Sigh… So work got away from me so I didn’t get to participate as much as I would have liked so this is my attempt to catch up.
Week 2 we examined the Internet and how it relates to education and open access. I did the reading early and then didn’t have time to fully participate to get my questions answered. When I read and annotated the Tim Berners-Lee article I didn’t get the chance to respond to some of the questions I was asked about my comments, which deserve to be answered. As I read the article I was struck by the income bias. The article while very informative and enlightening, has a bias toward those who can afford access. Gardner Campbell noted my concerns and is I believe on the right track with inclusive access for all. Gardner also provided a link to Pew research showing the increase in usage of the internet. But as I looked through this data I was struck by how we are still biasing access with income and education. While general use has increased, lower income and education have just now reached the use point of higher income and education individuals were at 18 years ago. And home use of the internet via home broadband for low income is at 53% and low education at 34% verses high income and high education’s 93% and 91%. This is not taking into consideration location (data is provided). Also of note in that same research is that lower income and education individuals are more dependent on their smartphones for all their internet access. The internet has an inherent bias to those who can afford access, and I think it’s important to recognize that.
Week 3 we examined information literacy and open access. As a librarian who teaches a credit bearing research course, Facing the Frames just confined what I do. Although there are differences since my class is 16 weeks and we go into more then just information literacy (we also cover some aspects of writing), the concepts of teaching the student to analyze every aspect of what they are doing is important for librarians to understand and use in every aspect of what they do. Critical thinking and evaluation is the most important thing we teach. Which lead into Beyond Buttonology… I have to say I was surprised at this article, because I had thought that librarians had moved beyond teaching the mechanics already. Critical thinking and metacognition has always been emphasized where I have worked.
That’s my $0.02.
Quinnell's Corner 