highlighted the groundbreaking potential of information literacy, AI literacy, and especially metaliteracy to transform learning.” Tom also discusses the roots of metaliteracy, saying that “Metaliteracy emerged from information literacy and developed into a comprehensive model with several core components. It aligns with emerging AI Literacy models while focusing on learning in wide-ranging information environments. This approach provides a holistic and open framework to prepare learners as ethical producers of generative content. information literacy.”

Metaliteracy.org invites guest speakers and experts to discuss their work with metaliteracy. Heloisa Helena Lopes Rodrigues Galiza shares her definition of a metaliterate learner, “I reflect on the characteristics of a metaliterate learner, remaining open to new perspectives and seeking the origins of information to ensure that I am not perpetuating biases. I also consider the need to be adaptable to the digital world, taking care to protect data and respect copyrights when sharing digital content. For example, when publishing in collaborative communities, I am aware that people from all over the world may consume the information I share, so it is crucial to present accurate, unbiased content that adheres to legal and ethical standards.”

These ideas about metaliteracy can best be summed up by this graphic from metaliteracy.org:

Visual Literacy

Watch the following YouTube video on visual literacy from Brian Kennedy, via TEDxDartmouth, “Visual Literacy: Why We Need It“.

Chapter 1 Assessments