Voyage across a Constellation of Information: Information Literacy in Interest-Driven Learning Communities

by Crystle Martin

Overview

What do orcs, elves, and information literacy have to do with each others? Find out in Voyage across a Constellation of Information as we take an in-depth look at information literacy practices (how people find, evaluate, and use information) in the massively multiplayer online game World of Warcraft and its online community. This book teases out real-world information literacy practices by following players as they solve their information needs through collective activity, relying on and building a set of individual and collective practices within the online community. Voyage across a Constellation of Information offers educators, information professionals, and researchers an opportunity to get an inside look at the new practices of digital spaces, and lays the groundwork for inclusion of these practices into 21st-century education.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781433118050
Publisher:	Peter Lang Inc., International Academic Publishers
Publication date:	10/29/2013
Series:	New Literacies and Digital Epistemologies , #57
Edition description:	2nd ed.
Pages:	143
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Crystle Martin is a postdoctoral research associate for the Connected Learning Research Network at the Digital Media and Learning Hub at the University of California, Irvine. She holds a PhD in education specializing in digital media from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Table of Contents

Contents: The Affinity Space as an Information Source: The Constellation of Information – Information Literacy: A Mechanism for Charting the Constellation – Tools and Methods for Creating – An Individual’s Map to Navigating the Constellation – Synchronous and Asynchronous Information
as a Part of the Constellation – Collective Intelligence: Navigating the Constellation – From a Constellation to a Galaxy.

Editorial Reviews

«Where better to look than to online gamers to decode the skills we need to thrive in a networked age? Crystle Martin’s carefully researched account of how tech-savvy players seek knowledge and collectively solve problems provides much-needed insight into how information literacy operates in openly networked online environments. This book is an invaluable resource for educators, game researchers, and information professionals seeking to level up their understanding of the new practices and orientations that char-acterize today’s digitally fluent.» (Mizuko (Mimi) Ito, Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Chair in Digital Media and Learning, University of California Irvine)
«‘Voyage across a Constellation of Information’ provides a much-needed systematic investigation of the information literacy practices of contemporary youth. Using naturalistic, empirical observation in place of prescriptive frameworks, Crystle Martin details the richly literate (albeit complex) con-stellation of information that young people now travel through. Take heart! As her findings demonstrate, all who wander are not lost.» (Constance Steinkuehler, Associate Professor of Digital Media, University of Wisconsin-Madison)

«Where better to look than to online gamers to decode the skills we need to thrive in a networked age? Crystle Martin’s carefully researched account of how tech-savvy players seek knowledge and collectively solve problems provides much-needed insight into how information literacy operates in openly networked online environments. This book is an invaluable resource for educators, game researchers, and information professionals seeking to level up their understanding of the new practices and orientations that char-acterize today’s digitally fluent.» (Mizuko (Mimi) Ito, Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Chair in Digital Media and Learning, University of California Irvine)
«Voyage across a Constellation of Information provides a much-needed systematic investigation of the information literacy practices of contemporary youth. Using naturalistic, empirical observation in place of prescriptive frameworks, Crystle Martin details the richly literate (albeit complex) con-stellation of information that young people now travel through. Take heart! As her findings demonstrate, all who wander are not lost.» (Constance Steinkuehler, Associate Professor of Digital Media, University of Wisconsin-Madison)

From the Publisher