Information literacy competence in curtailing fake news about the COVID-19 pandemic among undergraduates in Nigeria

IF 1.3 4区管理学 Q2 INFORMATION SCIENCE & LIBRARY SCIENCE

Reference Services Review Pub Date : 2020-11-09 DOI:10.1108/rsr-06-2020-0037

Magnus Osahon Igbinovia, Omorodion Okuonghae, J. O. Adebayo

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引用次数: 7

Abstract

Purpose: The continuous spread of the corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has generated public health concern with avalanche of information accompanied by series of fake news Thus, this study examined the effect of Information Literacy Competency (ILC) in curtailing the spread of fake news among Library and Information Science (LIS) undergraduates in Nigeria Design/methodology/approach: Survey research design of the descriptive type was used to generate data from a group of LIS undergraduates online The population of the study consisted of 138 LIS undergraduate students who participated in the survey (thus, n = 138) The data retrieved was subjected to descriptive analysis Findings: The study revealed that the students had high level of ILC (x ¯ = 3 42), and there was low prevalence level of COVID-19 pandemic fake news (x ¯ = 2 35) among them The major causes of COVID-19 fake news were too much information in circulation concerning COVID-19 (x ¯ = 3 44) and the resultant inability to discern or spot fake news from verified and authentic news (x ¯ = 3 28) The study also revealed that ILC had a significant effect in curtailing the spread of COVID-19 fake news with a grand mean of 3 28 against the criterion mean of 2 5 It is implied that LIS undergraduates are educationally position to acquire ILC which is crucial to their identification of fake news and helps to curtail its spread Research limitations/implications: The study is limited in its use of online group for data elicitation within a limited period of three weeks Also, in its adoption of self-evaluation scale to measure ILC instead of standard information literacy test Also, the high chances of social desirability bias in sections C and E serve as a limitation to the study Practical implications: The study reinforces the need to enhance structures that flags fake news on social media platforms and integrating IL into schools’ curriculum at all levels Originality/value: This study seeks to pioneer a new area of focus on the relevance of ILC to different global issues that concern the health and well-being © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited

查看原文本刊更多论文

信息素养能力在尼日利亚大学生中遏制关于COVID-19大流行的假新闻

目的:2019冠状病毒病(COVID-19)大流行的持续传播引起了公众对信息雪崩的关注，同时伴随着一系列假新闻。因此，本研究考察了信息素养能力(ILC)在尼日利亚图书馆与信息科学(LIS)本科生中遏制假新闻传播的作用。采用描述性调查研究设计，从一组在线的LIS本科生中生成数据，研究人群为138名参与调查的LIS本科生(n = 138)，检索到的数据进行描述性分析。研究显示，学生的ILC水平较高(x¯= 3 42)，有低流行水平COVID-19流行假新闻(x¯= 2 35)其中COVID-19假新闻的主要原因是太多的信息在流通有关COVID-19 (44 x¯= 3)和合成无法辨别或从验证点假新闻和真实的新闻(x¯= 3 28)研究还显示,ILC有很大的影响在减少COVID-19假新闻的传播的总平均3 28的标准意味着2 5暗示LIS)在教育上，本科生有能力掌握ILC，这对他们识别假新闻至关重要，并有助于遏制其传播。本研究在有限的三周内使用在线小组进行数据提取，采用自我评价量表来测量ILC，而不是标准的信息素养测试。此外，C部分和E部分中出现社会可取性偏差的可能性很高，这是本研究的局限性。该研究强调需要加强在社交媒体平台上标记假新闻的结构，并将ILC整合到各级学校的课程中。原创性/价值:本研究旨在开拓一个新的关注领域，即ILC与与健康和福祉有关的不同全球问题的相关性©2020,Emerald Publishing Limited

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来源期刊

Reference Services Review INFORMATION SCIENCE & LIBRARY SCIENCE-

CiteScore

3.20

自引率

10.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： Reference Services Review (RSR ) is a quarterly, refereed journal dedicated to the enrichment of reference knowledge and the advancement of reference services. RSR covers all aspects of reference functions, including automation of reference services, evaluation and assessment of reference functions and sources, models for delivering quality reference services in all types and sizes of libraries, development and management of teaching/learning activities, promotion of information literacy programs, and partnerships with other entities to achieve reference goals and objectives. RSR prepares its readers to understand and embrace current and emerging technologies affecting reference functions, instructional services and information needs of library users.