“Information Society is a term for a society in which the creation, distribution, and manipulation of information has become the most significant economic and cultural activity. An Information Society may be contrasted with societies in which the economic underpinning is primarily Industrial or Agrarian. The machine tools of the Information Society are computers and telecommunications, rather than lathes or ploughs” (Rouse, 2005).
What do you think the term ‘information society’ means?
I think that information society is where we find ourselves and how we define ourselves right now, as part of the digital revolution. All around the world we, as a very broad group of humans, are living in the information environment (both analog and digital). Floridi calls this ever-evolving environment the “infosphere” which covers “all informational entities…their properties, interactions, processes, and mutual relations” (Floridi, 2007, p. 59). The information society is global and connected and driven by the galloping pace of digital innovation and development.
Why is it important for teacher librarians to understand the information landscape?
As Teacher Librarians, we must understand this information landscape because we live in it! More importantly, our students inhabit it too. Understanding this vast landscape is important because a significant part of our role is sifting through for quality information and resources for others to access. It is, however, also modelling best practice and scaffolding of skills so students can navigate this landscape for themselves. There is so much information that we can all easily access now online and in our physical environment, with more information being created and disseminated every second. This is an overwhelming thought – so, it is imperative we learn how to scope the landscape (and develop strategies to cope with information overload)!
Understanding the information landscape is also important because we are preparing students for futures, such as careers, that will only become more involved in this advancing, digitally driven information landscape. This website https://100jobsofthefuture.com/ is a joint project by Ford Australia, Deakin University and Griffith University, and gives an idea of what future jobs over the next few decades might look like! As David Ramadge comments in the report, “the level of technological understanding will increase for all jobs of the future, but jobs will open up for people who can successfully stand between people and machines, and who can understand people” (Tytler et al., 2019, p. 30).
References:
Floridi, L. (2007). A Look into the Future Impact of ICT on Our Lives. Information Society, 23(1), 59–64.
Rouse, M. (2005). Information Society. WhatIs.com. https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/Information-Society
Tytler, R., Bridgstock, R., White, P., Mather, D., Mccandless, T., Grant-Iramu, M. (2019). 100 jobs of the future. Deakin University, Australia. Retrieved from https://100jobsofthefuture.com/report/100jobsofthefuturereport-SCREEN.pdf
Image Credit: Photo by Juliana Kozoski on Unsplash
No Comments