Service providers need to be educated about literacy. One way is to do an awareness workshop, which can include the following:

• What do you know about literacy?
  Discuss.
• Watch the video, "Literacy Matters". Ask participants to think about what stood out for them.
• Build strategies for making your program or service more accessible. 

In asking people to think differently about literacy, Audrey draws on the New Literacy Studies. She encourages service providers to see the multiple literacies people use, and to consider the strengths of diverse ways of handling print, rather than assuming a deficit model. She encourages service providers to see the social, cultural and political aspects of literacy and to focus on community capacity building and not just on individual skills.

Suggested resources:
Devins, Susan and Anne Scott. The Literacy Audit Kit: Tools to Help Make Your Services More Accessible. Calgary: Alberta Association for Adult Literacy, 1997.
(includes 15 min. "Literacy Matters" video, 1 video guide, 1 text and 17 handouts)

Gardner, Audrey. Connecting Literacy to Community. Calgary: Bow Valley College, 2003.

The Role of Academically Trained Researchers in Research in Practice
with Anneke van Enk and Marina Niks

Rapporteurs: Judy Bernstein and Janet Isserlis

Both presenters are doctoral students interested in research and practice. They are aware that they are being trained to be part of the academic research culture and are sensitive to this. They want to explore the role of academic researchers in alternative practices for making knowledge. They thought the Institute would be a good place to open the topic up to others. The workshop was a discussion which drew on the experience and insights of those present. The following are some of the issues and questions which arose in the discussion.

When a community/academic team work together, the issue of ownership becomes important, both in terms of the process and the product that comes out of it. If people are not involved in designing the project, they don't get what they need out of it or feel any ownership. How does ownership move back and forth and get negotiated?

How aware are people of the power they have in different contexts and structures? The key thing is how reflexive each academic researcher is how do they make use of their power and position.

The National Literacy Secretariat (NLS) sees research as very important and is interested in who is shaping research and how. Research informs policy. The NLS also has a role in communicating the findings of major research projects like IALS; what is its responsibility in explaining the assumptions that underlie such research?

How can we make it easier for practitioners to find out about what's being published? They don't have the time or resources. Could academic researchers help select or filter "good" research that's worth reading?