| Abstract | Doktorska disertacija Procjenjivanje vjerodostojnosti izvora informacija u digitalnom okruženju donosi pregled literature teorijskih pristupa informacijske pismenosti i vrednovanja izvora informacija u istraživanjima informacijske pismenosti te rezultate istraživanja kriterija za vrednovanje izvora informacija u digitalnom okruženju. Od ustanovljavanja standarda i modela informacijske pismenosti i njihove primjene u knjižničnoj praksi od ranih 2000-tih vrednovanje izvora informacija provodi se prema ustanovljenim kriterijima koji potječu iz analognog okruženja. Pristup vrednovanju izvora informacija prema kriterijima ustanovljenima na standardima u literaturi se često kritizira zbog njihove nedovoljne učinkovitosti (Whithworth, 2006). Zasićenost digitalnog informacijskog okruženja velikom količinom podataka i informacija na Webu uvjetovano je brzim razvojem digitalnih tehnologija i participativne kulture proizvodnje, potrošnje i dijeljenja informacija pa iz te perspektive raste potreba da se informacijsko opismenjavanje fokusira na vrednovanje izvora informacija u digitalnom okruženju. Informacijsko-komunikacijske tehnologije doprinijele su pojavi novih oblika pismenosti, pri čemu se elementarna pismenost nadograđuje drugim oblicima pismenosti poput informacijske pismenosti, digitalne pismenosti, medijske pismenosti, te u okruženju Weba 2.0 i društvenih medija, metapismenosti (Mackey i Jacobson, 2011) koja integrira različite pismenosti u digitalnom okruženju. Istraživanja pokazuju kako je upravo informacijska pismenost uz digitalnu pismenost temelj za uspješno obrazovanje na svim razinama kako bi generacije koje dolaze bile spremne participirati u društvu kroz aktivno građanstvo, te svojim sposobnostima i kompetencijama doprinositi na tržištu rada, osobnom rastu i razvoju, kvaliteti življenja te stvarati bolje društvo u cjelini. Stalan rast informacijskokomunikacijskih tehnologija i opterećenja informacijskog okruženja različitim vrstama digitalnih informacija i izvora informacija, mijenja i paradigmu podučavanja informacijske pismenosti pri čemu bi ono trebalo biti usmjereno prema vrednovanju izvora informacija u digitalnom okruženju (Špiranec, 2014), a na to pitanje je stavljen fokus u ovoj disertaciji. Rad u uvodnom dijelu započinje razmatranjima o digitalnom dobu i društvenog konteksta digitalnih medija u kojemu se odvija proizvodnja i potrošnja informacija. Naglasak je na nekoliko tema koje su poticaj za potrebu vrednovanja izvora informacija u digitalnom okruženju: post-istina i informacije, lažne vijesti i dezinformacije, knjižnice i dezinformacije. Također, daje se pregled ključnih pismenosti u digitalnom dobu, te utvrđuju promjene u teorijskim pravcima informacijske pismenosti. Pregled istraživanja u području vjerodostojnosti izvora informacije posebno je usmjeren na kriterije za vrednovanje izvora informacija i njihovo definiranje. Autorstvo se u okviru tih istraživanja sagledava kao ključni kriterij za ocjenu vjerodostojnosti izvora informacija u digitalnom okruženju s obzirom na prirodu Weba i izostanak kontrole objavljivanja informacija kakvu poznajemo u analognom okruženju. Cilj istraživanja bio je mapirati teorijski koncept informacijske pismenosti u odnosu na koncept autorstva, utvrditi teorijske pristupe vrednovanju informacija i definirati kriterije i raspon elemenata vrednovanja izvora u digitalnom okruženju. U svrhu istraživanja postavljene su tri radne hipoteze: H1: Kriteriji za vrednovanje izvora informacija mijenjali su se kako se mijenjalo informacijsko okruženje od analognog prema digitalnom H2: Autorstvo je postalo važnije u digitalnom okruženju i okruženju Weba 2.0 H3: Vrednovanje informacija najvažniji je element informacijske pismenosti u digitalnom okruženju Istraživanje je vođeno na temelju 4 istraživačka pitanja: IP1: Koji kriteriji su zastupljeni u analognom okruženju, što se sve vrednuje? IP2: Koji su kriteriji za vrednovanje izvora informacija zastupljeni u digitalnom okruženju? IP3: Koji kriteriji su konstanta kroz vremenski period od dvadeset godina? IP4: Koji kriteriji odražavaju, a koji su u raskoraku s recentnim rezultatima istraživanja o informacijskoj pismenosti i vrednovanju informacija? Kvalitativna metoda utemeljena teorija (eng. grounded theory) zbog svoje fleksibilnosti uzeta je kao najprikladnija metoda za prirodu istraživanja u ovoj disertaciji. Uz metodu utemeljene teorije primijenjena je i metoda tematske analize sadržaja. Analiza rezultata i rasprava temelji se na dva uzorka: 1) uzorak tradicionalnih kriterija za vrednovanje informacija u analognom okruženju; 2) kriteriji za vrednovanje informacija u online vodičima informacijske pismenosti visokoškolskih knjižnica američkih sveučilišta. Primarni podaci prikupljani su metodom analize sadržaja dostupnih izvora kako bi se utvrdio korpus tradicionalnih kriterija te kriterija u online vodičima informacijske pismenosti u knjižnicama. Tradicionalni kriteriji za vrednovanje informacija su prikupljeni iz ukupno 5 izvora (N=5) koji identificiraju tradicionalne kriterije. Utvrđivanje tradicionalnih kriterija proizlazi iz hipoteze H1: Kriteriji za vrednovanje izvora informacija mijenjali su se kako se mijenjalo informacijsko okruženje od analognog prema digitalnom. Uzorak kriterija za procjenjivanje vjerodostojnosti informacija u tradicionalnom okruženju čini 51 pitanje (N=51) za propitkivanje kriterija: autorstva, točnosti, objektivnosti, aktualnosti, opsegu i ciljana grupa korisnika. Uzorak kriterija za procjenjivanje vjerodostojnosti izvora informacija u digitalnom okruženju se temelji na 16 knjižničnih online vodiča informacijske pismenosti i 61 pitanju. Procijenjeno je da je, zbog velikih preklapanja u kriterijima među knjižnicama općenito, uzorak od 16 knjižnica dobivenih namjernim uzorkovanjem dovoljan da se tematskom analizom sadržaja utvrdi zastupljenost kriterija za vrednovanje izvora informacija te također prepozna postojanje razlika u zastupljenim kriterijima za vrednovanje izvora informacija u digitalnom okruženju. Preklapanja u kriterijima proizlaze iz razvoja kriterija koje su iznjedreni iz prakse informacijske pismenosti američkih visokoškolskih knjižnica, a temelje se na gotovo identičnim formama općih pitanja za propitkivanje izvora informacija. Rezultati istraživanja kriterija u literaturi su pokazali kako su, uz tradicionalne kriterije za procjenjivanje vjerodostojnosti informacija istraživani i kriteriji za vrednovanje izvora informacija karakteristični za digitalno informacijsko okruženje, te okruženje Weba 2.0 koji se temelje na društvenoj vjerodostojnosti, ili pobliže, proizlaze iz društvene prakse dok su u analiziranim online vodičima takvi kriteriji jako rijetko zastupljeni pa se tradicionalni kriteriji nastali u analognom okruženju u velikoj mjeri primjenjuju kao opći kriteriji za procjenjivanje vjerodostojnosti različitih izvora informacija u digitalnom okruženju (Ostenson, 2014). U ovoj disertaciji se za razliku od dosadašnjih istraživanja vrednovanja vjerodostojnosti izvora informacija u digitalnom okruženju, koja se temelje na primjeni kriterija za vrednovanje izvora informacija u akademskom istraživačkom prostoru i na studentskoj populaciji ili kod znanstvenika, procjenjivanje vjerodostojnosti informacija istražuje prema tematskoj analizi sadržaja i definiranjem tematskih kategorija koje proizlaze iz samih kriterija za vrednovanje izvora informacija, a primjenjuju se u knjižničnoj praksi. Istraživanje je pokazalo kako se pristup oblikovanju pitanja za propitkivanje izvora informacija u listama kriterija za vrednovanje informacija zastupljenih u online vodičima informacijske pismenosti temelji na istim vrijednostima koja su vrijedila u analognom okruženju, s naglaskom na akademsko obrazovno okruženje. Na osnovu dostupnih istraživanja u literaturi utvrđeni su teorijski pristupi u istraživanjima vjerodostojnosti izvora informacija u digitalnom okruženju. Kriterij autorstva se prema istraživanju u listama kriterija najčešće nalazi na prvom mjestu, neovisno procjenjuje li se vjerodostojnost informacija u analognom ili digitalnom okruženju. Ovo istraživanje je također pokazalo kako se u okviru kriterija autorstva u istraženim listama kriterija izdvajaju tematske kategorije koje podupiru vrednovanje izvora informacija na tradiciji uspostavljanja kvalitete teksta u analognom okruženju, a koriste se i za vrednovanje informacija u digitalnom okruženju. Također, istraživanje je pokazalo kako se forma pitanja za propitkivanje izvora informacija u listama kriterija nije još uvijek u dovoljnoj mjeri usmjerila na osobitosti informacija koje dolaze iz okruženja Weba 2.0. Kao doprinos na pragmatičnoj razini donosi se matrica kriterija za vrednovanje izvora informacija, koja se u odnosu na postojeće liste kriterija za procjenjivanje vjerodostojnosti izvora informacija u knjižničnoj praksi formira na osnovu tematskih kategorija unutar kriterija koje su otvorile prostor za pridruživanje elemenata vrednovanja informacija u digitalnom okruženju. Stoga su pojedinim tematskim kategorijama unutar kriterija pridruženi elementi vrednovanja informacija u okruženju Weba 2.0 koji proizlaze iz istražene dostupne literature. Tako se u ovome istraživanju definira 8 kriterija za procjenjivanje vjerodostojnosti izvora informacija u digitalnom okruženju i ukupno 19 tematskih kategorija, 18 iznjedrenih iz kriterija u online vodičima za procjenjivanje vjerodostojnosti informacija i jedna kategorija koja se na osnovu analize literature pridružuje kriteriju Izvor/Format. |
| Abstract (english) | Doctoral thesis Assessing Credibility of Information in the Digital Environment brings an overview of theoretical approaches to information literacy and evaluating information sources in the context of information literacy research as well as the results of research regarding assessment criteria of information sources in the digital environment. Since the establishment of standards and models of information literacy, including their application in libraries since early 2000, the evaluation of information sources has been undertaken according to set criteria formed in the analogue environment. Approach to the evaluation of information sources according to the established criteria is often criticised in publications due to its lack of efficiency (Whithworth, 2006). Saturation of digital information environment with a large amount of data and information on the web is caused by a rapid development of digital technology and participatory culture of information production, consumption and sharing; therefore, there is a growing need for information literacy with the focus on evaluating information sources in digital environment. Information and communication technologies have contributed to the emergence of new forms of literacy wherein the elementary literacy is expanded by other forms of literacy such as information literacy, digital literacy, media literacy as well as metaliteracy in the context of Web 2.0 and social media environment (Mackey & Jacobson, 2011) which integrates different forms of literacies in the digital environment. Research has shown that information literacy along with digital literacy represents a foundation for successful education on all levels so that the new generations may be prepared to participate in the society through active citizenship and use their skills and competencies to contribute to the labour market, their personal growth and development and the quality of life whilst generating a better society. Constant development of information and communications technologies as well as the overloading of information environment with different kinds of digital information and sources of information, generates changes in the paradigm of information literacy teaching with the evaluation of information sources in the focus (Špiranec, 2014) which is also the basis of this Ph.D. thesis. In the introductory part of the thesis, the author discusses the digital age and the social context of digital media in which production and consumption of information takes place. Special focus is on several topics that emphasize the need for the evaluation of information sources in the digital environment: post-truth and information, fake news and disinformation, and libraries and disinformation. Additionally, a review of key literacies in the digital age is given with the established differences in the theoretical directions of information literacy. Research review in the field of information source credibility is particularly directed towards the criteria for the evaluation of information sources as well as for defining them. In the context of the abovementioned research, the authorship is the key criterion for the evaluation of information source credibility in the digital environment considering the Web characteristics and lack of control when it comes to information publication present in the analogue environment. The research aim is mapping the theoretical concept of information literacy in relation to the concept of authorship, determining theoretical approaches to information evaluation and defining criteria and range of elements for the evaluation of sources in the digital environment. The following working hypotheses have been defined: H1: Criteria for the evaluation of information sources have been changing from analogue to digital, in line with the information environment. H2: Authorship has become more important in the digital environment and Web 2.0 environment. H3: Evaluation of information is the most important element of information literacy in the digital environment. The following questions were the guiding principles in this research: RQ1: Which criteria are encompassed in the analogue environment, what is being evaluated? RQ2: Which criteria are encompassed in the digital environment for the evaluation of information? sources? RQ3: Which criteria have been constant throughout the period of twenty years? RQ4: Which criteria represent the most recent research results regarding information literacy and information evaluation, and which are in contrast with them? Due to its flexibility, qualitative grounded theory has been deemed the most suitable and was therefore used in this research. This particular method is based on an inductive method of data collection, their categorisation and additional connecting to form key concepts, and since there is no firm empirical and grounded literature for the research problem in this thesis, it was chosen as the primary research method. Specifically, grounded theory in this research is applied to the research of criteria for the evaluation of information sources in the analogue and digital environments. Thematic content analysis method was applied besides the grounded theory. Analysis of the results and the discussion are based on two samples: 1) traditional criteria for information evaluation in the analogue environment sample; 2) criteria for information evaluation in the online guides of the US university libraries. Primary data were collected using the method of content analysis of available sources in order to determine the corpus of traditional criteria as well as the criteria in the online guides on information literacy in libraries. The traditional criteria were collected from the total of five sources (N=5). Determining the traditional criteria emerges from the first working hypothesis H1: Criteria for the information sources evaluation have been changing from analogue to digital in line with the information environment. The criteria for the evaluation of information credibility in the traditional environment are based on 51 questions (N=51) for establishing the criteria of: authorship, accuracy, objectivity, currency, coverage and focus group. Research has shown that the evaluation of information sources in the analogue environment encompasses the evaluation of text information and stems from two elementary directions that generally go in line with the criteria that librarians apply when evaluating and forming library collections. The first one encompasses the initial evaluation of information sources starting from evaluating bibliographic records in the library catalogue whilst questioning its basic elements: author, title, edition, publisher, date/year of publication. The second one refers to the actual evaluation of the content or text, and it encompasses two categories of evaluation, text analysis and questioning of text credibility or sources of information via a group of criteria for evaluation as well as the application of those criteria during the reading process. The criteria for evaluating the credibility of information sources in the digital environment sample are based on 16 online library guides to information literacy and 61 questions. Due to a significant overlapping in the library criteria in general, it has been assumed that the sample of 16 libraries selected via purposeful sampling would be enough to use thematic content analysis in order to determine the representation of the criteria for the evaluation of information sources as well as to identify differences in the applied criteria for the evaluation of information sources in the digital environment. Overlapping in the criteria has resulted from the development of the criteria that have emerged from the practice of information literacy of the US university libraries which are based on almost identical forms of general questions for the evaluation of information sources. Criteria research results have shown that besides traditional criteria for the evaluation of information credibility, the research also included the criteria for the evaluation of information sources typical of digital information environment as well as Web 2.0 environment that are based on social credibility, or more closely, that come out of social practice whilst in the analysed online guides of information literacy such criteria are seldom used. For that reason, traditional criteria that emerged in the analogue environment are mostly applied as general criteria for evaluating the credibility of different sources of information in the digital environment (Ostenson, 2014). In contrast to the previous research of evaluating the credibility of information sources in the digital environment, that are based on the application of criteria for evaluating information sources in academic research environment and on student population or with scientists, in this thesis the evaluation of information credibility is researched according to thematic content analysis and defining thematic categories that emerge from the criteria for evaluating sources of information and are applied in library practice. Research has shown that the approach used in formulating questions for evaluating the sources of information in the criteria list encompassed in online guides for evaluating information is based on the same values that were applied in the analogue environment, with the focus on academic environment. Working hypothesis H1 (Criteria for the evaluation of information sources have been changing from analogue to digital in line with information environment) was refuted based on the analysed literature as well as on the content of online literacy guides of the US university libraries (Appendix 1). While the sources identify changes in the criteria of evaluation of information sources depending on the change of information environment, especially in Web 2.0 environment, results urge us to conclude that libraries still do not fully complete their lists of criteria in online guides with the new criteria that would be recognised for the environment or at least questions for evaluating the criteria in the digital environment in general. Sources that have been analysed show no particular new criteria, only thematic categories of criteria and their questioning characteristics that emerge from the digital environment, social practice of information production and consumption in the digital environment. Research has shown that the form of questions intended for evaluating information sources and provided in the criteria lists has not yet been directed towards particularities of information that comes out of Web 2.0 environment. The most obvious upgrading of the criteria in the transition of information environment towards Web 2.0 environment concerns the criteria of authorship/authority, actuality and accuracy; however this research has shown that the criteria of objectivity and relevancy are particularly important for the digital environment, as well as technical characteristics of sources by which their availability is regulated, as often seen in publications. Working hypothesis H2: Authorship has become more important in the digital environment and Web 2.0 environment was also refuted. Most libraries N=11 (68.75%) have the criterion of authorship as the most prominent in their guides, the same position as in the analogue environment. From that particular position, one cannot confirm a substantial distance in questioning authorship from the analogue towards the digital environment. Criterion of authorship is usually in the first place on the criteria lists, regardless of whether information credibility is evaluated in the analogue or the digital environment. This research has also shown that within the authorship criterion framework, thematic categories that support the evaluation of information sources based on the tradition of setting the text quality in the analogue environment, are also used for evaluating information in the digital context. What is particularly specific for the digital environment is the complexity of authorities that can be found in the digital environment as well as Web 2.0 environment, which has been stressed in this thesis and presented via the theoretical approach to information literacy on the example of the first threshold concept of the new ACRL (Association of College and Research Libraries) Framework for Information Literacy in Higher Education. The new ACRL Framework for Information Literacy within the concept 'Authorship is constructed and conceptual' provides an opportunity for understanding the complexity of authorship in the participative and cooperative information environment, according to which the approach to information evaluation needs to derive from the new pedagogical information literacy that will be based on common learning experience among teachers and librarians and students/pupils. Authority is evaluated through social practices and therefore the already existing criteria lists should be upgraded with the elements of evaluation of information that comes from Web 2.0 environment that have been presented in this research. Working hypothesis H3: Evaluation of information is the most important element of information literacy in the digital environment, is accepted in line with the analysis of the criteria in online guides, and additionally underlines the concept of authority in the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy in Higher Education. With respect to initial evaluation concepts in the analogue environment, recent literature emphasizes the insecurity of digital information environment as the starting point for evaluation due to exposure to disinformation and socially constructed knowledge that comes from different authorities as well as information growth in real time. In comparison to the early research of information evaluation, the more recent research of information evaluation is considered from the perspective of Web 2.0 that is characterised by connectedness, interactivity, division and cooperation, social creation of content and the speed of content exchange in real time. New characteristics of information evaluation are determined by digital media platforms that are establishing their own quality control systems based on economic interests. Therefore, libraries face a great challenge with respect to appropriate response in the context of educational approaches to information literacy and information evaluation under the influence of algorithm culture of production and spreading information via digital media platforms (Shnurenko et al., 2020). Based on the available sources, theoretical approaches in researching the credibility of information sources in the digital environment have been determined (Appendix 2). A contribution of this thesis on the pragmatic level is in the form of lists of criteria for the evaluation of information sources that, in contrast to the already existing criteria lists for the evaluation of credibility of information sources in library practice, is formed based on thematic categories within the criteria that have opened up the space for joining combining the elements of evaluation of information in the digital environment. Therefore, some thematic categories within the criteria have been expanded with the elements of evaluation of information in Web 2.0 environment that have been derived from the available research sources. In conclusion, in this research eight criteria for the evaluation of the credibility of information sources in the digital environment have been defined together with 19 thematic categories, 18 of those emerged from the criteria in online guides for the evaluation of credibility of information and one category has been added to the criterion of Source/Format based on the available sources. |
