(Reflection of Module 2.2 Introduction to Teacher Librarianship)
Western society has easy access to information. It might not always be up to date or relevant to our individual contexts but it is available.
5 positives of the digital age:
- It is faster than doing research using a library or non-fiction text that has been purchased.
- Levels the playing field to some degree for economically disadvantaged communities.
- Levels the playing field to some degree for geographically disadvantaged communities.
- More people have a venue for having a ‘voice.’
- Creates an avenue for collaboration that was not there previously.
4 negatives of the digital age:
- Relies on the assumption that the entire world are having equal input when that is not true.
- Opens the gate to misinformation (eg. propaganda) to reach a larger audience for the sake of another’s personal gain.
- It takes a lot of time to weed out the stuff we don’t want or need to see (this having previously been done by editors and publishers or researchers in their fields). [Search engines try to help with this by programs where ‘the tool directs the user’. These algorithms try to guess what you-the user-want to see. However, this places inhuman limitations on the information that we seek and can often miss the mark. The intelligence is artificial and cannot offer clarification the way that a human can].
- People (eg. teachers) will most often see only the good things that others (in their profession) put on the internet and not the reality.
References:
Case, D. (2006). The concept of information. In Looking for information: A survey of research on information seeking, needs and behaviour, pp. 40-65 (Chapter 3). 2nd ed. Burlingham: Emerald Group Publishing Ltd. ebook, CSU Library.
Floridi, L. (2007). A look into the future impact of ICT on our lives. The Information Society, 23, 59-64. CSU Library.
