Lecture 6: Authority is Constructed and Contextual

Authority is Constructed and Contextual 

“all I know of the world beyond the narrow range of my own personal experience is what others have told me. It is all hearsay. But I do not count all hearsay as equally reliable. Some people know what they are talking about, others do not. Those who do are my cognitive authorities.” (Wilson, 1983: p. 13 Cited in Lane Wilkinson's Blog)

Lane Wilkinson's Blog (link above) is a really great read to understanding this Frame. I found it highly informative and it made me understand the Frame. I recommend that everyone reads it. I feel the above quote sums up the idea of authority is constructed and contextual. 

Below is the teaching scenario we had to design for this Frame.

Design a Teaching Scenario for the following learning outcomes:

Learning Outcomes/ Knowledge practices:

1.       Students should be able to define different types of authority such as subject expertise (Scholarship), society position (public office or title), or special experience (participating in a historic event)

2.       Use markers of authority to determine the credibility of sources

3.       Recognize that authoritative content may be packaged formally or informally and may include audio, visual an non-print sources

No	Activities	Materials	Relation to KP or LO
1.	Do research on various kinds of authority in the LIS field looking at subject expertise, society position and special experience. Students to look at criteria for authoritativeness.  Students to choose one authority figure/organisation per category and do a presentation as to why they feel the person/organisation is an authority. Other students will get an opportunity to ask questions and a lively debate may ensue	·         Computer with internet access ·         Data projector and white screen ·         List of criteria	Relates to LO 1. By presenting their findings and debating with fellow students about relevance of authorities in LIS field students will be able to understand why they are authoritative and be able to define them.
2.	Students need to interview the reference librarian or faculty librarian regarding what makes a source credible. They then need to find 3 credible sources (1 journal article, 1 website and 1 YouTube video) and substantiate their claims of authority.	·         Contact information for faculty and reference librarian	Relates to LO 2. By interviewing the librarians the students will be informed what to look for when assessing credibility of sources.
3.	Find 4 informal non-print sources of information and rate the sources according  with authority indicators. The students must rate the  4 sources according to the criteria, discuss it in groups of 5 and present their information to the class.	·         List of authority indicators	Relates to LO 3. Once students rate sources they will realize their credibility and authority and recognize that the way the source is packaged is not important to convey authority