You are right that the term seems to reside more heavily in academia than popular writing, but I did find an article from The Ghanaian Times, providing a more concise definition:
Does anyone know of any popular writing that explains the concept of information poverty?
It seems like a powerful idea and way of speaking, but insofar as I can tell, doesn't seem to really escaped academia. Hooray for library scientists! I am mainly looking for a concise definition...thanks for all your help!