When reading
Clay A. Johnson’s book, The Information
Diet, I found myself taking inventory of my information consumption habits.
I would consider my diet to be average. There were areas where I felt no attention
was needed (using reliable sources) and other areas where I could certainly be
more mindful of balancing (like surfing on Facebook for the latest LuLaRoe
designs). I believe navigating this
digital world, with an abundance of information, is a challenge for us
all. Who knew of such things as
churnalism, content farming, and media mining?
I do mostly only watch local news, preferably channel 4, NBC news and
only watch CNN when something major happens in the U.S. I had noticed that all of the different local
news broadcasts, NBC, FOX5, CBS, etc. did tend to all report the same things,
but I’d always assumed that this was because it was what happened, and everyone
was on the scene. Now I know it is a result of content farming and not actual
journalism. I don’t even like listening
to the news or seeing posts on Facebook, all of the rhetoric and bias out there
surrounding this election and the Black Lives Matter movement. I choose to stay
in my ignorance bubble. I do not engage
in any of it. Just look at one person’s
posts and links shared and you see information validation at its finest! I was already aware of the vast social media
mining that takes place and that it wasn’t just a coincidence that
advertisements and such links showed up tailored just for us. I just didn’t know the name and how large of
a place it had in the industry. Who thought that being a human data analyst or
creator of automated software programs to sift through our media usage, online
behaviors, sharing of content, (even looking at our connections with friends),
and online buying would be such a needed profession?
As I continue
to reflect and be mindful of my own practice, I will hopefully more skillfully
design learning experiences for both students and the staff with which I work
daily. It is so crucial that we are
responsive in our teaching to such things as cyberbullying, having strong
passwords, keeping private information safe and what the difference is between
personal and private information, and how everything you do on the Internet
leaves a digital footprint. I am
continually shocked to learn of nine year olds having Facebook pages, the
potential danger of gaming sites and such.
We must not be illiterate citizens when it comes to information literacy
and using.
Teaching information
using and 21st century literacy skills to students is a HUGE part of
my job. I do lessons on all of these things -research skills, showing students
the county’s online resources, web searching, evaluating sources, citing
sources, and web safety. Just last week,
I was asked by the third grade team to do some lessons with students on researching
and evaluating websites, along with other skills. My response was that I’d be more than happy
to help them plan a lesson or two to coincide with their curriculum, so that
they would also be informed about information using and its importance. Information literacy and digital citizenship is
not something that is just taught and acquired in a few isolated lessons, rather
it should be ongoing, woven into all subject areas, projects, and
interdisciplinary in nature. Not to
mention, these activities should engage students in real, authentic problems so
they can make the connection and see the application to their life. With the adoption of the One to the World
initiative two years ago, all librarians and technology resource teachers were
required to become Common Sense Media® (CSM) Digital Certified Educators. We are additionally charged to facilitate the
CSM Digital Certification for our school.
This is to be done annually. The
TRT and I are collaborating on ways to help the staff become knowledgeable of
what it means to be a good digital citizen, how to recognize reliable sources
of information, and how to use information responsibly. Additionally, now I
need to figure out how do I get teachers to see these skills as useful outside
of a research context and to see how they apply to everyday content
consumption? I can start by sharing some
of my own recent learning and tools with them monthly through a library
newsletter. Now I just need to do an
affordance analysis to see what technology to use to best meet my goal. Will it be with Prezi, ThingLink, word publication,
an infographic, etc.?
Were you the one that mentioned in class last week that Jim Vance was your favorite? Whoever it was, I was going to interject a comment about meeting him :) He officiated at my friend's wedding. It was really awesome to hear that voice guide the bride and groom in their vows.
ReplyDeleteNow back to learning. I applaud you for encouraging the teachers to be the designers of Information Using lessons. Too often I think classroom teachers believe it is the media specialists or the librarians who are responsible for developing information users. You have a great job in that you not only can guide students but help teachers be good information users!!!
As we begin designing for Information Using, I look forward to seeing how the DDLS principles change what you do in this realm.
So I just looked up LuLaRoe designs. I had no idea what that was, I'm so in a bubble. Yes it was surprising to learn some of what all those data mining companies do, I had read some of what they do, kind of just the tip of the iceberg stuff. This book definitely made me reevaluate my digital consumption and helped me be aware that I need a keener eye on the reliability of where the information I'm consuming comes from.
ReplyDelete