What Is Information Literacy
Information literacy is a term often used but seldom understood. This does not mean to be able to see the information or simply gain access to it. In reality, it means to be able to process that information correctly on a regular if not daily basis. It is the ability of human beings to receive and process information that gets counted when we talk about information literacy. It is about medium and the receptor that forms the core of this whole concept.
Meaning of Information
Before trying to understand the meaning of information literacy, let us first understand what information is and its associated value. Information can be defined as raw data that has been verified to be accurate and timely, is specific and organized for a purpose, is presented within a context that gives it meaning and relevance, and which leads to increase in understanding and decrease in uncertainty. People say “information is priceless” but slight modification has to be made here. Correct information is priceless. Any information has a value only when it can be put to some use or some deduction can be made out of it. Information is crucial when we can process it and the knowledge obtained can be used for intelligent decision making. Information could be of any type. It could be in the form of words or even numbers.
Characteristics of good information
Now the question arises how you differentiate between useful information and useless information. Knowing the answer is important because only good information can be used for information literacy.
· The first characteristic is Relevance. The information that a person uses must be relevant to the current problem at hand. If the information is not relevant, it would not help in any kind of decision making to solve the problem at all.
· The second characteristic is Completeness. The information provided must be complete. If the information is not complete and only partial information is received, it may lead to wrong decisions being made as only half of the whole information is known to us.
· The third characteristic is Accuracy. The information must be accurate as inaccurate information would lead to incorrect analysis. This may lead to many different problems. For example, inaccurate analysis may lead to people getting wrongly diagnosed or even being administered wrong medicines.
· The fourth characteristic is Up-to-date. The information must be current as a fact of yesterday may not be a fact of today. For example, stock prices of yesterday may not be the same as of today. As the stock market is ever changing, current information is really a must in this situation.
· The fifth characteristic of information is Economical. The information used must be of economical use to the companies that use them. Companies are money making organizations and are built to make profit. If the information used is not economical, it would result in the companies making losses.
Information Literacy
Information literacy is the key to lifelong learning. It is that ability which allows a person to not only use the information available to him effectively but a skill set dealing with the effective use of information – its location, its evaluation, its management and its use. This concept is especially useful in this age of internet. Internet is an ocean of knowledge which knows no depth. According to the Final report of the American Library Association Presidential Committee, “To be information literate, a person must be able to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate and use effectively the needed information”. Since information may be presented in a number of formats as stated above, the term information applies to more than just the printed word. Other forms such as visual, media, computer, network, and other basic forma are embedded in the term. It is a process and the related skills must be taught in the context of the overall process. To make an individual successful, it has to be integrated with the curriculum and reinforced both within and outside the walls of educational settings as these skills are imperative for our success.
In this age of speed and real life applications, we need to value information as well as the ability to process information; in other words, information literacy. This will enable us to process information faster and more accurately to our benefit which in turn will facilitate us to take informed decisions.
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