Jessica L. Lott and Jennifer L. Sullivan

“ Our project—through readings, class discussions, self-reflections, and the editing of Wikipedia—helped our learners, and ourselves, develop several of the knowledge practices and dispositions that serve this proposed frame by both exposing and expanding the dynamic, multifaceted nature of the information landscape, and thereby reinforcing the importance that we all employ empathy, critical scrutiny, and self-reflection when engaging with information. ”

“ Authority Is Constructed and Contextual is the recognition that information may be presented formally or informally and through various media types, as well as that authority is based on the information needed and the context in which it is created (ACRL, 2015) . Expert searchers approach authority with an attitude of informed skepticism and the recognition that biases exist that privilege some sources over others, especially in the areas of gender, sexual orientation, and cultural orientation. ”

“ As we will discuss, the context of cultural anthropology encourages learners to take a global, contextual approach to Wikipedia pages that may not be found across disciplines. This context also attunes learners to various social inequalities and a social justice approach, perspectives they can apply as they identify inequalities in information and how they manifest on Wikipedia. ”

“ While the Framework for Information Literacy in Higher Education does require taking a critical approach toward information literacy, both in its knowledge and dispositions objectives, it stops at learners acknowledging biases in bodies of knowledge. ”

“ Including a librarian in the classroom yields increased levels of critical information literacy, digital literacy, research skills, and technical capabilities for learners (Koziura et al., 2020) . Moreover, working together in both the planning and implementation of an assignment enables a greater level of strategic and holistic instruction (Junisbai et al., 2016) . Feminist pedagogy, furthermore, suggests that as faculty-librarian partnerships develop over time, librarian time in the classroom (even as a one-shot) can be increasingly effective (Kingsland, 2020) . ”

“ Disciplinary information literacy requires participation from the learners, the librarian, and the professor. Learners must critically engage with a variety of kinds of information in different formats. The librarian elevates classroom learning by incorporating fundamental ideas of information literacy, and the professor provides curricular assignments that deepen interaction with disciplinary scholarship. In our collaboration, we worked together to develop learning outcomes that incorporated specific information learning skills within the context of anthropology. ”

“ After spending the semester discussing inequality and issues of social justice, learners can feel helpless in the face of pervasive structural issues. However, developing skills to communicate about gender inequality for a broad audience empowers learners in a variety of ways. Some learners told us that this skill equipped them to push back against gender inequality in their lives and their activism. The assignment also allowed learners to “talk back” in a small way by helping to address the gender gap in Wikipedia. ”

“ In this chapter, we will share our process of collaborating to develop and implement an assignment asking learners to contribute content to a Wikipedia page. We begin by situating our work in the literature on Wikipedia in higher education and on librarian-faculty collaboration. We go on to illustrate why editing Wikipedia provides unique opportunities for teaching information literacy and contextualize our assignment in terms of social justice and feminist pedagogy. ”

“ By writing about a culture different from one’s own for a public audience, learners practice this element of disciplinary information literacy and experience the challenges of communicating these nuances.
Information Literacy as Social Justice
Libraries have a long-held connection to social justice. In fact, the American Library Association (2019) included many values associated with social justice as “library core values,” such as unfettered access to ideas; freedom for all people to form, to hold, and to express their own beliefs; respect for the individual person; democracy; diversity ”

“ Anthropological course work can position learners to utilize the pillar of neutrality. Our course, for example, centered on global perspectives on gender. Learners were then prepared to include multiple points of view when writing about a non-Western culture for Wikipedia. For instance, a learner in our course who wrote about polygamy in Afghanistan discussed the issue in terms of practical reasons for the practice, cultural belief, historical context, and local and global politics. ”

“ Information literacy is no longer defined as a set of concrete skills to be learned; instead, it is a network of interrelated core concepts and understandings that inform our ideas around and use of information. Its goal is to help users successfully adapt to and navigate information presented in a variety of contexts and formats. ”

“ Cultural anthropologists gather information through ethnographic fieldwork, typically living with a group of people whose lives are different than their own (American Anthropological Association, n.d.) ”

“ In this assignment, we ask learners to research and write a contribution to an existing Wikipedia page about gender or sexuality. Learners also submit an annotated bibliography and write a short reflection essay at the end of the semester. This project is spread out over the Table 1 Learning Outcomes and Assignment Design
semester, and learners practice writing in drafts. ”

“ Embracing Wikipedia as a teaching and learning tool benefits health professional schools and the populations they serve. Innovations in Global Health Professions Education. https://dx.doi.org/10.20421/ighpe2017.01. ”

“ We originally developed the assignment for use in a one-month summer course. is worked well: students expected an intensive experience and Jessica was able to address student questions face-to-face quickly. In the one-month format, learners researched and drafted their contribution to a Wikipedia page during the first full week of class, worked through drafts the second week, made work live to Wikipedia in the third week, and submitted their nal re ection paper on the last week of class. ”