Gunilla Widen

Information Literacy and the Digitalisation of the Workplace

Digitalisation has had an overwhelming impact on the workplace in recent years, making it more associable, editable, interactive, programmable, traceable, communicable and distributable. But this change comes with substantial changes to ways of working. New technologies almost always translate into new work processes, work arrangements, collaborative engagements and thus disrupt the information environment and consolidate equilibria at work. This book aims to bring forward the role of workplace information literacy as a key condition for successful digitalisation or digital transformation in today’s workplace. Featuring contributions from leading scholars, it examines the multifaceted role of workplace information literacy in organisational operations and its role in the digitalisation process, taking into account the role and perspectives of employer and employee. The book includes lessons learned from investigating workplace information literacy across very different empirical domains (e.g. a nuclear power plant, an open-source software community, and a university among others). It outlines methodological and conceptual developments for anyone investigating information literacy across the modern workplace undergoing digitalisation, extending the debate on the impact of digitalisation on individuals and organisations. The book will guide researchers interested in the digital workplace by aggregating conceptual, methodological and processual knowledge on the impacts of digitalisation on the contemporary workplace from an information-centered perspective.