Poverty: A Dichotomy of Sorts

Poverty occurs when there is scarcity, same goes for the availability of information in societies
and communities. Information may be available but people cannot access it because of lack of
technological skills. As one research has mentioned, it is for that lack that people cannot use
information appropriately, they cannot exercise their democratic rights and play a part in the
community. While the need for information to be available is of utmost regard, people also
need a range of literacy, numeracy and ICT skills, as well as information literacy skills to
interpret and evaluate information sources and apply them in the most efficient way.

People need technical, literacy, numeracy and information literacy skills, together with
cognitive capabilities to process information and physical abilities to access information to meet
most information needs. Developing skills to enable access can help overcome it because
illiteracy and a lack of computer skills can contribute to information poverty. It is given that
information poverty has a lot to do with Internet access and the difficulties accessing online
information because of a lack of ICT and literacy skills.

Information literacy refers to a person’s ability to collect, process, evaluate, use and share
information with others within her/his own socio-cultural context. Certain skills such as critical
thinking – the ability to judge and critically evaluate information sources, either in print or
online, needed to solve problems and influence decision making – are key components of
information literacy. Information literacy is about developing the skills to critically use
information and empowering citizens to make informed life choices and well thought-of
decisions. Therefore, individuals who lack these skills are at risk of information poverty and
ultimately, will tend to fall to exclusion from mainstream society. Indeed, information literacy
skills are needed for citizenship and has become an important aspect for full participation in the
modern digital world. Developing it is the duty of the state to ensure that all citizens become
well informed.

One basic example is purchasing goods via online means where information and digital literacy
skills are needed. This is more evident nowadays with the easy-access of basic goods thru
ecommerce such as Lazada, Shopee and other things. The step-by-step process to move
through each stage of the purchase, for example, to understand what to click next, can be
difficult for even the most computer literate person. Think of how difficult these tasks would be
for someone with no ICT skills and poor literacy or language skills – this gives you an idea of
how information poverty can manifest itself.

To sum it all up, information literacy skills are important and is very much needed to reduce
information poverty and to ensure that individuals are able to access, use and understand the
information that is available. It is because of this view that I pose that information literacy is
one major factor in realizing the concept of information poverty.