now initiated its first two projects: the production of its Media and Information Literacy Framework; and the scoping of a systematic review of IL research.
Media and Information Literacy Framework
The purpose of the MIL Framework, available at
https://mila.org.uk/news/mila-frame- work/, is to demonstrate what media and information literacy means for people in everyday life and in various recognisable settings. It reflects MILA’s aspiration to promote MIL by making it understandable across situations with which everyone can readily identify. To do this, the Framework identifies five lifelong aspirations:
l be informed l be empowered l be healthy l be socially conscious l be connected
The Framework provides examples in the form of questions to illustrate how information and media related issues are experienced in day-to-day life. The Framework is thus anchored in real situations and problems. It then sets out, in plain terms, the understanding and the capabilities that people need to answer such questions. For instance, under the ‘be empowered’ aspiration, one of the example questions is ‘I am having some problems with a work colleague and I have shared those on a public Facebook group. What would happen if my employer found those?’ To answer this, the Framework stresses the importance of recognising that information shared and created by individuals is as important as information they create; and of checking how one’s in- formation and data is being used. It goes on to list some key abilities and skills, including being able to change privacy settings on social media and tailoring audiences to decide what is shared and with whom.
This practical approach is repeated throughout the Framework, with an emphasis on helping people reflect on how to get the most out of information that they encounter, use and create; and on how to reach decisions about the nature, relevance, usefulness and quali- ty of such information. The Framework is also designed to be adapted to suit individual and organisations’ needs and strategies. At present, it is still in draft form, and there will be an active phase of consultation and testing in 2022. MILA welcomes views about how it might be refined, presented and disseminated.
Systematic review One of MILA’s natural areas of involvement is to help develop the evidence base. With this in mind, it is currently scoping a systematic review on the outputs of IL
34 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL January-February 2022
research, with a view to demonstrating the value and impact of IL. In this instance, the focus would be on IL rather than more broadly on MIL, because a robust review of IL research to determine its canon of key foundational research is long overdue. Moreover, Ofcom is developing its own programme of research into media literacy, so MILA will avoid the risk of duplicating that by concentrating more specifically on IL. A preliminary search on the Web of Science citation database suggests that, since 1983, 5,550 peer-reviewed articles have been published that are relevant to IL – and that is almost certainly a conservative estimate. There is therefore no shortage of material to categorise and analyse. Systematic reviews are studies of studies, attempts to collect all existing empirical evidence on a specific topic in order to answer a research question. Their rigorous nature and capacity to reduce bias makes them well-suited to address fields such as IL where there is a large body of qualita- tive data and they are well-established in health, social policy and education research. But they can also include meta-analysis in order to address qualitative as well as quantitative evidence.
A working group has been set up to help scope the review. At time of writing, this has met three times and has made pro- gress in setting some broad parameters for the study. More work is required to define research questions, agree inclusion and exclusion criteria and put together a specification so as to issue a call for proposals, ideally during the first quarter of 2022. If all goes well, and if sources of funding are identified to undertake the work, the review should be completed well before the end of the year.
What next? MILA has been in existence for barely four months and it can already point to early
achievements. But much more remains to be done, and one of the immediate priorities is to define how the Alliance will function: its membership struc- ture, its governance, the way it will engage with its stakeholders as well as its management and operation. Steps are currently being taken to address these points. A key imperative is to identify a core group of players, other than CILIP and ILG, willing to play an active role in helping to set up appropriate structures and systems. To this effect, MILA recently set up its Board, representing a wide range of professional perspectives; this held its inaugural meeting on 17 January. Other priorities over the coming months include formulating a pro- gramme of activities, building on what is described above; securing additional funding to complement the small grant provided by CILIP as seed funding; funding of research to demonstrate the value of MIL for the five lifelong aspirations set out in the Framework; and developing a communications strategy, with appropriate tools, includ- ing expanding the website so that it can eventually become a genuine community resource.
MILA will necessarily be a collective endeavour and therefore welcomes ideas and suggestions. If any readers of this article are interested in joining the Alliance’s mailing list or becoming involved in the initiative, there is a short form on the website at
https://mila.org.uk/ how-you-can-get-involved/. And even better, MILA would be grateful if information about it were circulated among your contacts and networks, including out- side the library world. You can contact the Alliance by writing to Stéphane Goldstein at
sg@informall.org.uk. Look out too for regular updates in future issues of Information Professional. IP
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