I was reading an article today about "information literacy." It was defined as the set of abilities that enables one to recognize when information is needed and to have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the information. It went on to recommend that "information literacy" should become a new "liberal art," as fundamental as grammar is to language.

Do you use this phrase? What I like about it is that it goes way beyond "computer literacy" or "Internet skills" in that it focuses on the need for appraisal of the material, and it assumes a good search strategy.

Maybe "information literacy" is the right word for it.

Down home we always called it "common sense."

But that is a very uncommon commodity.

Actually I like the concept of information literacy and consider that I am one who is "informationally literate"

Richard English

I think it is very easy to get "taken in" by the Web, especially if one does not read critically, nor even know how to read critically. We discussed this in this excellenct thread last December.

Therefore, I too like the term "informationally literate" because it has a connotation of critically appraising the information, as well as knowing how to obtain it.