I'm wondering if experimenting with all these great web publishing tools is merely adding to information clutter on the web. Don't get me wrong... I think it's fantastic that it's so easy to publish on the web. But with the mind-boggling amount of information that is created each day, I wonder if our egos are getting in the way of social responsibility. I mean, is it really necessary to have people's journals online for everyone to sift through when searching by keyword? Let's face it: a lot of the information on the web is trite and its presence contributes to information overload. I'm not trying to be an intellectual ellitist... I don't think everyone should publish something intelligent or not publish anything at all... but I'm just wondering how much stuff on the web is directly related to personal ego gratification as opposed to information dissemination?
After all, that's the hook with podcasts, blogs, wikis, and any other social networking tools we're introducing to kids in the classroom... the public audience is what gets them going. It's the idea that someone- some person in the "real world" will listen if you publish online. I'm not sure if that's entirely true, though. What a wonderful project those Coulee kids are doing with their classroom podcast... the teacher's introduction and explanation of their podcast journey was truly inspirational. But to be quite honest, who would subscribe to that from the general public? The only ones listening to them are the students themselves, the teacher, the principal (maybe), perhaps the parents, and people like us who are directed! I sound like a real pooper, but I'm only questioning the public availability of it all. It just seems to add to the information clutter on the web. I wonder if the deep web is a better place for these things to be, and that way it would only be available to a specific audience.
Audience aside, I think these tools pose amazing possibilities for teacher collaboration! I love that the South African curriculum is a wiki. It makes PERFECT sense to have a place where teachers can post lessons, edit lessons because something didn't work, and network with other subject-specific teachers on an ongoing basis. This discovery was the most exciting for me, since anything that connects teachers is important to me. In my experience, being a classroom teacher is one of the most isolating jobs. That's why I loved being in the school library- because you actually work with other adults to create better learning experiences for the students and I find that very gratifying. Being in the classroom can be awfully lonely, so a wiki for posting lessons/reflections/questions for people in parallel positions to ponder and respond to is wonderful.
2 comments:
But, isn't learning to sift a skill we want to teach students, teachers, parents, etc.? I don't even notice the junk that pops up anymore when I'm doing a search because I know what I'm looking for.
Also, remember that students that grow up with technology are also more savvy about this then sometimes we are.
The deep web would bury a lot of this stuff too much. There are people out there, me and other educators for some, who do want to find out what's going on in schools and other institutions in order to help expand teaching and learning.
Yes- you are right Linda. When I was talking about information overload to a systems librarian last year, he had this to say: "you can drown just as easily from water coming at you from a garden hose, as from a fire hose, or from a 20 inch pipe- after a certain point of saturation the volume isn't really relevant."
I'm happy to be learning about new ways to sift through information because as you say, it is essential for us to have this skill in today's age. RSS is an awesome tool, and I'm grateful to have been introduced to it. And I'm not really a fan of the deep web- it's too mysterious! I like that humans from all walks of life are working together to build knowledge. The web is really like a macrocosm of the wiki in this way, isn't it?
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