Friday, April 18, 2008

UNESCO: "Towards information literacy indicators"

UNESCO has published a new "conceptual framework" paper, Towards information literacy indicators. It was authored by Ralph Catts (from Australia, currently working in Scotland) and Jesus Lau (Mexico, former Chair of IFLA Information Literacy Section). It "includes a definition of information literacy; a model that links information literacy with other adult competences, such as ICT skills; and a description of information literacy standards in education" Issues of ethics, and IL in oral cultures are mentioned.
The proposal is to use UNESCO's LAMP survey to "measure" IL: "the Literacy Assessment and Monitoring Programme (LAMP) has applied surveys carried out by OECD to developed a household survey of Literacies applicable across many countries. LAMP is currently being piloted and it has been reported that LAMP data will be available from 2009." So far I have just skimmed through the publication, in order to write this blog entry. It is obviously worth a close look. The press release is here and the paper itself at http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0015/001587/158723e.pdf
Photo by Sheila Webber: Blackheath, April 2008.

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