Teaching critical information literacy through popular culture

A media studies approach using the Oz texts

Abstract

This project report describes a 15-week undergraduate curriculum integrating Critical Information Literacy (CIL) with media studies theory for art and design students. Using multiple adaptations of The Wizard of Oz—Baum’s 1900 novel, the 1939 MGM film, The Wiz (1978), and Wicked (2024)—as primary case studies, the course replaces conventional library-based information literacy (IL) instruction with a critical and culturally engaged approach. Through these familiar texts, students interrogate the authority, bias, and power structures embedded in historical and contemporary information systems. The curriculum introduces theoretical frameworks including encoding/decoding, semiotics, adaptation theory, and algorithmic critique, progressively building students’ capacity to apply complex concepts to both historical and digital contexts. This model has increased engagement among creative students who often resist traditional IL teaching, with evidence of lasting transfer of CIL concepts into creative practice. The approach is adaptable across disciplines and demonstrates the value of popular culture as an accessible yet rigorous site for developing CIL.