Times New Plural - The multiple temporalities of contemporary life, the infosphere and the planet
Creators: name: Mason, Tom
Publisher: name: unknown
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Information science
subject: Literacy
subject: Time--Philosophy
subject: Library science
subject: Culture

description: Purpose: This dissertation explores concerns and experiences of time and temporality in contemporary life and a societal climate that includes both Information and Communications Technology (ICT) ubiquity and instantaneous communications, and ecological crises countdowns, and how experiential time issues relate to both Library and Information Science and our lives as informational agents. 

Methodology / approach: The dissertation proceeds according to desk-based research using literature from the field of Library and Information Science (LIS), as well as media and cultural theory, sociology and the arts. The methodology is additionally enhanced by a bricolage research approach. 

Findings / recommendations: Societal conditions of acceleration (in industrial processes) and immediacy (in communications, transactions and consumption) engender a plurality of times at work in an intensified present tense, which are evidenced within the multiple temporalities at work within our ICTs, our contemporary work practices, and a social entanglement of people living according to varying schedules. Time and multiple temporalities raise many issues for LIS, as well as Floridi's infosphere, and we might benefit from the formulation of a time literacy to accompany that of information literacies.

Originality / value: The dissertation attempts to bring together theories and concerns from related and complimentary fields together with those from within LIS to illuminate concerns and questions of both specialist and general relevance. Time's inherent importance to our lives in the infosphere is highlighted, and a provisional time literacy outline is proposed.

Keywords: Time, Temporalities, ICTs, Infosphere, Acceleration, Immediacy, Entanglement, Climate Crisis, Time Literacy
description: Purpose: This dissertation explores concerns and experiences of time and temporality in contemporary life and a societal climate that includes both Information and Communications Technology (ICT) ubiquity and instantaneous communications, and ecological crises countdowns, and how experiential time issues relate to both Library and Information Science and our lives as informational agents. Methodology / approach: The dissertation proceeds according to desk-based research using literature from the field of Library and Information Science (LIS), as well as media and cultural theory, sociology and the arts. The methodology is additionally enhanced by a bricolage research approach. Findings / recommendations: Societal conditions of acceleration (in industrial processes) and immediacy (in communications, transactions and consumption) engender a plurality of times at work in an intensified present tense, which are evidenced within the multiple temporalities at work within our ICTs, our contemporary work practices, and a social entanglement of people living according to varying schedules. Time and multiple temporalities raise many issues for LIS, as well as Floridi's infosphere, and we might benefit from the formulation of a time literacy to accompany that of information literacies. Originality / value: The dissertation attempts to bring together theories and concerns from related and complimentary fields together with those from within LIS to illuminate concerns and questions of both specialist and general relevance. Time's inherent importance to our lives in the infosphere is highlighted, and a provisional time literacy outline is proposed. Keywords: Time, Temporalities, ICTs, Infosphere, Acceleration, Immediacy, Entanglement, Climate Crisis, Time Literacy