“Getting information off the Internet is like taking a drink from a fire hydrant.”
- Mitchell Kapor
This quote has alot of truth in it, in my opinion. I do find it rather difficult at times to get accurate information from a credible source on the Internet. The situation becomes worse, when I have no prior knowledge on the information I'm seeking, because there is just SO much data available out there on the World Wide Web.
This era of globalization has created a large shift towards accessing the Internet for obtaining any information and conducting research. As such, web users are no longer merely accepting information passively, but are actively being engaged in the process of sending and receiving information through the creation of numerous websites that allow users to upload and download data almost instantaneously, without comprehending the validity of the content. Thus, there becomes a problem of information overload and the risk of misinformation as users become dependent on the various web tools. As mentioned in my previous blog entries, it falls on the responsibility of the user to filter data and only seek/receive information that is needed.
The cartoon above shows how such young users are able to get information at the tip of their fingers. It must be mentioned that information overload is not limited to the Internet. In fact, it comes from all types of media. The main problem of being overload with information is that we pay partial attention to everything and full attention to nothing. Linda stone, who coined the term, 'Continuous Partial Attention' argues that people need to know when to switch off/tune down the flow of information as we lead very stressful lifestyles that continuously demands our attention, taking away time from our families. It becomes crucial that young users of the web are taught how to manage the overflow of information that they come across on a daily basis as it may be rather overwhelming.
Folksonomy
Folksonomies are a social bookmarking tool. Its a filter tool that allows users to share websites related to a topic by classifying, collaborating and managing content. Tagging, which is one of the defining characteristics of Web 2.0 services, allows users to collectively classify and find information. Some websites include tag clouds as a way to visualize tags in a folksonomy such as Delicious.com. I have created my first ever tag cloud using another famous website, Wordle.net and its now up on the left tool bar! The extensible, adaptable structure and non-linear presentation of folksonomies allows it to be a great tool in education. Teachers can incorporate this web 2.0 tool in their curriculum as it allows students to navigate various sites that has been pre-chosen by the teacher (no complications of misrepresentation of data) and complete set tasks, like quizzes and blog entries.
Christie Keeler’s Social Studies Links is an example of how folksonomies is useful in education. I found this rather eye-opening and have been inspired to create a delicious account, myself!
This acronym stands for 'Really Simple Syndication'. It is a way to easily distribute a list of headlines, update notices, and sometimes content to a wide number of people. It is used by computer programs that organize those headlines and notices for easy reading. Most newspapers around the world have an online RSS feed where users can subscribe to various sections of the paper. They then are able to receive updates automatically to their designated email/blog accounts without having to access the main website where the information is coming from. An example of this can be seen on the right tool bar of my blog. I have successfully managed to subscribe to the 'Breaking News' column of the West Australian newspaper. This is so beneficial as each time I log into my blog, I am aware of the current news affair in Perth and beyond as it is updated automatically.
RSS feeds can be useful in education because it customises content. The information given can be pre-selected by teachers and thus can be targeted to a particular chapter of a topic. RSS feeds are also useful in helping teachers to syndicate blog posts as many educators are using blogging as a creative literacy tool which helps students learn writing and reporting skills while understanding how to use technology. Teachers can also use RSS feeds to share resources and quality websites ( social bookmarking) with their colleagues. RSS feeds, in my opinion is a tool to embrace. Not only does it allow you to be up to date on your selected preferences of information, it also is a great ICT tool to incorporate in classrooms. It also aids professional development between educators.
I shall end this week's post with this video that I happen to come across while surfing on YouTube. Its yet another example of how much information is available through the Internet and how overwhelming it can be when you stop to think about the quantity and quality of information you are receiving. At the end of this video, I was so amazed by the content that I had to check out the credibility of it. And to my surprise, most of the information given is in fact, true. Be prepared to be blown away! :)
It's great to see you making use of tools like RSS and also experimenting with a tag cloud (though of course the Wordle tag clouds are not clickable indexes, in the way that a Delicious tag cloud would be). You have some good ideas for using these tools in the classroom as well. Tag clouds can be a way for teachers to guide students to particular resources, but remember that students themselves can collaboratively build tag clouds.
ReplyDeleteYour cartoon is very relevant, and it's good that you've given a link to the original source, but do you have copyright permission to use it (e.g., is it under a CC licence?)? Remember that both permission AND attribution are needed when you use others' images.
I'm glad I attended this week's workshop as I never knew anything about RSS feeds and would not have been able to understand all these terms! Thanks, Mark.
ReplyDeleteI did set up an account with delicious.com. However, i still need abit more time to play around with the site to gain some confidence. I felt that the Wordle site was more user friendly, but like you mentioned, the tag clouds are not clickable.
Yes, there is a CC license for the cartoon diagram.
"Contributions to http://flatclassroomproject2008.wikispaces.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution No-Derivative-Works Non-Commercial 3.0 License "
Perhaps, it might be better for me to add this link found at the end of the webpage as part of the source as well?
That video was mind blowing, too much information! I can relate to some of the facts being true. I am in the category of 1 in 4 workers will be with their current employer for less than a year. Since starting this course at beginning of last year I have 5 different jobs with 5 different employers, my current job I have been there since March.
ReplyDeleteBy the time I was 38 the number of different employers and jobs I had was way more than 14! I changed jobs 4 times in one year in my mid 20's and the longest I have ever been with the one employer is 5 years, the shortest 3 days.
My son is 19 this year and since he was 14 has had 6 different jobs and employers, one being full time for a year and the others casual. He has 2 casual jobs now.
The final one that applies to me is the learning while at Uni. In my first year at Uni in 2001 I had a Unit called Introduction to Digital Technologies and we learnt PowerPoint, Photoshop, how to make a website using Dreamweaver and movies with Premier. The version of Dreamweaver was 3 and Photoshop was 5. My final year was 2003 and by the end of that year the versions of Dreamweaver and Photoshop I had used in 2001 were very obsolete as more recent ones had come out so I can believe what was on that video
It is staggering to know that information is growing at a very rapid rate and I wonder how people in the future will be able to keep up with it as I am sure our brains are not evolving and developing at a rate sufficient to accommodate the information growth.