Solarpunk: Information Needs
🎓 First Research Paper Milestone! 🎓
I’m excited (and a bit nervous) to share my first research paper from my MLIS program, which also marks the culmination of my first term. Truth be told, I hesitated to post it—there’s always that temptation to wait for a “perfect” version. But I’ve realized that documenting growth is just as valuable as achieving polished results.
While I’m proud of how this paper came together, I know there’s room for improvement, and I’m excited to continue learning and refining my skills. If you have any feedback, tips, or suggestions, I’d love to hear them! Constructive input will only help me grow further.
Thank you for being part of this journey with me!
Abstract
This research paper explores the information needs of the Solarpunk community, a growing movement that envisions a green, egalitarian future. By analyzing the current literature on the Solarpunk community and relevant information behaviors, I assess whether current information landscapes meet the community’s needs. Based on the findings, I will provide recommendations to improve the availability and diversity of information for Solarpunks, and suggest areas for further study. Through a multidisciplinary approach that involves education, research, advocacy and collaboration, I aim to support the Solarpunk community in developing critical thinking skills, creative solutions, and collective action strategies for a better future.
Introduction
The Solarpunk community is a growing movement of individuals who share a vision of a sustainable, just, and beautiful future for humanity. In pursuit of this vision, they require access to information that can help them understand the complex ecological, social, and technological systems that shape our world. We will discuss the relevance of Berrypicking and Human Information Behavior Model for the Solarpunk community and how information should be diverse, accurate, and freely available. Additionally we will talk about the challenges the Solarpunk community currently face in information landscapes. These challenges are often not unique to the Solarpunk community, but they are particularly acute for a mostly online community.
To address these challenges, it is necessary to take a multidisciplinary approach that involves education, research, advocacy, and collaboration among different stakeholders including academics, activists, artists, and technologists. This article aims to contribute to the effort by analyzing the literature on the Solarpunk community and relevant information behaviors.
I will begin by reviewing the existing literature on the Solarpunk community, including its origins, values, and goals. I will then discuss the community’s information needs and behaviors, including how Solarpunks access and use information, what sources they rely on, and what challenges they face in accessing and using information effectively.
Based on this analysis, I will make recommendations for improving the information landscape for the Solarpunk community. These recommendations may include the development of new tools and platforms for accessing and sharing information, the creation of educational programs and resources to promote critical thinking and information literacy, and the promotion of open access and open data initiatives that support the community’s values of transparency and collaboration.
I will also suggest areas for further research, including studies on the information behaviors of Solarpunks and other social movements, the role of information in promoting social and environmental justice, and the potential of new technologies such as blockchain and artificial intelligence to support the information needs of the Solarpunk community.
Literature Review
Information Community Introduction
In Fisher and Fulton’s Information Communities they outline five characteristics to define an information community (2022):
Emphasis on collaboration among diverse information providers.
Capacity to form around people’s needs to access and use information.
Capacity to exploit the information-sharing qualities of emerging technologies.
Ability to transcend barriers to information sharing.
Capacity to foster social connectedness.
If we take a look at the Solarpunk movement through this lens, we can clearly see that they are an information community. They work together to collaborate with people from a variety of different fields and backgrounds. They aim to decentralize and democratize information to create equal access. They create fun games to share information. They spread their information through platforms like YouTube or Reddit. They create online and in-person communities as seen in eco-villages, like Ithaca in New York (Dregger 2015).
Solarpunk Community Introduction
As discussed in Naomi Klein’s This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate (2014), the climate crisis requires a radical transformation of our economic, political, and cultural systems. Klein highlights the role of information and media in shaping public opinion and political action, and calls for a movement that can challenge the status quo and create a more equitable and sustainable world.
In Hannah Steinkopf-Frank’s article “Solarpunk is not about pretty aesthetics. It’s about the end of capitalism,” she argues that Solarpunk is a political movement that aims to challenge and ultimately replace the current capitalist system. While Solarpunk is often associated with a distinctive aesthetic that incorporates elements of nature, technology, and community, Steinkopf-Frank contends that this aesthetic is only one part of a broader political vision.
This article draws on interviews with Solarpunk activists and scholars to explore the movement’s roots in sci-fi, environmentalism, and social justice. Steinkopf-Frank argues that Solarpunk offers a compelling alternative to the dominant narratives of techno-dystopianism, like Cyberpunk, and apocalyptic pessimism that often shape discussions of the future. However, she does acknowledge that the movement faces significant challenges, including the entrenched power structures of capitalism and the difficulty of translating abstract ideals into concrete political action. Overall Steinkopf-Frank's article situates Solarpunk within a broader political and cultural context, and challenges the reader to think about the future they’d like to see (2021).
Through Williams’ analysis of Solarpunk in “This shining confluence of magic and technology: Solarpunk, energy imaginaries, and the infrastructures of solarity,” he has shown “the agency that imaginaries can have with regards to forming communities, mobilizing effect, and extending themselves into the world in the form of social relations and infrastructures,” (2019). He has provided a thorough analysis of the seminal literature of solarpunk communities, as well as provided examples of emerging Solarpunk communities.
Johnson (2020) in “‘Solarpunk’ & the pedagogical value of utopia”, goes further to analyze whether Solarpunk is truly valuable to the environmental justice cause. After analyzing the rise of climate anxiety in the face of the inaction of society on climate change, Johnson finds that Solarpunk offers a hopeful future where humanity has banded together to combat climate change and inequality. It provides hope in a time where hope is so hard to find. He concludes that hope fosters action instead of apathy.
Information Use By The Solarpunk Community
In Riedy’s “Discourse coalitions for sustainability transformations,” he argues that the main cultural narrative or discourse is one of neoliberal capitalism. Riedy posits that people who belong to other discourses – like Solarpunk or Hopepunk or Ubuntu – work together to change the cultural narrative and present counter discourse to the current neoliberal capitalist culture. What Riedy did very well is discuss the varying kinds of sustainable discourse and how they differ from one another in major themes. His call for unification is reiterated throughout the entire article, creating a compelling case. He did not fully illustrate that neoliberal capitalism is the only narrative, nor the full pros and cons of the narrative. Additionally he did not explain how it came to be the only discourse in a meaningful way.
Berg, Narayan, & Rajala follow five Finnish municipalities while undergoing energy transition. There are three frameworks in this paper: Municipal energy transitions, Ideologies and Sense Making, and Ideological discourse. It is necessary to understand the roles that municipalities play in energy transitions. What is decided by big government or multinational coalitions needs to be acted and implemented by small municipalities. Ideologies and Sense Making enters the picture when the citizens of a municipality must consider the transitions in energy and how best to go about the changes in their community.
Arjen Wals and Peter Blaze Corcoran’s “Learning for Sustainability in Times of Accelerating Change” (2012) explores the challenges and opportunities of education for sustainable development in a rapidly changing world. The authors argue that learning for sustainability should be transformative, transdisciplinary, and participatory, and should address the complex and interconnected issues of environment, economy, and society. They also emphasize the importance of using multiple sources of knowledge, including indigenous and local knowledge, and of fostering a sense of agency and empowerment among learners.
Spink and Cole created the Human Information Behavior Model, which is a theoretical framework that describes the complex and dynamic nature of how people interact with information in various contexts. The model consists of five key elements (Spink & Cole 2005):
Context: physical, social and cultural factors that influence a person.
Needs and Goals: the needs and goals of an individual, which are shaped by the context
Sources: information sources available to the individual
Strategies: the cognitive and behavioral strategies used by the individual to locate, access, and use information
Outcomes: the results or impact of the information behavior (i.e, learning, decision-making, or action).
Spink & Cole’s human information behavior model pulls from many different approaches to information seeking. In this way it is highly relevant to the Solarpunk community, as they have a need to approach information from diverse backgrounds and use it in diverse ways. Their fields of interest span from technology to traditional wisdoms and cultural practices. Solarpunk’s information needs could best be facilitated by diverse sources.
The community imagines and creates their own visions of the future. They share these visions with each other and outsiders, and encourage others to come up with their own visions for a sustainable future. It could be said that they are participating in a sort of communal sense-making. As Dervin (1999) says, “sense-making posits that theory-making is a mandate of the human condition”. Solarpunk “use[s] imagination as the carrot on a stick because every company and corporation knows that to weather the future and be resilient they need employees who are creative, imaginative and able to flex and be resilient in a volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous world,” (Smith, 2021). Furthermore, Solarpunk “forages” for information from a variety of different sources and a variety of different subjects.
The Berrypicking Model, developed by Marcia J. Bates in 1989, is a more realistic and humanistic approach to information retrieval. The model says that a person may start with a single inquiry, but that searches are ever-evolving. So, someone may start a search, but then after learning a bit of information from that first search they will change the search terms and initiate a second query. This pattern continues indefinitely or until the searcher is satisfied with their evolving knowledge. The name is coined from the metaphor of someone berry-picking in a forest. Someone may start at one bush and sort through picking the best berries and then move on to a second and third bush, until they are satisfied with the number of berries they have or until the sun has set.
Marcia Bates’ Berrypicking Model (1989) is related to the information community of Solarpunk as members may be interested in seeking out information that can help them understand how to create the kind of future they envision. For example, someone could search for information on sustainable energy, green architecture, or permaculture techniques. They could also search for information on social and political movements that are working towards a more just and equitable society. All in service of understanding and learning more about the Solarpunk future they want to create. Furthermore, Solarpunk communities organize themselves in a decentralized manner, with people sharing and collaborating. This could be seen as a form of collective berrypicking, wherein members of the community work together to gather and share information that is relevant to their goals and interests.
Houlden and Veletsianos’ “Impossible dreaming: On Speculative education fiction and hopeful learning futures” (2022) calls for speculative fiction to be hopeful. Solarpunk envisions a community-oriented, degrowth vision of the future. One accompanied by modern technology, with a multi-cultural, sustainable, and green societal ecosystem. Houlden & Veltsianos illustrate the importance of stories, and Solarpunk envisions a world where more than academic, institutional forms of knowledge are valued. Where stories – cultural, historical, or fictional – are seen as equally important in the knowledge and wisdom they can impart. The deconstruction of formal, colonialistic forms of information to more indigenous and diverse ways of information are highly valued in the Solarpunk community. Storytelling is coveted.
Beyond human borders, Solarpunk should continue to learn from nature. In a collection of essays called “Multispecies Cities: Solarpunk Urban Futures”, authors sought to envision cities that centered many species. In Heather Alberro’s review of the collection they discuss the phrase “Extinction is Forever”, and how to avoid the loss of knowledge and personalities associated with it. They say that we must promise “to do better in the essential task of co-creating more livable worlds in the here and now that take the interests, needs and desires of our nonhuman kin into careful consideration. By embracing an ethic of care and responsibility for the agentic more-than-human beings with whom we are always inextricably entangled,” (2022).
Information Sources
The Solarpunk Community has a variety of information sources that would be of interest to them, since their interests are so diverse. In both academic and community-based sources the authors ranged from expertise in humanities to science to art. There was one major difference in the sources; the qualifications of the authors. Take the Utopian Studies journal, the authors were academics or experts in their fields. The information was peer-reviewed. On the other hand, the reddit forum Solarpunk – hope for the future the authors came from a diverse background. Some could be experts in their fields, but some were merely citizens with interests in the idea of a better tomorrow with no real expertise. The biggest difference for the reader is the trust that can be placed in each source. Any piece of information should be approached with a critical eye, but at least with the academic journal the reader could be assured it was based on some true facts or theories. Another difference is the engagement possible with each source. The journal may have more basis in academics, but the forum has more interaction potential. A reader becomes a participant on Reddit. Both sources have pros and cons, thus both should be used to compliment the other.
Stephens (2014) argues in “Library as Classroom” that libraries should be viewed as dynamic learning spaces that foster creativity, critical thinking, and social engagements. He advocates for a paradigm shift in library services, from a transactional approach that centers on the active learning experiences of library patrons. Drawing from the literature on user-centered design and pedagogy, Stephens proposes several strategies for librarians to enhance their role as educators, including creating flexible spaces, embracing mobile technologies, adoption of inquiry-based learning methods, and fostering community partnerships. He also emphasizes the importance of assessing library programs and services to ensure they meet the evolving needs of patrons. This article provides a framework for reimagining libraries in the 21st century, and facilitates many Solarpunk ideas. According to the Solarpunk Community Manifesto “Solarpunk is about youth maker culture, local solutions … It is about loving the world,” (The Solarpunk Community, 2014).
Methodology
In order to find the research material above, I used information search platforms from my college as well as google and google scholar. I began the search simply looking for “Solarpunk AND Information Needs”. However, that search had limited results. I found that in order to find any meaningful studies or information on the Solarpunk community, I need broader search terms. Solarpunk expanded to be Eco-futurists, futurists, speculative futures, environmentalists, and green communities. Once finding relevant articles, I looked for the articles that it sighted and that sighted it. This allowed me to often find relevant information for my needs as well.
Discussion
Solarpunk is a new and growing community that envision a green, egalitarian, and technologically advanced world. They learn from a variety of fields, such as art, the humanities, and engineering. They engage in knowledge from ancestral wisdom to new mechanical science. Solarpunk is a grassroots movement that aims to help society overcome climate apathy by using storytelling, art, education and emerging technologies to envision a utopia.
In pursuit of this vision, they require access to information that can help them understand the complex ecological, social, and technological systems that shape our world. This information should be diverse, accurate, and freely available, allowing Solarpunks to develop critical thinking skills, creative solutions, and collective action strategies. By facilitating Berrypicking, as defined by Marcia Bates, in information spaces then the Solarpunk community will be able to freely and accurately find relevant information to their cause.
However, the current information landscape presents several challenges to the Solarpunk community’s pursuit of this vision. As evidenced by Fisher and Fulton in Information Communities (2022), society is currently in an information pandemic with information overload, misinformation, and unequal access to knowledge to name a few.
“This information pandemic (i.e., the explosion of mis-, dis-, and malinformation online) is forcing new structures of information communities… and information grounds that require sophisticated information literacy skills and, foremost, leadership from information professionals.”
This lesser known pandemic hinders the community’s ability to access and use information effectively. These challenges are not unique to the Solarpunk community, but they are particularly acute for a movement that seeks to challenge dominant narratives and promote alternative ways of thinking and acting - especially online. As Steinkopf-Frank said, “Solarpunk is radical in that it imagines a society where people and the planet are prioritized over the individual and profit,” (2021). That notion – the people and planet first notion – is inherently anti-capitalist. Once a community goes against the current mainstream narratives, they are vulnerable to the worst of bad information.
To address these challenges, it is necessary to take a multidisciplinary approach that involves education, research, advocacy, and collaboration among different stakeholders – including academics, activists, artists, and technologists. We can take a look at studies done in the education fields such as Impossible dreaming: On speculative education fiction and hopeful learning futures by Shandell Houlden and George Veletsianos, that highlight hopeful, speculative futures such as Solarpunk. Houlden & Veletsianos say “The stories that we ought to tell in education research need to do this impossible dreaming. They need to practice this hopeful work as a refusal of the disimagination machine of the academy, as a refusal to reinforce settler apocalypticism… in these times of demise and transformation,” (2022). The Solarpunk community needs to work with these information stakeholders to create an ecosystem that is responsive to their needs and values.
Conclusion
Based upon the goals and visions of the Solarpunk community of green, free, and egalitarian horizons. I believe that there are important steps the information community can take to meet this unique community's needs. If the information community took advantage of new tools and platforms for accessing and sharing information such as ChatGPT or similar information AI models, then that could facilitate open information access. However, the first important step is ensuring that AI models are not heightening the spread of misinformation. Information landscapes could create educational programs and resources to promote critical thinking and information literacy.
As a further area of study, Information professionals could look into AI as mentioned above, but also blockchain technologies. Blockchains have the potential to address some of the challenges that face modern, online information communities. If information landscapes could use these technologies then they could increase trust and security, and it would align with the overall Solarpunk ideals of decentralization.
References
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