Open Access(Mis)information, information literacy, and democracy
Author(s) -
Pascal Lupien,
Lorna Rourke
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of information literacy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.479
H-Index - 10
ISSN - 1750-5968
DOI - 10.11645/15.3.2947
Subject(s) - information literacy , authoritarianism , misinformation , democracy , politics , critical literacy , sociology , political science , public relations , power (physics) , population , pedagogy , law , physics , demography , quantum mechanics
The current political climate is characterized by an alarming pattern of global democratic regression driven by authoritarian populist leaders who deploy vast misinformation campaigns. These offensives are successful when the majority of the population lack skills that would allow them to think critically about information in the political sphere, to identify misinformation, and therefore to fully exercise democratic citizenship. Political science has theorized the link between information and power and information professionals understand the cognitive decision-making process involved in processing information, but these two literatures rarely intersect. This paper interrogates the links between information literacy (IL) and the rise of authoritarian populism in order to advance the development of a new transtheoretical model that links political science (which studies power), information science, and critical pedagogy to suggest new paths for teaching and research. We call for a collaborative research and teaching agenda, grounded in a holistic understanding of information as power, that will contribute to achieving a more informed citizenship and promoting a more inclusive democracy.