As generative AI reshapes the information landscape, the line between authentic and fabricated content grows harder to see. Deepfakes, synthetic text, and AI “hallucinations” now circulate alongside genuine sources, and the familiar cues of credibility — fluency, formatting, the look of authority — are exactly what these systems reproduce so well. In this environment, the retrieval-and-evaluation model of information literacy remains necessary but is no longer sufficient.
At the IFLA WLIC 2026 Information Literacy Section Satellite Meeting in Busan, Republic of Korea, we will share a project that responds to this challenge through the lens of metaliteracy. Our presentation, “Building Digital Resilience through Metaliteracy: A Meme-Based Pedagogy to Counter AI-Driven Disinformation,” builds on Mackey and Jacobson’s framework, treating digital resilience as a capability fostered through metaliteracy when learners face AI-driven disinformation — integrating the behavioural, cognitive, affective, and metacognitive domains of learning rather than teaching isolated skills.
Our approach turns abstract metaliterate objectives into something students can see, make, and remember: internet memes. Through a meme-based pedagogy developed at the library of Northeast Normal University, a Chinese “Double First-Class” institution, students decode, create, and reflect on memes as tools for recognising and resisting disinformation. Drawing on a survey of 183 undergraduates, we found balanced competence across all four metaliteracy domains and, encouragingly, a clear tendency to verify rather than to trust at a glance when confronted with the very artefacts generative AI now makes so easy to produce.
The full satellite meeting programme is available online. The presentation will be delivered in person in Busan by Changhong Wu, with Tom Mackey joining remotely to discuss the metaliteracy model.
We look forward to sharing our full findings in Busan—and to continuing the conversation here on Metaliteracy.org.
Changhong Wu is an Information Literacy Librarian at Northeast Normal University (NENU), China, where her teaching and research focus on information literacy, metaliteracy, and AI literacy. She serves as a Standing Committee Member of the IFLA Information Literacy Section and as a Board Member of the Chinese American Librarians Association (CALA), and has been a Visiting Scholar at George Washington University.
She teaches a range of credit-bearing courses at NENU— including Historical Data and AI Agent Applications, Data Processing and AI Agent Applications, Digital Curation and Display of Cultural Heritage, and Historical Sources and Information Literacy. Her work on AI literacy and metaliteracy has appeared in leading journals, and she has given keynote and invited talks at venues including IFLA, iSchools, and ALA. She also shares AI-literacy ideas with a public audience of more than 90,000 followers online.
We are excited to invite contributions to our forthcoming book, “AI and Metaliteracy: Empowering Learners for the Generative Revolution” edited by Dr. Nicola Marae Allain and Dr. Thomas P. Mackey. This new volume will be published in fall 2025 for the Innovations in Information Literacy series edited by Trudi E. Jacobson for Bloomsbury Publishing (Rowman & Littlefield).
This pioneering book will feature theories and case studies about empowering learners with metaliteracy as reflective producers, informed writers, and active participants for the technological, pedagogical, and cultural revolution inspired by generative AI (Heaven, 2022, Mackey & Jacobson, 2011, 2022).
We are interested in groundbreaking approaches to metaliteracy education that encourage learners to engage with innovative AI tools such as ChatGPT and DALL-E, among many others, for creating artistic, literary, scientific, and scholarly forms of generative text, image, and video. Each chapter will focus on developing ethical metaliterate learners with autonomy and agency who are capable of producing individual and collaborative knowledge with AI (Mackey & Jacobson, 2011, 2022). We encourage imaginative chapters about the effective use of AI through the lens of metaliteracy and related literacy models, such as the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education and the ACRL Visual Literacy Framework.
We welcome proposals from educators and practitioners, including librarians, teachers and professors worldwide, particularly those offering case studies with solid theoretical foundations and transferrable pedagogical strategies. We are seeking authors from wide-ranging disciplines, such as the Arts and Humanities, Digital Media Arts, Social Sciences, Composition Studies, Library and Information Science, Nursing, Business, and STEM. Chapter themes will also address the relevance of AI and metaliteracy to adult learning and workforce development and the importance of designing inclusive AI-driven learning experiences to advance digital equity, and accessibility for students with disabilities. The book will present methods for assessing the effectiveness of teaching metaliteracy competencies and highlight collaborative, interdisciplinary projects. We aim to provide international perspectives on the challenges and opportunities of empowering learners with generative AI and metaliteracy, exploring innovative theories and case studies that provide future directions for AI-driven learning environments.
Submission Guidelines
Proposals should include the following information:
Title: The concise and descriptive title for your proposed chapter.
Abstract: A summary (300-500 words) outlining the main objectives, theoretical foundation, metaliteracy components, generative AI tools, assessment methodology, and expected contributions of your chapter.
Author Information: Names, affiliations, and contact details of all authors.
Biographical Note: A brief biography (150-200 words) of each author highlighting relevant expertise and experience.
Please submit your proposals by December 15, 2024, to Tom.Mackey@sunyempire.edu. Selected authors will be notified by February 1, 2024, and full chapters will be due by May 1, 2025. Final chapters should be between 20 and 25 pages (double-spaced) and follow the formatting guidelines that will be provided upon acceptance.
Important Dates
Proposal Submission Deadline: December 15, 2024
Notification of Acceptance: February 1, 2025
Full Chapter Submission Deadline: May 1, 2025
Expected Publication Date: November 1, 2025
We look forward to receiving your innovative and insightful contributions that will help shape the future of metaliteracy for the generative AI revolution. For any inquiries or further information, please contact Nicola Marae Allain at Nicola.Allain@sunyempire.edu or Tom Mackey at Tom.Mackey@sunyempire.edu.
Join us in this groundbreaking project to advance education and empower learners with metaliteracy worldwide for the generative AI revolution!
Editors
Nicola Marae Allain, Ph.D. is the Dean of the School of Arts and Humanities at SUNY Empire State University, where she has held faculty (tenured) and administrative roles since 2002. Her research and leadership have focused on digital learning, immersive and virtual environments, and emerging technologies. She holds a PhD in Media and Communication from the European Graduate School, a MA in Dramatic Art, Dance and Music from the University of California, and a BA in English from the University of Ottawa. Allain’s interdisciplinary background in arts and humanities complements expertise in higher education technologies and systems, digital media arts, visual pedagogy, and digital communication. Throughout her career, Allain has demonstrated a commitment to developing an aptitude for lifelong learning among students and faculty, while supporting the agency and autonomy of learners within active and authentic learning environments. Her leadership in faculty development and curriculum design has modeled innovative strategies that scale across disciplines, and were widely adopted by SUNY Empire and institutions in New Zealand. Her decade-long role on the SUNY Innovative Instruction Research Council led to collaborations with the SUNY Faculty and Teaching with Technology (FACT2) Committee AI Task Group. Allain co-authored the SUNY FACT² Guide “Optimizing AI in Higher Education” (May 2024), for which she contributed sections on the social impact and creative applications of AI. She has previously collaborated on metaliteracy initiatives, courses and publications. Her recent articles focus on curriculum innovations in digital humanities, mindfulness, and leadership in higher education settings. Fluent in several languages, Allain is also a translator of French poetry and Classical Chinese literary texts.
Thomas P. Mackey, Ph.D. is Professor of Arts and Media and Program Coordinator for the BA and BS programs in Digital Media Arts at Empire State University. He is Academic Coordinator for online courses in Arts and Media. Dr. Mackey is the recipient of the Chancellor’s Award for Scholarship and Creative Activities (2022) and the Dr. Susan H Turben Chair in Mentoring (2021–2022). He has an honorary appointment as Extraordinary Professor, Research Unit Self- Directed Learning, Faculty of Education, North-West University, South Africa. Dr. Mackey originated the metaliteracy framework with Prof. Trudi E. Jacobson to prepare learners as individual and collaborative producers of new knowledge. He has published four books with Prof. Jacobson on metaliteracy, including the first co-authored manuscript on this topic entitled Metaliteracy: Reinventing Information Literacy as a Metaliteracy (2014). They co-edited two volumes Metaliteracy in Practice (2016) and Metaliterate Learning for the Post-Truth World (2019). Their most recent book Metaliteracy in a Connected World: Developing Learners as Producers (2022) is the recipient of the 2024 Divergent Publication Award for Excellence in Literacy in a Digital Age Research. Dr. Mackey’s latest book is a co-edited volume with Dr. Sheila Marie Aird entitled Teaching Digital Storytelling: Inspiring Voices through Online Narratives (2024). He has presented both nationally and internationally about metaliteracy and generative AI and has designed learning assignments in several courses to engage learners in the generative AI revolution.
ACRL Association of College and Research Libraries. (2015). Framework for information literacy for higher education. American Library Association. Retrieved July 20, 2024, from http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ilframework.
Mackey, T. P., & Jacobson, T. E. (2011). Reframing information literacy as a metaliteracy. College & Research Libraries, 72(1), 62–78. https://doi.org/10.5860/crl-76r1.
Mackey, T. P., & Jacobson, T. E. (2022). Metaliteracy in a Connected World: Developing Learners as Producers. ALA Neal-Schuman.
Book image created in DALL-E using the prompt: “Visualize a dynamic book cover for AI and Metaliteracy: Empowering Learners for the Generative Revolution” (October 28, 2024).
Here’s the slideshow of the Metaliteracy and AI Keynote:
Tom’s keynote offered several takeaways:
The development of AI is both a revolution and evolution
Several international organizations have defined ethical frameworks for engaging with AI
Generative AI contributes to the proliferation of mis- and disinformation
Metaliteracy supports the design of effective learning activities with generative AI
Metacognitive reflection is key to the learning process when working with AI
Reflecting on their learner roles, especially the producer role, reinforces active engagement with AI
The analysis of AI ethics is reinforced through metaliteracy’s civic-minded characteristic
Digital storytelling and the inventive production of AI-generated content support learners in discovering their authentic voice
This international conference offered a chance to engage with educators and learners from around the world. It emphasized the value of exploring generative AI through the lens of metaliteracy. The keynote emphasized the core components of metaliteracy including the learning domains, roles, and characteristics. It focused on how these elements work together to support learners in developing a metaliteracy mindset. This mindset prepares them for wide ranging information environments that are increasingly mediated by AI.
If you are interested in learning more about metaliteracy, please explore the many open resources via this blog as a starting point. Additionally, we want to know how you engage with metaliteracy in your teaching and learning with AI. If you have an idea for a guest blog post, feel free to reach out to Tom Mackey or Trudi Jacobson directly.
Metaliteracy.org 