"2004 Information Format Trends: Content, Not Containers"
One of the most interesting points in this article was that most users no longer care how information is transmitted to them; they just want the information. People want their information to come to them quickly and cheaply. This made me think of fast food chains like McDonald's- you expect your food to be cheap and come out of the kitchen quickly. But fast food is not the highest quality food, and sometimes when you're pressed for time and cash, you don't care about quality as much. Will this happen with information? Will people become so concerned with getting whatever information they can as fast as they can that they will stop to care about the quality of that information?
The author writes, "Social publishing is essentially open content unfettered by licenses or firewalls...It needs no other distribution channel other than the internet. The individual is at the center of social publishing, not institutions" (6). Everyone now has the opportunity to be an author. No longer is there a need to go through a publishing house, maybe with the help of an agent, to get your opinion out to the world. This transformation of distribution is breaking down barriers of class, levels of education, and social status. There's the saying "It's who you know," but with formats such as wikis and blogs, you don't need to know anyone important in the field of publishing to be a successful author.
"Information Literacy and Information Technology Literacy..."
Lynch believes that in order to succeed in life, it is crucial for people to learn both different technological skills as well as how different technologies work. He writes that students today do not often get the opportunity to be exposed to the latter and they suffer for it. While I agree with Lynch that it would be helpful if we could all learn how the various technologies available to us today are interrelated and exactly how they function, I think that logistically this would be hard to accomplish. In most high schools there aren't enough computers for every student. And with the many requirements in states' curricula, most students can't fit in a technology class. Maybe at a college level there could be a chance to require students to take a technology class as a requirement for their Associate's or Bachelor's degree, but each institution has their own way they want to work things, so that might not be effective either.
"Lied Library @ four years..."
This article showed just how much changes in four years. The replacing of computers, redesigning of offices, installing of new software. Sometimes I find it hard to notice how much has changed because if you're living through it, it's more gradual. The main takeaway point from this for me was that no matter how up-to-date an institution is upon its opening, it will have to continually work at remaining up-to-date. Lied Library didn't slack off. They were consistent in their attempts to upgrade their systems to optimize their users' experiences. This article successfully summarized many factors necessary in keeping a library running at its full potential.
I agree with your response to Lynch's essay, in that Lynch's expectations are very difficult to achieve, and unlikely as of the present. Even so, the educational standards will need to be increased as technological development increases, and students in high school at some time in the future could have the same educational standards as undergraduate college students. Currently, this perspective may seem too idealistic, especially financially, although the technological education of younger generations is crucial to the improvement of societies internationally. In many nations, the United States included, the educational standards of technological skill acquisitions need to be increased for technological efficiency in societies, as well as societies themselves, to be ameliorated. High schools, colleges and universities across the world need to at least try to maintain concerted efforts to improve the advanced technological skills of students.
ReplyDeleteYour post was observant and interesting, and I wish to comment on more of your posts throughout the next several months.
The abundance of the available information due to appearance of technological tools dropped the standard of the information and its quality. As a future librarians I believe we should strive to deliver a high quality information to our patrons. However, some customers prefer to visit McDonald (great comparison). I have questions about the methodology of this report. It raises many questions, at least to me, in regards of information collection and processing.
ReplyDeleteChristy,
ReplyDeleteI liked your analogy between information technology trends and McDonald's fast food! And look what cheap fast food has done to us! I haven't read the book "The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains" (by Nicholas Carr) yet, but it's on my "someday-when-I'm-done-with-this-program" list. From reviews I've read, though, I gather the author discusses how the Internet has made us distracted readers and samplers of information, while we are much more deeper thinkers and creative people when we read the printed word. So I wonder, if things continue the way they've been, what our society, our children, will be like in 50 years (or less). Perhaps our brains, as well as our bodies, will be obese, with no "muscle tone" to them to encourage critical thinking skills.