Researching the transforming landscape of information seeking – AI technologies and learning in Swedish schools

Topic: Researching the transforming landscape of information seeking – AI technologies and learning in Swedish schools

When: 12 November at 12.00-13.00

Where: Online

Speaker: Olof Sundin, Professor, Information Studies, Department of Arts and Cultural Sciences, Lund University

Spoken language: English

Abstract

The presentation takes as its starting point the history of the digitisation of Swedish schools and how this history aligns with a growing emphasis on pupils’ independent learning and information seeking. It will discuss  possible consequences of the current exclusion of schools from the government’s AI policy. Thereafter, the presentation will introduce the concept of sourcing and explore the risks associated with an increasingly AI-infused digital infrastructure. A central argument is that the current AI infused digital infrastructure tends to make sources of information increasingly less visible. This development has significant implications for how practices of information seeking and evaluation can be conceptualised. A recurring theme throughout the presentation concerns who is responsible for the accuracy of AI-generated content, how that responsibility can be exercised, and what that means for schooling.

Olof Sundin is professor of Information Studies at Lund University. His research focusses on the contemporary configuration and control of digital information and its social impact. In particular, he has studied search engines and their role in everyday life and media and information literacy as forms of infrastructural meaning-making. He is currently PI for “ReSEARCH: Researching the Transforming Landscape of Information Seeking” (Swedish Research Council) and “Who is the Expert? Generative AI as a Site for Negotiating Expertise, Evidence and Trust in Datafied Society” (Crafoord). He is also a part of “NORDREN: The Nordic Disinformation Resilience Network” (Nordforsk) and a researcher in “Digital Vulnerability in the Automated Welfare State: Infrastructures, Citizen Perspectives, and Values” (Swedish Research Council).