{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,2]],"date-time":"2025-08-02T17:37:12Z","timestamp":1754156232393,"version":"3.41.2"},"reference-count":38,"publisher":"Emerald","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,12,19]],"date-time":"2024-12-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1734566400000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/site-policies"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["JD"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,25]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Purpose<\/jats:title><jats:p>This paper considers the implications of not knowing \u2013 hypocognition \u2013 the lack of a cognitive or linguistic representation of a concept, algorithms, held by librarians responsible for programs of information literacy in universities in NSW, Australia.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Design\/methodology\/approach<\/jats:title><jats:p>A practice-based study of university librarians and their role in the development of algorithmic literacy, using semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis, showed that they had limited socio-technical knowledge of algorithms.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Findings<\/jats:title><jats:p>Not knowing led most participants to anthropomorphise algorithms, including those found in search engines such as Google, sometimes explaining them as something mysterious, although they were aware that the algorithms were gathering data about them and their online interactions. Nonetheless, they delegated responsibility for online activities. These online interactions were not presented in system terms, but often could be interpreted as examples of Goffman\u2019s civil inattention, a social norm used in interactions with strangers, such as fellow passengers. Such an understanding prevented the development of robust algorithmic literacy.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Social implications<\/jats:title><jats:p>With technologies disrupting social norms, algorithms cannot be considered strangers who understand such civility; instead, metaphorically and practically, they rudely rummage through wallets and phones. Acknowledging the implications of the reliance on socio-cultural understandings of algorithms and their anthropomorphic representations for explaining online system-based interactions can present new ways for developing algorithmic literacy.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Originality\/value<\/jats:title><jats:p>This study suggests that the links between hypocognition and the anthropomorphising of algorithms can undermine the development of knowledge and skills in information and digital literacies.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1108\/jd-04-2024-0076","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,12,18]],"date-time":"2024-12-18T08:18:21Z","timestamp":1734509901000},"page":"301-312","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Knowing and not knowing about algorithms"],"prefix":"10.1108","volume":"81","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1525-3268","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hilary","family":"Yerbury","sequence":"first","affiliation":[]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8366-3867","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Maureen","family":"Henninger","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]}],"member":"140","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,12,19]]},"reference":[{"issue":"2","key":"key2025022807182053300_ref001","first-page":"3","article-title":"The hidden side effects of recommendation systems","volume":"60","year":"2019","journal-title":"MIT Sloan Management Review"},{"issue":"1","key":"key2025022807182053300_ref002","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1080\/1369118X.2016.1216147","article-title":"The social power of algorithms","volume":"20","year":"2017","journal-title":"Information, Communication and Society"},{"volume-title":"Report of the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme","year":"2023","author":"Commonwealth of Australia","key":"key2025022807182053300_ref003"},{"issue":"5","key":"key2025022807182053300_ref004","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2","DOI":"10.3102\/0013189x019005002","article-title":"Stories of experience and narrative inquiry","volume":"19","year":"1990","journal-title":"Educational Researcher"},{"issue":"4","key":"key2025022807182053300_ref005","first-page":"506","article-title":"Neutral questioning: a new approach to the reference interview","volume":"25","year":"1986","journal-title":"Research Quarterly"},{"key":"key2025022807182053300_ref006","first-page":"3","article-title":"Information needs and uses","volume":"21","year":"1986","journal-title":"Annual Review of Information Science and Technology"},{"issue":"2","key":"key2025022807182053300_ref007","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"115","DOI":"10.1080\/19312458.2021.1968361","article-title":"Development and validation of an algorithm literacy scale for internet users","volume":"16","year":"2022","journal-title":"Communication Methods and Measures"},{"issue":"1","key":"key2025022807182053300_ref008","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"49","DOI":"10.1080\/00335630.2020.1863454","article-title":"Persona 4.0","volume":"107","year":"2021","journal-title":"Quarterly Journal of Speech"},{"volume-title":"Behavior in Public Places: Notes on the Social Organization of Gatherings","year":"1963","key":"key2025022807182053300_ref009"},{"issue":"4","key":"key2025022807182053300_ref010","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"589","DOI":"10.22230\/cjc.2016v41n4a3058","article-title":"Creating iPhone dreams:Annihilating E-waste nightmares","volume":"41","year":"2016","journal-title":"Canadian Journal of Communication"},{"volume-title":"Information Literacy in the Age of Algorithms: Student Experiences with News and Information, and the Need for Change","year":"2020","key":"key2025022807182053300_ref011"},{"key":"key2025022807182053300_ref012","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Henninger, M. and Yerbury, H. 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