The information landscape of the twenty-first century is a complex and evolving concept that is currently populated by new and old information artefacts, technologies and people. These are all factors which ultimately change the structure of the landscape itself and how society views it, and vice versa (Combes & Valli, 2007).

In the readings for this week there was a statement which stopped me in my tracks “The Public Domain Web represents approximately 8-10% of the WWW”. I mean, I obviously knew about private access sites such as government and law but really? 90 percent of online information is locked away in the deep web? hang on, again, what is the ‘deep web’?

Well according to Techopedia.com the term “deep web” – refers to any internet information or data that is inaccessible by a search engine and includes all web pages, websites, intranets, networks and online communities that are intentionally and/or unintentionally hidden, invisible or unreachable to search engine crawlers.

The deep web is also known as the hidden web, undernet, deepnet or invisible web.

Technically, the deep web is a series of interconnected systems that are not indexed by search engines and only directly accessible by their creators or individuals with very limited privileges.

It contains data that is dynamically produced by an application, unlinked or standalone web pages/websites, non-HTML content and data that is privately held and classified as confidential. 

Ok, so a hidden iceberg of information systems that is invisible and unsearchable but why? Does this mean there is a second internet? and what kind of application could this have for the educational context?

Well back over at Techopedia.com  they explain Internet2 Network is responsible for delivering production network services to fulfill the high-performance requirements of education and research services. It also provides its users with a protected research and network testing environment.

So like a password protected Intranet or Portal, those as teachers and students we are familiar with but what other some other educational uses? our friends over at Techopedia.com explain that there are three;

• Distributed E-Libraries: Students routinely use e-libraries requiring high-bandwidth Internet IP networks. Internet2 provides tools to support and enhance network capability for high-speed data traffic.
• Data Retrieval and Bandwidth: Before the digital computer age, data was text-based, and students did not have experience with digital transmission systems. Today, educational data is available for retrieval via Internet, increasing high-speed bandwidth requirements. Internet2 facilitates the development of enhanced bandwidth networks, services and support.
• Virtualization: Multiple users – including students, scientists and teachers – now have the ability to work and access virtual laboratories from remote locations. Internet2’s advanced features facilitate the virtual availability of educational tools and machinery. It also provides online educational and training programs.

And so now it appears I have stuck my head under that water and viewed the REAL size of the information landscape and yes, I am feeling quite overwhelmed. It appears there is a vast quantity that we as TLs need to keep abreast of Oh! and that is always changing and evolving as well.

This brings me to the thought of information overload. Having such a vast information landscape in reach 24/7 can also make you feel as though you need to stay connected at all times, or else you may miss out or fall behind in the information race. I feel this, for example when there are 160 discussion posts unread and my anxiety shouts that I’m not keeping up, at the same time as that number grows on the same and next in line posts. Can you really ever keep up? or are we simple always chasing information?

In her article, Mosbergen, suggests that information technologies can badly effect your health, stating if mismanaged ” the burden of work and the informational overburden, the blurring of the borders between private life and professional life, are risks associated with the usage of digital technology.”

I can attest to that blurring of borders, leaving school and my Google Classroom, to head home and jump on Interact2, only to have my phone notifications start going off with parent emails at 9pm and I leap between two online platforms, trying to keep up.

Jon Whittle, a researcher at Digital Brain Switch, a U.K. project looking at the impacts of digital technology on work-life balance, told The Washington Post that some employees may feel even more overwhelmed at the thought of returning, in the morning or post-vacation, to a deluge of emails.

Yes, yes we do and this anticipated fear of ‘not keeping up’ is what keeps us so unhealthily plugged-in. Just as Whittle explains “I think the topic of work-related well-being is much larger than simply stopping email after-hours, email is just a medium used to communicate. The real problem is the culture of having to constantly do more and constantly do better”.

So are we a culture of ‘Plugged-in’ because we fear that if we don’t keep up with this perceived technology race, we will simple fall behind and so will our value?

If so, how do we find balance and a time to disconnect without fear and self-judgement? and what is this teaching the next generation of technology uses?

References;

Combes, B & Valli, R. (2007). Fiction and the twenty-first century: A new paradigm? Cyberspace, D-world, E-learning: Giving libraries and schools the cutting edge, The 2007 IASL Conference, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan.

Mosbergen, D. (2016). French legislation suggests employees deserve the right to disconnect. The Huffington Post.

Techopedia. (2019). Deep Web; definition. Retrieved https://www.techopedia.com/definition/15653/deep-web

Techopedia. (2019). Internet2; Definition. Retrieved https://www.techopedia.com/definition/24955/internet2