Metatheories for information literacy

• Poster Image

• Abstract

A plethora of theories, standards, models, and (best) practices notwithstanding, information literacy (IL) continues to suffer from lingering challenges such as its under-theorization and a nagging incongruence between theories and practices. This poster argues for a metatheoretical approach that investigates philosophical questions produced by the difficulties and disagreements within scientific disciplines in a reflexive manner (Benton & Craib, 2010, pp. 1-3). This approach provides support for a more consistent foundation of IL in conjunction with an in-depth discussion among researchers and more advanced theories and practices in the field. The poster will explore aspects of IL to which metatheory can contribute such as (1) principal concepts relevant to IL (e.g., information and knowledge), (2) an understanding of how to achieve ‘literacy’ (e.g., philosophy of education), and (3) the integration of the internal and external elements of IL practices (e.g., social elements of information behavior). To this end, it adopts a qualitative content analysis of principal frameworks, standards, and models of IL to compare the explicit and implicit metatheoretical—ontological, epistemological, and axiological—assumptions within existing IL theories and practices. This poster will use a ‘case study’ of the conventional data-information-knowledge-wisdom (DIKW) model (Ackoff, 1989)—which remains prevalent in IL instruction—with regard to disparate conceptualizations and their practical implications. Such an analysis holds the potential to demonstrate the significance of meta-theoretical underpinnings in IL for future research and practice.

• Author Keywords

Metatheory; philosophy of science; philosophy of information; philosophy of education; learning theory; theory and practice; DIKW

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