1.2 Information Literacy Matters

Why does information literacy matter?

In today’s complex information environment, the average internet user has access to over one billion websites and over one hundred million videos on YouTube. Millions of books, magazines, and articles are published every year.  Finding the right information for the right purpose takes some skill and attention.

Information literacy is a life skill that will help you apply critical thinking and reflection to locate, evaluate, and use quality information. An information-literate individual embraces the research process (even when it’s messy), synthesizes information from multiple sources, and makes conscientious choices when sharing information. An information literate person is also aware of generative AI tools and considers how they may be used for information searching and generating content. It’s important to know that genAI tools cannot create “new” content that is
original—it takes in a vast amount of information and data, analyzes it, and outputs what the user requests. In other words, it’s operating from existing information rather than generating new work from scratch. As with any research tool, it’s important to use sources responsibly so that you don’t harm the quality of your work overall.

Start building your information literacy skills now and you will find yourself applying the ideas at school and work while empowering yourself to become an active citizen.