Critical Literacy – Open Values, Imaginary Rationalities
Critical Literacy – Open Values, Imaginary Rationalities

Summary/Abstract: This papers aims to emphasize the importance of discussing the relationship between positivism, critical pedagogy and the politics of new media production of information and knowledge, claiming that the critical information divide is far more problematic than the digital (divide). In other words, if standardization of information literacy competencies shows its limits for upholding unbiased authenticity and relevance, then such a position also asserts a deficit in recognizing focal points needed in analysing the digital epistemology of today. The latter should encompass advocacy of critical media, literacy and ethics as the core components for socially responsible production and distribution of information in the new public domain: Internet. When practices of collaborative production of knowledge or p2p – commons based production – is neither fully understood nor actualized in contemporary education, then free/open distribution of (digital) commons is prevented by instrumentalized depolitization (culturalization) discourses in a commodified information society. For that reason, I argue for denunciation of information literacy models through the lenses of Paolo Freire’s concept of a banking model of education, hacktivism, as well as Samek’s argument that “there is nothing more practical than learning how to build the self-confidence to weigh in with professional opinion and defend it as critique (not obstructiveness).”

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