Your role as an information producer and sharer / Sarah Morris.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Morris, Sarah, active 2022, author.

Series:

Student success.

SAGE skills: Student success

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Information services.

Physical Description:

1 online resource : illustrations.

Place of Publication:

Los Angeles, CA : SAGE Publications, Inc., 2022.

Summary:

We all consume an astonishing amount of information every day. Whether you are reading an article for a class, watching a video, following a debate on social media, searching for restaurant recommendations, or checking out your metrics on a fitness tracker, you-and all of us-are surrounded by devices and resources that put information at our fingertips. It can feel like a bit of a passive activity watching, reading, and viewing information day in and day out. But all of us play incredibly active roles in the information ecosystems that we inhabit and shape. Liking a post and sharing content on a social media platform, while it may feel small and inconsequential, are forms of active content production. Taking the time to watch or read something, or visit a website, can constitute a form of active engagement as well. The reason for this is that our information consumption habits can shape and influence the information that ends up getting produced and shared and viewed. For example, if an online content creator gains popularity, they are able to produce more content for people to view and share. And others might be inspired by the popularity of this content creator and end up producing their own content. Thanks in large part to the Internet, our current era of information consumption and production is shaped by the reality that different types of content can be produced by many people and quickly shared and viewed by a large audience. What does it mean to be a producer or a sharer of information? And, significantly, how can you be mindful of the actions you take and the choices you make as an information producer, sharer, and also consumer? These are questions that we will unpack in this module. First, let's consider a few major areas and themes for this module: what it means to produce information, what it means to share information, and what it means to inhabit an information ecosystem. The different kinds of information and content that we all encounter, and the different types of tools and platforms that we use to view and produce this information constitute something known as an information ecosystem. Essentially, an information ecosystem is the different outlets, channels, platforms, and systems where we view, produce, and share a wide range of content. Our information ecosystems involve everything from the wide range of social media platforms we use to more traditional media and news outlets. These information ecosystems can include everything from forums for discussing a hobby to rigorous scholarly journals, from 24-hour news channels to podcasts, from memes to longform journalism. Our information ecosystems are huge and complex and more dynamic than ever before since there are so many opportunities and so many methods for participating online. One way to actively participate in an information ecosystem is by producing information yourself. You might not think that you are an information producer if you don't have your own blog or video channel. But information production can take many forms. It might involve posting a picture or leaving a reply on a video or maintaining a website or writing an opinion piece with a news outlet. Even liking a post or choosing to subscribe to a content creator's platform can be a form of producing information since you are sharing a reaction or a preference for others to see and consume. Sharing information is also an active way of engaging in an information ecosystem. Retweeting, posting an article, or forwarding a meme are all ways of circulating content and engaging in conversations online. Sharing can illustrate what you think, can further a discussion, and can help spread ideas, for good or ill. While we will focus on the possibilities, consequences, and opportunities of sharing and producing information throughout this Skill, remember that the decisions you make as a consumer of information can also have a real impact on the information ecosystems we all inhabit. There are huge possibilities that exist with both producing and sharing information since the content we put out there can influence others, spark ideas, trigger debates and discussion, or foster change. While it might seem like a small thing to post something online or forward something to a friend, our roles as both producers and sharers of information can be incredibly powerful. In this Skill, we will explore ways to become empowered, aware, thoughtful, and mindful about our roles as producers and sharers of information, and how we can engage in and shape the information ecosystems that we all inhabit. After working through this Skill, you will be able to thoughtfully and critically evaluate your role as an information producer and sharer and identify ways to actively engage in information production and sharing practices.

Notes:

Description based on: online resource; title from PDF information screen (SAGE, viewed December 28, 2022).

ISBN:

1-0718-9945-7

9781071899458

OCLC:

1342120653