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In her 2013 article, Noble describes a Google search that she conducted in 2011 using the keywords “Black girls.” She observed that both the advertisements and top 10 search results were dominated by hypersexualized and pornographic portrayals of Black women. Noble argues that these results demonstrate how the Internet is far from a democratic utopia. Instead, search engine results reproduce and amplify misrepresentations of race and gender and reinforce the social, political, and economic disenfranchisement of women and people of color. Noble’s research demonstrates the inaccuracy of users’ perceptions of search engine results as being neutral or objective and reveals how the organization of results is heavily influenced by commercial interests.

In their 2017 article, Noble and Roberts critique higher education’s reliance on learning technologies which also monitor students by collecting their data. These “black-box technologies” are not transparent about their data collection practices and often use this data to improve their services and attract clients. The authors argue that IT professionals and technology scholars need to work together to think through the social implications of using these learning technologies before adopting them.

Discussion Questions:

To what extent did Noble’s 2013 article change your views about search engines? Have you observed biases or misrepresentations in your search engine results?

Noble and Roberts ask: “Will the future of knowledge reside with powerful information systems, unknowable algorithms, and privatized islands of data? If so, at what cost? Further, what role do we, as information technologists and educators, play in identifying and discussing these nuances with our students, staff, faculty, and campus administrators?”

In interviews with faculty, Head et al. (2020) observed that faculty rarely discussed these issues with their students. What would you say to your students about search engine algorithms and black-box technologies? How could you integrate an assignment related to these issues into your course?

In their article, Wineburg and McGrew (2017) report on differences between the fact-checking practices of expert fact-checkers and college professors and students. When verifying information, expert fact-checkers took their bearings (i.e., contextualized the information) using a practice called “lateral reading” in which they quickly left the original content to check claims and learn more about the source of the information. This includes visiting sites like Wikipedia. In contrast, college professors and students read vertically, meaning that they inspected the original content for clues about its credibility, rather than leaving the content. Wineburg and McGrew argue that lateral reading is a heuristic that we should be teaching students to help them quickly and effectively assess the quality of online information. But, they point out: “lateral reading doesn’t take place in a vacuum. It requires knowledge of sources, knowledge of how the Internet and searches are structured, and knowledge of strategies to make searching and navigating effective.”

Given students’ existing reliance on the Internet for information and the transition to online courses, consider the following questions:

1. What have you observed about how your students find and evaluating online information? What about your own practices? How often do you read laterally and under what circumstances?
2. Since so many of us rely on Google and Google Scholar, to what extent are you and your students aware of how Google and Google Scholar structure their search results? Do you practice “click restraint” (i.e., not clicking on the first or second search result)?
3. Whose responsibility is it to teach students how to assess the quality of the online information? Should this a be a skill taught as part of general education courses? What might be some challenges to integrating this instruction?
4. The article (and a lot of fact-checking research) are concerned about students as consumers of online information – what are the implications for students as producers of online content?

The ACRL’s Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education (2015) identifies six frames (i.e., concepts) and associated knowledge practices (i.e., information literate students should be able to…) and dispositions (i.e., attitudes) that students need in order to participate online as both information consumers and producers.

-Authority Is Constructed and Contextual
-Information Creation as a Process
-Information Has Value
-Research as Inquiry
-Scholarship as Conversation
-Searching as Strategic Exploration

The authors also provide guidance for faculty on how to help students understand these concepts and develop knowledge practice and dispositions. Strategies include developing exercises, activities, and assignments that students can complete to both assess and foster their competence in each of the six frames.

Consider the questions below that the authors provide for instructors to help guide them in integrating information literacy instruction into their courses. Are any of these questions more pressing or more challenging now that instruction is taking place online? Should any of these questions be rephrased or edited to be better suited for distance learning?

— What are the specialized information skills in your discipline that students should develop, such as using primary sources (history) or accessing and managing large data sets (science)?

— What information and research assignments can students do outside of class to arrive prepared to apply concepts and conduct collaborative projects?

— What kinds of workshops and other services should be available for students involved in multimedia design and production?

— In your program, how do students interact with, evaluate, produce, and share information in various formats and modes?

— How might you and a librarian design learning experiences and assignments that will encourage students to assess their own attitudes, strengths/weaknesses, and knowledge gaps related to information?

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