Before we go too far afield ... I want to clarify that I'm referring to
geospatial literacy in terms of the ACRL standards for information
literacy and how they apply to geospatial information. Here are the
standards:

 From Wikipedia:
In 2000, the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), a
division of the American Library Association (ALA), released
"Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education",
describing five standards and numerous performance indicators considered
best practices for the implementation and assessment of postsecondary
information literacy programs. The five standards are:

    * Standard One: The information literate student determines the
nature and extent of the information needed.
    * Standard Two: The information literate student accesses needed
information effectively and efficiently.
    * Standard Three: The information literate student evaluates
information and its sources critically and incorporates selected
information into his or her knowledge base and value system.
    * Standard Four: The information literate student, individually or
as a member of a group, uses information effectively to accomplish a
specific purpose.
    * Standard Five: The information literate student understands many
of the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of
information and accesses and uses information ethically and legally.

These standards are meant to span from the simple to more complicated,
or in terms of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, from the
"lower order" to the "higher order". Lower order skills would involve
for instance being able to use an online catalog to find a book relevant
to an information need in an academic library. Higher order skills would
involve critically evaluating and synthesizing information from multiple
sources into a coherent interpretation or argument.
-end-


-a-

-------- Original Message --------
Subject:        GIS Literacy vs. Geospatial Literacy
Date:   Fri, 09 Apr 2010 08:50:48 -0500
From:   Angie Cope <[log in to unmask]>
Organization:   American Geographical Society Library
To:     Maps-L <[log in to unmask]>



I'd like to engage in a conversation about geospatial literacy.

I'm wondering if there are Geospatial Literacy Standards or GIS Literacy
Standards. And ... in your opinion (and practice) is there a difference
between GIS literacy and geospatial literacy. Does all geospatial
literacy involve teaching users GIS software or is there something else?
How do you incorporate geospatial literacy into single session
presentations to non-GIS users?

Thoughts? References to good articles? Other questions?

-Angie

Angie Cope, Senior Academic Librarian
American Geographical Society Library
UW Milwaukee Libraries
2311 E. Hartford Avenue
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53201

http://www.uwm.edu/Libraries/AGSL/index.html
Hours: M-F 8:00am-4:30pm
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