The Impact of Information Literacy in the Digital Workplace (SIG-KM)
Digital transformation is a ground-breaking and ongoing revolution in our society. Technology makes it possible to radically change industries, economies, and education. It brings endless opportunities, but it also challenges individuals and organizations to successfully navigate in digital transformations. We need new skills that entails much more than the ability to use technology. The potential of digital transformation can only be realized if the skills and competencies required to handle information, level up to take advantage of the continuous advancements in ICT. Information literacy is increasingly recognized as a future skills issue for workplace learning and performance. Nevertheless, there are few attempts to bring hard evidence to the discussion, to actually assess the impact of information literacy in the workplace.
In this webinar, Professor Widen will present results from a large research project on the impact of information literacy in the digital workplace (http://web.abo.fi/projekt/diwil/). The results show the connection between information literacy and organizational outcomes, how information literacy supports different organizational activities such as innovation, and the development of social capital. She will also talk about methodological challenges when studying a multi-dimensional concept such as information literacy and the need for more research in the area.
Presenters
Gunilla Widén is Professor of Information Studies at Åbo Akademi University and adjunct professor in Information Management at University of Tampere. Her research interests are within two main areas, knowledge management and information behavior. She has lead several large research projects investigating key skills in information society as well as various aspects of social media, information behavior and information literacy. She has recently been involved in European projects on youth information service development. She has published widely in her areas of expertise and been appointed expert in several evaluation committees.