Since last Thursday, I've been thinking about the wikis we'll be working on, and the audiences they'll be intended for. Since we'll be creating training materials for the wikis, it's important that we know our audience and tailor our training materials toward them. Thinking about this reminded me of a story I read about on the blog LISNews about a study conducted by a British research group. Both Library Journal and a tech blog called Ars Technica reported on it. The study was called "Information Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future". Some of their findings were pretty scary, if not all that surprising.
The LJ article mentions that the researchers discovered that the "'Google Generation'—youth born or brought up in the Internet age—is not particularly web-literate, and their research traits—impatience in search and navigation and zero tolerance for any delay in satisfying their information needs—are becoming the norm for all age-groups." I've definitely noticed this to be true while working at the University Library reference desk; I often have to do a lot of hand holding to get students to the information they need. Unfortunately, when they walk away, I'm not very confident that they'd know how to replicate the search on their own. It's sad to think that adults' research traits are becoming this way as well. This just underscores the fact that our wikis should be well organized and easy to use!
This report also shows that Internet literacy is something that needs to be taught. Duh, it's a skill to be learned just like anything else, but so many people seem to think that knowing how to use a computer is somehow innate now. Fact is, if kids don't get taught (by their parents, or by a librarian, teacher, etc.), they're going to learn from their friends. And chances are, their friends don't really know what they're doing either. Sigh.
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4 comments:
My husband receives news updates via email daily from what is called CODE PROJECT. It is mainly about computer geeky things, but a few weeks back there was an article very similar to what you are talking about. It would have been perfect to link to, however he deleted it before I could tell him to save it. In today' world, I believe we do think that technology is inherent. I try to think about how it really is not when I get frustrated. Unfortunately, that does not always pan out.
Hello, Joel,
I agree with what you said about educating young people on how to use computers and the Internet effectively. I think that it is very important that students learn how to use a computer from a person that is proficient with search strategies, authoritative information, etc. Many people believe everything they read just because it is on the Internet, but some of this information has accuracy that is equivalent to "The Enquirer."
The article you have mentioned really brings up the need for information literacy programs: where education institutions are creating in their framework ways to teach their students to use information and research. Traditionally the thought perhaps was "they will go to the library, and a librarian will help them out eventually" but in our internet/information rich age the tides definitely are turning. On one hand I can see the frustration with hand holding patrons, but on the other hand I see it as a huge opportunity for libraries to get back to the forefront of the information game...not just playing catch up.
As I recall, those of us working reference in the pre-Internet age shared the same concerns about students being able to replicate what we had just shown them. The biggest challenge now IMHO is that a large proportion of library usage takes place remotely by people who never have to come to the actual building.
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