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Running head: INFORMATION PRIVILEGE 1

Information Privilege

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INFORMATION PRIVILEGE 2

Information Privilege

Information privilege refers to the fact that access to information is not universal. Access

to information is based on a person’s status or affiliation (Virkus et al., 2005, p.66). There are

various factors that hinder universal access to information. These factors include geography,

access to technology, and poverty. The implication of these factors is some groups in society are

more informationally literate than others. Some groups in society are marginalized. They are

hence unable to access information. Groups that do not have access to technology are unable to

access information. Additionally, poor households have a difficult time trying to access

information compared to rich households that have various credible sources of information at

their disposal.

The failure of some groups being more informationally literate than others is directly

linked to the concept of information privilege. Information privilege results in certain parts of the

society being in a position to benefit from access to information while some parts of society have

no access to information. As a result, some members of society cannot identify, evaluate or use

credible information. The problem is deeply rooted and results in some people being

informationally literate than others translating in differing approaches to problems. Additionally,

in some societies, gender plays a role in information privilege. Boys are given the privilege of

going to school while girls have to remain at home performing various home chores. In such a

society, women and girls are marginalized with respect to access to information. In my opinion,

it is important to promote universal access to information and end the marginalization of certain

groups in society.

INFORMATION PRIVILEGE 3

A society whose population is not informationally literate suffers a variety of limitations

and setbacks. First, its economic success and progress are slow compared to a society whose

population is informationally literate. Such societies lack organizational knowledge since

individuals to share knowledge are also lacking. The people in such societies cannot form ideas

or even share and develop knowledge. The flow of information between individuals in such a

society is slow due to lack of literacy, hence the creation of information is not possible in such

societies. I have learned that information literacy is one of the competencies of the information

society (Rapchak et al., 2016, p. 1). It plays a vital role in the overall development of a society

and where it is lacking, development in such societies is adversely affected.

Overall, I believe that our society values information literacy. I feel so because a lot of

resources are channeled towards providing and enhancing information literacy. Everyone in

society, especially learners at different levels of the education system have different levels of

information literacy (Rapchak et al., 2016, p. 1). The society instills the skill as students progress

through the education ladder. Also, I believe that information literacy is valued within the society

because it is presented as a skill to members of the society that must be learned and practiced for

one to master it. We should care and be concerned about whether a society possesses information

literacy because it forms a very vital component of development within society. Since the role

and importance of information literacy in a society cannot be overlooked, it is important to

ensure that a society’s population is informationally literate so that its developmental progress

remains on course. Besides, information literacy is power and all societies should be

empowered.

INFORMATION PRIVILEGE 4

References

Rapchak, M. E., Brungard, A. B., & Bergfelt, T. W. (2016). What’s the VALUE of Information

Literacy? Comparing Learning Community and Non-Learning Community Student

Learning Outcomes. Learning Communities Research and Practice, 4(1), 5.

Virkus, S., Boekhorst, A. J., Gómez-Hernández, J. A., & Skov, A. (2005). Information literacy

and learning. In European Curriculum Reflections on Library and Information Science

Education (pp. 65-83Ka). Royal School and Information Science.

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