Dr Annemaree Lloyd School of Information Studies Charles Sturt University Lessons from the workplace the role of information literacy in the construction of workplace knowledge Dr Annemaree Lloyd School of Information Studies Charles Sturt University Wagga Wagga 2008.

 How do we become information literate in the workplace?  Modalities of information?  What are the implications for researchers, educators and practitioners?

Current understanding of IL is influenced by: Schooling and teaching practice Educational Librarianship reductive focus on skills focus on the individual

Practice Theory Communities of Practice Lave & Wenger(1991)Wenger(1998) Schatzki ( 2002) A practice is ‘a bundle of activities’. Practice must be understood as an ‘embodied, materially mediated arrays of human activity centrally organized around shared practical understandings’ ( 2002,p.2) Reckwitz (2002, p. 251) Role of the body in practice ‘gives the world of humans its visible orderliness’ Practices- forms of bodily activities, forms of mental activities, ‘things’ and their use, know-how states

Practice theory Knowledge is relational and constructed, brought about by engaging with other practices, discourse, tools; Practices have social, historical and political trajectories, built up over time; Meaning making is a negotiation between people in particular settings, leading to the production and reproduction of identity and ways of interacting; and, Focus not only on the internalized processes but to understand embodied performance ( Schatzki 2002)

Social and practice theory and IL Provide a framework for exploring IL as a practice that is underpinned by a range of activities; Identify how socio-cultural processes furnish opportunities to engage with tacit and embodied forms of information; Understand how these processes influence the development of information related behavior; and, Determine the role of IL in the construction of domain appropriate knowledge.

IL as socio-cultural information practice Total nexus of interconnected information activities (seeking, identification,evaluation etc) Does not occur in isolation Embedded in the performance of other practices

IL as socio-cultural information practice Enables an individual to establish themselves as member of the community Shaping and reshaping of identity and position Transition towards intersubjectivity

Relationship of IL to workplace practice Workplaces are social sites- messy and often contested Subject of powerful societal forces Workplace knowledge historically relegated to second best -focus on the material, technical and routine

Workplace information literacy research Two studies Fire fighters ( Lloyd 2004) Ambulance officers ( Lloyd 2007) Research Focus Nature of IL and how it manifests as practice and through the experience of workplace practice Novices and experts

Fire Fighter Study

Fire fighter study Revealed the modalities of information required for learning in a specific practice Outcomes of engagement with information Shaping and reshaping of identity in the transition from subjectivity to intersubjectivity Transition from ‘know-that’ to ‘know how’.

Fire fighter study Social source of information Affording role of others -mediation and interpretation of information Furnish opportunities for novices to access and interrogate the tacit and experiential knowledge Story telling, deconstruction of events, narration about practice Interpretation of artifacts and symbols.

Fire fighter study Role of the Body as information source Source of embodied information Observation of other workers Reflexivity about practice

Fire Fighter Study Knowledge construction - intersubjective Textual information prepares novices to ‘act’ Never teach them to become a fire fighter Individual approach of competency based training will not address intersubjective learning

Ambulance Study

Ambulance Study: In training Individualism emphasized - competency based Information activities systematic Confined to information that was supplied Information unchallenged

Ambulance Study: On Road Experience Refocus way from textual sources and towards social and physical information Move away from boundaries of practice Engage with distributed information networks Search for salient information elsewhere Information and information practice is contested

Transition to the workplace: Fire Fighters and Ambulance Officers Institutional knowledge enables individual workplace subjectivity –Ground rules for practice and performance –Written sources Actual practice –Reinvention of subjectivity –Information valued by community –Social sources –Body as an information source

Themes from Studies Information Literacy is a practice that informs practice and is in turn informed by it. IL acts as a catalyst for learning about practice characterized by a bundle of activities ( e.g.. information seeking, evaluating, locating etc) a situated practice, that is transformative- shaping and reshaping the individual as they move deeper into practice a product of discourse, which influences the type of information that is valued and skills used to access it.

Themes from the study IL is more than just a textual practice, it has social and physical elements Information skills are those skills that are valued by the setting and this may not always reflect IL skills as understood by librarians and educators.

An information literate person Is informed about the epistemic or social traditions that underpin the foundations of their practice Has developed practical information skills to perform their practice and understands the relationship between this experience and performance Recognizes that bodily experience is part of the experience of information gathering which informs practice

Information Literate Person Understands how information is used, disseminated and contested and uses this information to enhance the quality of their practice. Recognizes that information literacy is an ongoing process of change and development

An (Emerging) Architecture for IL Research and Pedagogy Modalities of information- accounts for different types of learning Recognize affordances specific to the setting

Social Know how tacit knowledge Situated within a community of practice Storylines Personal information Collective information

Corporeal Modality Embodied understanding Know-how Skills

Affordances Opportunities furnished by the landscape Underpinned by discourse that prefigures and shapes the landscape Manifest in –workplace practice –Signs, symbols and tools related to practice Access to tacit and embodied knowledge May enable access or contest access

Lessons from the workplace: Implications for Researchers Approach exploration of IL holistically Recognize the practice architectures of their research fields and workplaces Influence of discourse on what information and information practice are encouraged and what are constrained

Lessons from the workplace: Implications for IL Practitioners Recognize that IL practice is preparatory i.e. what is this preparation for? Acknowledge the barriers we create when IL pedagogy is focused on the epistemic modality Adopt a holistic approach to IL pedagogy Draw from textual, social and corporeal modalities Create alternate ways of learning that recognize the IL experience in the workplace Consider alternate ways of accessing information

Lessons from the workplace: Implications for IL Practitioners Consider how to adapt new technologies to better accommodate the many ways in which information is accessed and used e.g. visually, orally ( e.g. Web.20 ) Need to collaborate closely with workplaces to understand actual information need rather than perceived need Collaborate with researchers to inform practice

Conclusion Thank you.

References Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitmate peripheral participation. New York: Cambridge University Press. Lloyd, A., (2004). Working (In)formation: Conceptualising IL in the workplace. In Danaher, P.A., McPherson,C., Nouwens, F.and Orr, D (Eds), Lifelong Learning: whose responsibility and what is your contribution? (pp ) Proceedings of the 3rd International lifelong learning Conference, Yeppoon,Queensland, Australia, June. Rockhampton: Central Queensland University Press. Lloyd, A. (2007, August,2007). Recasting informaiton literacy as socio-cultural practice: Implications for Library and Information Science reserachers. Paper presented at the Sixth International Conference on conceptions of Library and Information Science: Featuring the future, Boras, Sweden. Reckwitz, A. (2002). Toward a theory of social practices: A development in cultural theorizing. European Journal of Social Theory, 5(2), Schatzki, T., Knorr-Cetina, K., & von Savigny, E. (2001). The practice turn in contemporary theory. London: Routledge. Schatzki, T. (2002). The site of the social: a philosophical account of the constitution of social life and change. Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania University Press. Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of Practice; Learning, Meaning and Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

References Images National Library of Australia- picture Australia