About Infophilia
About Infophilia
Infophilia comes from info — information — and the Greek philia — love. It names something simple and true: humans are wired to seek, share, and create knowledge. That drive is natural, it is good, and in the age of AI and disinformation, understanding it has never mattered more.
This is a weekly publication about our love of information and what it means to cultivate it well.
What you’ll find here
Each week: a thematic essay drawing on Library and Information Science, psychology, neuroscience, technology studies, and cultural history to make sense of how we engage with knowledge — individually and collectively. Topics range from information anxiety and AI literacy to curiosity cultures, open access, truth, and the libraries and institutions that protect our information lives.
This is not another newsletter about productivity hacks or AI tools. It’s about the deeper question underneath all of them: what kind of relationship do we want to have with information, and how do we build it?
Who it’s for
Librarians, educators, researchers, healthcare professionals, journalists, and anyone who suspects that the information crisis around us is also, quietly, a crisis of the self. Everyone who wants to think carefully about both.
Who I am
I am a professor of library and information sciences with expertise in human information behavior, knowledge organization, and the ethical dimensions of information systems. Raised in Madras (now Chennai, India) and having lived most of my life in Southern California, my writing reflects a cross-cultural perspective on knowledge, technology, and the communities that sustain them. I integrate my own photography into most posts.
My work builds on LIS pioneers like Linda Smith, Brenda Dervin, and Judith Palmer. Infophilia is also the development environment for a larger project: Infophilia Unbound, a book bringing this framework to a broader audience.
No ads. No sponsors. No affiliate marketing.
This publication runs on reader support alone. This means the only interest it serves is yours. Substack takes 10% of subscriptions and Stripe takes a bit more; everything else supports the work.
Subscription options: Monthly: $6/month | Annual: $60/year | Patron: $200+/year Students can ask for complimentary access with an educational email address.
Paid subscribers receive the weekly essay plus extensive Notes, access to the full archive (185+ essays), and the ability to comment and join the conversation.
I admire your ability to look beyond the superficial and see the deeper issues that we must address."— William Badke, Associate Librarian at Trinity Western University, and Author of Research Strategies: Finding Your Way through the Information Fog and other works on Information Literacy.
