Readings: Smorgasboard of information

This week I continued reading my Google reader blog posts, though not all of them… and one of those posts that I did read made me feel a little better about not reading every single entry.  I chose to read through the 8 unread posts from the Blue Skunk Blog because I know that Doug Johnson always has timely and humorous posts about technology and school librarianship.

Summary: This week, teacher-librarian extraordinaire Doug Johnson wrote in his Blue Skunk Blog, asking readers “Is a digital smorgasbord good for you?” In short, the answer was “no.” Johnson cites an NPR interview with Sherry Turkle who discussed some of the pros and cons of omnipresent information and technology, and suggests that it is too soon to know whether or not this digital revolution has improved or hurt our teens. However, Johnson continues his own analysis of the topic and compares today’s information-laden society to the nostalgic all-you-can-eat buffets of his childhood. In both cases, the food/information is cheap and plentiful, sure, but not all of it is truly high quality fare that we should stuff our faces with as often as we sometimes do.

Resource: I’ve read many of Johnson’s posts in the past, some are more helpful than others. For example, it seems like the technology policy at his school is much more lenient and teachers are much more aware of technologies than is the case at my school. I know that if I shared with some of my colleagues his list of 7 things that students can always do with technology in his classroom, it would not be met with a warm reception because it implies that the teacher is not teaching the whole hour. Other posts of his are hyper-intellectual and advocate for radical changes in pedagogy—again they are interesting, but seem to lack some practical applications. I felt like this blog post was a happy medium—it gave my brain a little stretch, something new to think about, but it wasn’t so new and “out there” that I couldn’t relate to it.

Content: The topic for the smorgasbord post truly resonated with me as a teacher, future librarian, and information consumer. I appreciated that he was focusing on quality over quantity. One thing that stood out was that he asked, if every text cost a nickel or every email cost a dime, wouldn’t we be much more discerning about what we sent. Absolutely! That made me realize that I’m not just a victim of information overload, I’m also a perpetrator! He also noted that while in Nairobi he had to pay $13 an hour to use internet, so he was much more selective in what he read online. In his classic self-deprecating style, Johnson ended with a question—if we had to pay to read this post, would we? This one, yes. I’d pay a little bit for his expert opinion. I would not pay for a lot of what I sift through on the net, though. So isn’t my time worth something? Even if I don’t outright pay for the content (directly), shouldn’t I still consider what information is worth the hours in my day? Probably.

I will use this blog, and particularly this post as I try to find the BEST information for my students, teachers, and myself.  I might also use the two analogies (the smorgasbord and paying for each minute of internet)  with other teachers and students in my appeals to them to do more than just "google" it.  Clearly there's a lot of information on google, but let's look at a few high quality resources that can more precisely meet our information needs.

I did listen to the link to the NPR interview with Sherry Turkle, and I found that there are many other broadcasts that relate to relevant librarianship/education issues-- so I would like to explore that rabbit trail in the future.