My reader will know that I spend half of my working time as a Senior Research Fellow at the Social Informatics Research Group at Edinburgh Napier University. (The other half is spent being minutes secretary and web-weaver for three Edinburgh Community Councils, and being a quite active member of the LeithChooses steering group.)

One of my research interests is information literacy (IL): the ability to think critically and make balanced judgements about any information we find and use. It empowers us as citizens to reach and express informed views and to engage fully with society (CILIP, 2018). My particular foci include IL in hyperlocal democracy, and practical impacts of IL projects.

So I am delighted to have become the new secretary of the Scottish Information Literacy Community of Practice. This is a group of Scottish academics and professionals who have interests in IL from a variety of standpoints. I’m obviously at the very start of this role, trying to find my feet without treading on toes. However, I hope I can help making connections between this Scottish group and other IL-facing bodies. Watch this space!