Chapter 12

Knowledge building by Australian online investors: The role of information literacy

Kirsty Williamson

Share investment in the Western world has been burgeoning. Almost 50% of Australian adults have now invested in shares, according to recent statistics (ASX 2008). Although some people hold shares through their superannuation funds and are not themselves actively investing, a sizeable proportion of investors are now investing online without advice from professional sharebrokers or financial advisors.

It is readily agreed (Boreham 2008; Bradley 2006, 2004) that, especially compared with pre-Internet days, investors have an abundance of information at their fingertips—labelled ‘a cornucopia’ by Kaplan (2008). The words ‘empowered’ ...

Get Practising Information Literacy now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.