Information is a term that as a teacher I use daily. Yet when you think about the term more deeply it becomes an abstract thought which is hard to define and isolate what it is. Information is a word that we all use every single day yet when asked what it actually meant you would struggle to give a single definition (Owen, 2006). To me information is anything that you can learn from or about.
Information has only been complicated even more by the introduction of technology and morphed with our reliance on technology in our daily lives. ICT has allowed us, as humans to have access to any answer we need in our pockets at any time. However, this benefit has it’s equal in negatives. We may have unlimited access to learning, but we are now over saturated in information. There are a million articles which each have contradictions out there as well. For every yes article, there is a no article. This has led to the human race being more informed than ever. Due to this we are able to call out people who are misinformed and have facts, details and articles to back up our opinion (Floridi, 2007).
Information now comes in multiple forms, not just verbal or written. This allows all types of learners to access the information and analyse it in their own personal way. I believe that the ever evolving landscape of information is something that we should strive to continue and adapt to in order to advance our species. Information gives us new challenges to overcome and new learning goals every single day.
As a member of a generation that has grown up with technology I find myself reliant on technology in my day to day life. There both positives and negatives to having constant access to information (Mosbergen,2016).
Some negatives that I find are quite relevant to my own personal life and my outlook of technology include the following points.
When the internet goes down I find myself at a loss when I have work to do. I have become reliant on the fact that I could pull out my smart phone, hit a few buttons and have the answer to any question but when that is taken away I feel like my skills in information searching has almost disappeared.
Another negative would be the amount of information that is on the internet. With the amount of information that is out there is becomes hard to find relevant, accurate information. It’s so easy to read an article and draw a conclusion from that article or information yet because anyone can put something on the website it’s very hard to determine which sources are reliable and which are not.
Not everything is negative though. There are many positives for every negative.
One positive that jumps to my mind is the ability to foster your own passion in learning in an area that fascinates you without having to go to a traditional learning setting. For example, I am able to undertake a university degree from the comfort of my own living room or staffroom whilst still working full time. Without the internet I would not be able to work full time, which is a necessity for me to be able to live, whilst studying the further my career and interests.
The next positive is in an emergency you have access to any information that you could possibly need. For example, if you child were to ingest something that they shouldn’t you could type a few things into your smart phone or computer and you would have some solutions to your problem. This helps to ease your mind in the case of an emergency.
One last positive that I think is highly important is that by having information so readily accessible to most people, it promotes a sense of curiosity and helps you become a life-long learner. This is such an important skill in a world where people are expected t change careers multiple times over their lives. they need to have the ability to learn and the curiosity to want to learn new things.
References
Floridi, L. (2007). A look into the future impact of ICT on our lives. The Information Society, 23, 59-64. CSU Library.
Mosbergen, D. (2016). French legislation suggests employees deserve the right to disconnect. The Huffington Post. Retrieved July 2016.
Owen, D. (2006). Looking for Information: A Survey of Research on Information Seeking, Needs, and Behavior. Emerald Publishing Limited.
