This report was an interesting read. Here are my thoughts:
- Page 3, 5th para. When reading this, I instantly thought of blogs. While I know there are some legitimate blogs out there, the majority seem to be just people posting their opinions. What could become detrimental is people (young people) using blogs as a source for research purposes instead of more reliable ones.
- Page 7, 3rd para. I was suprised that 61% of people surveyed for the Blogads report found blogs to be more honest. There don't appear to be any editorial rules regarding bloggers, so I'm surprised that people assume so much honesty.
- The list of new vocabulary was very helpful. There were 6 words/concepts I had never heard of before.
- Page 4, 3rd para. and Page 5, 1st full para. While it is true that understanding of information technology skills is very important in every sector of society, I do not think such specialized knowledge can be had by everyone. This is why information specialists will become increasingly important in every field. The skills listed on Page 5 - indexing techniques, organizational systems, etc. -may be unreasonable for everyone to know and that's why information specialists with these skills will be so important in medicine, engineering, etc.
- This article was very detailed in explaining how the Lied Library was developed and how it was able to become a first class high-tech research library. While it went into great detail explaining what new computer programs were used, what program upgrades were done, etc., the lack of discussion of the human element was noticeable in the article. Did the library staff have to be trained in the new programs? One would think they would be expected to be well-versed in the new systems to be able to help students. A companion article covering the same time period that discusses the creation of this library (and everything it entailed) through the eyes of a librarian would be interesting.
7 comments:
Monica,
On your comment about the Lynch article. I would have to disagree with you. That knowledge can be had by everyone if it was introduced into more curriculums or people just simply wanted to know more about information technologies. Lynch is not saying you need to know how to program, but he is saying you should understand why we program and why we do things. I think this info can be had by everyone. So instead of using a program and not knowing what you are doing they want you to know why you are doing what you are doing hence Information Technology Literacy. Once you know some basic IT principles you can apply them to many things. I think that was Lynch's point in the article not that Information Specialist are not going to be needed because they will be, but that the IT knowledge is very useful for everyone to have with the ever changing technological advancements we see everyday. Just my 2 cents.
Gotcha - I think I read the two paragraphs differently than you and do agree with your comment.
You're right that it should be introduced in more curriculums. I think back to my undergrad years at Pitt and wish some kind of IT class was a requirement. This class we're in now is my first IT class ever (OK maybe 2nd if high school typewriter class counts)!
It should really be introduced into more schools. Its a shame that it isn't! I actually have a cert in tech support back on Windows98, but while its outdated it still helps. Things have changed so much and I am pretty IT literate and have a hard time keeping track these days;however, just knowing basic principles can get me going on just about anything. It should be mandatory like Math and English that we take IT in schools since we are of school age! Maybe one day!
I agree that more IT should be offered both in undergrad and perhaps even before. I also think this way about statistics. However, offering such courses aren't cheap, and I would have liked to see more discussion of how Lied was able to afford such wonderful toys.
Monica, I thought your first two points regarding the OCLC report were interesting. There's been an ongoing argument between mainstream sports reporters and sports bloggers about what constitutes journalism, which of course ties back into questions of accuracy and research. The debate came to a head on an HBO show (either Costas Now or Real Sports) earlier this year in which the author of Friday Night Lights, a mainstream sports journalist, verbally attacked the editor of Deadspin, a sports blog. In short, journalists think bloggers live in mom's basement and don't do any real work, while bloggers think the access given to journalists by teams either corrupts or co-opts them.
On your second point, I often wonder if people confuse honesty with accuracy.
Thanks for your comments, Jake. Being a huge sports fan, I'm going to have to track down that HBO special.
Not sure if it's because blogging is so new to me, but I don't really think I have much interest in it because the legitimacy is just not there.
Lauren I agree with your comment, knowledge can be had by everyone, and every good civilization for the people and by the people should be striving to provide such high standards to all its citizenry.
Monica,
Stated exactly as I would have.
Blogging is new to me too and I can only see myself using it for social purposes, for work related purposes I would choose a different medium, but maybe after this class I will change my mind!
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