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Indicators of Truly Epic Post-ness: Information Literacy, Authority, and the Contemporary Political Podcasting Ecosystem
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- Author(s) / Creator(s)
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This presentation explores the contemporary conspiracist phenomenon QAnon as a distinct problem for Information Literacy (IL), and, in particular, for LIS' understanding of authority. After surveying issues with IL's history dating back to its emergence as a concept in the work of Paul G. Zurkowski, I turn to QAnon and the challenges that it poses for IL. Drawing significantly from Sarah Hartman-Caverly's work on QAnon, I argue that the conspiracist phenomenon has appropriated IL and its terminology wholesale in admonishing conspiracy adherents to "go to the source" and to "research for [themselves]" instead of credulously accepting mainstream media narratives. I suggest that QAnon's appropriation of IL might demonstrate LIS' peripherality to problems endemic to the contemporary information ecosystem rather than its assumed centrality which is what is reflected in its own disciplinary literature. As a concluding gesture, I turn to the QAnon Anonymous podcast for ideas that LIS can take from the podcasting world to perhaps better address contemporary problems of misinformation, disinformation, fake news, and the conspiracist mindset.
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- Date created
- 2021-04-23
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- Type of Item
- Conference/Workshop Presentation