Information literacy and the digitalization of the workplace: new book to be published on 13th April 2023

Along with my co-authors Marina Milosheva, Pete Robertson, and Peter Cruickshank, I am excited to see that the details of Information literacy and the digitalization of the workplace are now available in Facet’s publishing catalogue.

The anticipated publication of the book next month on 13th April comes just over two years since its first editor Gunilla Widén (Åbo Akademi University, Finland) initially approached me about the possibility of contributing to this new work. The conversation ultimately led to the preparation of a chapter that draws primarily on some of the research that PhD student Marina Milosheva has undertaken for her ESRC/Skills Development Scotland funded doctoral study on career information literacy and career decision-making, and team discussions in Marina’s supervision meetings. In it we focus on the importance of employability information literacy and career information literacy to sustainable employment in largely digitised work environments.

Our chapter sits alongside nine others, as listed below:

  1. ‘Advancing theory on workplace information literacy’ by Farhan Ahmad and Gunilla Widén
  2. ‘Literature review: in search of the many meanings of information literacy’ by José Teixeira and Muhaimin Karim
  3. ‘Digital literacy in a post-digital era: rethinking ‘literacy’ as sociomaterial practice’ by Mika Mård and Anette Hallin
  4. ‘Methodological choices of information literacy at the workplace: qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods?’ by Shahrokh Nikou and Farhan Ahmad
  5. ‘Investigating information seeking and information sharing using digital trace data’
    by José Teixeira
  6. ‘Making do with limited transparency of sensitive information in secretive organizations: collective information literacy through hinting’ by Inti José Lammi and Anette Hallin
  7. ‘Information literacy competencies for career transitions in the digital age’ by Marina Milosheva, Hazel Hall, Peter Robertson and Peter Cruickshank
  8. ‘The importance of information literacy for work satisfaction in a world-wide-workplace context’ by Angela Djupsjöbacka, Jannica Heinström and Eva Österbacka
  9. ‘Entrepreneurs’ digital information sources selection: a perspective to impact of information literacy and generational differences’ by Thao Orrensalo, Malin Brännback and Shahrokh Nikou
  10. ‘Conclusion: workplace information literacy as the literacy of digital workplace’ by Isto Huvila, Gunilla Widén and José Teixeira

We are all looking forward to seeing physical copies of the book as soon as it is available next month.

Edinburgh Napier University joins the international iSchools network

iSchools logo - red text stating 'iSchools'

Congratulations to Professor Diane Pennington and Dr Debbie Meharg of the Social Informatics Research Group at Edinburgh Napier University. With the support of the Dean Professor Peter Andras, they have led the work that has resulted in the recent acceptance of the University’s School of Computing, Engineering and the Built Environment (SCEBE) as a member of the international iSchools network. Continue reading

Out with the old, in with the new

Hazel Hall and Peter Cruickshank

Dr Hazel Hall and Dr Peter Cruickshank, 30/09/22

In autumn 2022, the more eagle-eyed readers of this blog may have noticed some changes across the pages of my web site, as well as in my profile information on other platforms. I spent 16th November 2022 editing my designation as ‘Professor’ so that it now reads ‘Emeritus Professor’. At the same time, my colleagues updated the Centre for Social Informatics flyer as version 19.3 to reflect the new status granted to me by my employer. Earlier in the year, on August 3rd, we advertised a job vacancy for a new Professor in Social Informatics at Edinburgh Napier University. All this activity ties to my retirement at the end of September 2022. Continue reading

Centre for Social Informatics ‘all centre’ meeting June 2022

Social Informatics Research Group Edinburgh Napier University selfie

Dr Peter Cruickshank, Dr David Brazier, Dr David Haynes, Dr Hazel Hall, Katherine Stephen, Dr Bruce Ryan, and Dr JP Vargheese pose for a post-meeting selfie

For the first time since 18th December 2019, this week members of my research group gathered for an end of year ‘all centre’ meeting to celebrate our recent research highlights.

Although not everyone could make it on this occasion, those who could enjoyed spending the afternoon of Wednesday 22nd June together. We took it in turns to deliver short personal updates to the rest of the group on our own research. We also read out details sent to us by email from those who could not participate in person, and gave each absent colleague a round of applause. Continue reading

‘New information literacy horizons: making the case for career information literacy’: new paper published in Proceedings of 7th European Conference on Information Literacy

#ECIL2021 European Conference on Information Literacy 2021 conference proceedingsSelected papers from the European Conference on Information Literacy 2021 (ECIL2021) are now available in a set of conference proceedings published by Springer. Amongst these is the conference contribution co-authored by Edinburgh Napier University colleagues Marina Milosheva, Hazel Hall, Pete Robertson, and Peter Cruickshank on career information literacy (CIL), and distinctions between CIL and the concepts of workplace information literacy (WIL) and employment information literacy (EIL). Continue reading

Strong showing from the Centre for Social Informatics at the ASIST 24-hour Global Conference

The two-day ASIST 24-hour Global Conference opens today across all time zones. Five members of the Centre for Social Informatics (CSI) will be presenting their research completed within the Centre in four presentations as part of the the Europe/Africa programme tomorrow (27th April 2022). They are: Continue reading

How to network online: new Conversation article by Marina Milosheva

network imageWhy is it important to make professional connections online – especially when working remotely? How might this be achieved effectively?

Centre for Social Informatics PhD student Marina Milosheva addresses these questions in a new article for The Conversation.

In the article, Marina draws on her own ESRC/Skills Development Scotland (SDS)-funded doctoral research on career information literacy, and that of our PhD graduate John Mowbray on the role of networking and social media tools during job search (also funded by the ESRC and SDS). Continue reading

Centre for Social Informatics at iConference 2022 #iConf2022 #iConf22

iconference banner 2022The 2022 iConference opens today, with sessions running throughout the week until Friday 4th March. Hosted online by University College Dublin, Kyushu University, and the University of Texas at Austin, the 2022 conference theme is ‘Information for a better world: shaping the global future’. Continue reading

Four new projects for the Centre for Social Informatics

Social informatics research group blog headerCongratulations to Centre for Social Informatics colleagues Dr Peter Cruickshank, Dr David Haynes, Dr Bruce Ryan, and Dr Frances Ryan on securing internal Edinburgh Napier University funding for four new research projects. Continue reading

Goodbye 2021, hello 2022

fireworksEdinburgh Napier University opened its doors again this morning after the Christmas break. This, however, is metaphorical reopening for me. As record numbers of Covid19 cases are reported in Scotland (and the UK as a whole), I will be continuing my research and PhD supervision activities off-campus from home. Continue reading