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ERIC Number: ED605107
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2020-Jan-15
Pages: 3
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Information Literacy in the Age of Algorithms: Student Experiences with News and Information, and the Need for Change. Executive Summary
Head, Alison J.; Fister, Barbara; MacMillan, Margy
Project Information Literacy
This executive summary describes a larger report--the result of a national research effort exploring how much U.S. college-age students know about the way in which internet giants like Google, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook work, and by extension, how they affect society. Amidst the daily flood of digital news, memes, opinion, advertising, and propaganda, there is growing concern about how these popular platforms, and the algorithms they employ, influence lives, deepen social divisions, and foment polarization, extremism, and distrust. The report builds on a decade of research from Project Information Literacy surveying the information habits of college students in an increasingly digital world. It examines how students conceptualize and navigate a volatile and ever-changing information landscape, and proposes programmatic ways to prepare them to contend with this new reality. Four detailed research takeaways are highlighted in this summary: (1) College students have an ambivalent bond with algorithm-driven platforms; (2) Students use defensive practices to protect their privacy; (3) Trust is dead for many students, and skepticism lives; and (4) Discussions of algorithms rarely make it into the classroom. [Additional funding for this report was provided by the School of Library and Information Science at the University of South Carolina. For the main report, see ED605109.]
Project Information Literacy. P.O. Box 208, Sonoma, CA 95476. Tel: 707-939-6941; Fax: 707-938-7690; e-mail: info@projectinfolit.org; Web site: http://projectinfolit.org
Publication Type: Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: John S. and James L. Knight Foundation; Harvard University, Graduate School of Education
Authoring Institution: Project Information Literacy
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A