The result of a colloquium organized by UNESCO in 2005, the Alexandria Proclamation declares: "Information Literacy lies at the core of lifelong learning. It empowers people in all walks of life to seek, evaluate, use and create information effectively to achieve their personal, social, occupational and educational goals. It is a basic human right in a digital world and promotes social inclusion of all nations.
Lifelong learning enables individuals, communities and nations to attain their goals and to take advantage of emerging opportunities in the evolving global environment for shared benefit. It assists them and their institutions to meet technological, economic and social challenges, to redress disadvantage and to advance the wellbeing of all."
Through this understanding of information, it is classified as a public good and not as a private commodity. It is further enshrined as a human right by UNESCO in this document and having access to quality information and the skills to find and use it effectively are essential to a dignified life. In the 21st century, being information literate is equally as important as any other human right that the general public might be more familiar with, such as the right to freedom of movement.
This is because the digital world and the real world have become increasingly interdependent. Although information literacy does not only rely only on the digital world, the scale at which information is created and distributed online is unlike any other period of time that humans have experienced. This speed and volume of online information distribution creates both potential benefits, but also huge challenges for everyone. How do we sift through all of this information? How to we evaluate what is credible? How do we determine what is relevant to the questions we need to answer? Who controls the flow of information that gets the most views? All of these questions are both practical and philosophical at the same time, and with minimal government regulations existing in most countries about these issues, the answers remain fairly undetermined. However, being information literate as an individual can help one address these challenges on a personal level.
Please listen below to the UN Secretary-General's message on information, technology and social responsibility from his speech in 2023 on World Telecommunication and Information Society Day.
