Café Nero

One of the privileges of being a PhD student is that you have the freedom to work where you want. I have found that I seem to get some of my most creative work done at Cafe Nero in Chapel Allerton Leeds. Simply, plonk my laptop on a table, order and Grande Café Americano for £1.60 and away I type. I think that being away from the distractions of paperwork and articles at home (and also the internet – I’m not paying the Nero change for Wi-Fi access) helps to focus on writing.

Challenging Information Literacy

My aim for the day is to try and read. This is little difficult as I am so tired – little Evie kept Helen and myself up most of the night! Oh well. The two documents read today:

Nicholas and Marden – their full British Library funded report in 1997 on the Information Needs of parents for children under five. I have written about their research before, needless to say this will be a key document for me, both for methodological design and literature review. My one personal beef with the work is- its brevity!

Booker, Di (Ed), Concept, challenge, conundrum: From Library skills to Information Literacy, Proceedings of the fourth national information literacy conference conducted by the University of South Australia, 1999.

There are two very good articles here (not to say the others are not – rather these two are more relevant to me), one by Ross Todd and the other by Susan Boyce. Both of these articles challenge and ask questions of the notion of information literacy. I am struck how many writers seem to simply accept IL and the ALA definition. Todd argues that we need to move away from the simply accepting the behaviourist models of IL and ask deeper questions about the form and substance of what IL actually is. Certainly, I agree with much Todd was writing. My own perception is, that in the 7-8 years since wrote his article for the conference, we have not moved on beyond embedding IL in either HE or school curriculum’s, I fear that there is little in the way of a sound scholarship and there is in fact no systematic theoretical basis for the subject, beyond a glorified approaches to bibliographic instruction. Is modern information literacy a type of ‘Emperors new clothes’ for librarians?

A great buffet lunch!

Today was an opportunity to meet with other Centenary PhD students over a buffet lunch with the University’s Academic Board. After what was a very good buffet (when compared to the usual NHS fare that I am used to). About five of us students, met for coffee after the lunch. This was an excellent opportunity to share experiences and realise that I am not alone. Let us hope we can build on these small beginnings.

Meeting No. 2 with supervisor

My second proper meeting with my supervisor; it is always good to ‘touch base’, it is amazing how the days and weeks pass by and one wonders where they vanish. From my perspective, we managed to cover some ground – although my personal preference would be for my supervisors to specify objectives for the next meeting to help focus my mind – but alas that harks back to my old days in NHS management and the workplace. I am coming to appreciate the space given to me over the past two months, simply to read and move into this phase of scholasticism. I do, however, have a focus, that being the faculty conference in a week’s time, where I am supposed to be talking about my preliminary research. Oh well. ..

Open Workbench

I have found my solution to planning - Open Workbench. This is a piece of open source project management software (http://www.openworkbench.org). Having used MS project in the past, I have found that such software helps in maintaining a good overview and handle on the project.

Reflections on Vannevar Bush

Leading on from the discussion on Zurkowski I have also been looking at the famous article by Vannevar Bush – “As we may think”.

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/194507/bush

In 1946 Bush was the Director of the Office of Scientific Research and Development in the US. Bush was concerned about the mass of information and knowledge which was increasingly been developed, he realised that there was a need to better store and disseminate this information for the common good.

There is a growing mountain of research. But there is increased evidence that we are being bogged down today as specialization extends. The investigator is staggered by the findings and conclusions of thousands of other workers—conclusions which he cannot find time to grasp, much less to remember, as they appear.

In his vision he sees the future has holding a solution, albeit based on the emerging technology of the time “photocells” – the microprocessor would not be developed for another 22 years!

Bush’s solution is basically what he calls a “Memex”

Consider a future device for individual use, which is a sort of mechanized private file and library. It needs a name, and, to coin one at random, "memex" will do. A memex is a device in which an individual stores all his books, records, and communications, and which is mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility. It is an enlarged intimate supplement to his memory.

It consists of a desk, and while it can presumably be operated from a distance, it is primarily the piece of furniture at which he works. On the top are slanting translucent screens, on which material can be projected for convenient reading. There is a keyboard, and sets of buttons and levers. Otherwise it looks like an ordinary desk.

In one end is the stored material. The matter of bulk is well taken care of by improved microfilm. Only a small part of the interior of the memex is devoted to storage, the rest to mechanism. Yet if the user inserted 5000 pages of material a day it would take him hundreds of years to fill the repository, so he can be profligate and enter material freely.

Most of the memex contents are purchased on microfilm ready for insertion. Books of all sorts, pictures, current periodicals, newspapers, are thus obtained and dropped into place. Business correspondence takes the same path. And there is provision for direct entry. On the top of the memex is a transparent platen. On this are placed longhand notes, photographs, memoranda, all sorts of things. When one is in place, the depression of a lever causes it to be photographed onto the next blank space in a section of the memex film, dry photography being employed.

Here we have a prototype vision of the digital revolution. Bush sees the future as film-based; nerveless Bush has the foresight to predict (based on the developing technologies of the time), that access to relevant information and knowledge will play an important part of allowing science to grow and develop. One wonders, what he would think of the Web 2.0 based world which we now find ourselves only fifty years after he published these thoughts?

Zurkowski

Today I finally got hold of Zurkowski’s paper “The Information Services Environment: Relationship and Priorities”. To the uninitiated, this paper written by Paul Zurkowski in 1974, is cited my many information literacy scholars as the first mention of citizens being “information literate”. Zurkowski wrote the paper as President of the Information Industry Association (I.I.A), a trade association established in 1968 and comprising of 70 member companies in 1974; involved in the creation and distribution of information products, submitting it to the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science.

Right from the go – Zurkowski heads his prologue “The Goal: Achieving Information Literacy”; he then goes on to state we experience an overabundance of information whenever available information exceeds our capacity to evaluate it. He claims that this is a universal condition and lists three reasons: 1) That information seeking differs according to time and purpose; 2) There is a multiplicity of sources and access routs resulting in a kaleidoscopic approach taken by people; 3) more human experience is being dealt with in information equivalents. Talking about the then commercial shape of publishing, Zurkowski uses the analogy of an information “prism” gathering “light” (ideas and concepts) and then performing a variety of “refracting” functions (editing, encoding, printing, microfilming, arranging etc) to produce a spectrum of products, services and systems to meet the kaleidoscopic needs of the user. People who are trained in the application of information resources to their work can be called information literate (p.6). It is important to remember that Zurkowski is talking about the access and dissemination of information in the workplace as an economic benefit and necessity, calling on the National Commission to commit to a major national education programme to achieve universal information literacy by 1984; presently he estimates that only one-sixth of the US population are information literate.

In many ways this was a very visionary move – be it one vested by commercial interests. I am struck however, how in such a short time the technology and information provision moves and the vision dates; by 1983 you could buy an IBM PC with a 10 MB hard-disk, thus changing and challenging in a business context forever what it meant to access information. This inability to predict technical change in even a relatively short time is one of the key criticisms made against information literacy, and one I hope to explore in a future posting.

Zurkowski, P. G. (1974). The Information Environment: Relationships and Priorities. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science. Washington DC.

Evie and Mum Home

Ok, I am having to try and “kick-start” my research plan. I started the week with good intentions, with my wife and baby being allowed home at the weekend, after three very worrying weeks in hospital (various complications with Evie). Now they are home I am more worried than ever - and alas - I forgot about the sleepless nights.

As Evelyn, my little girl is still very small (only 4lb 4oz) she is eating for England. Well, focusing back on my research. Today is very much about reviewing and setting a programme in place to follow. I really need to be much more structured in-light of the new domestic arrangements.

Research Ethics

I am finally managing to think ahead. Today I met with the lecturer nominated with responsibility with overseeing ethical considerations for research. At this stage of my research I only have a rough idea about the actual practicalities of my research. I know that my proposal (as of the time of writing) will involve interviewing humans (adults). This thankfully, should not pose any real ethical problems, providing “best practice” is observed.

Orwell - Politics and the English Language

Although not immediately relevant to my research I read a very interesting essay by George Orwell entitled “Politics and the English Language”. I came across the essay on a Blog, discussing the demise of modern written English. Writing in 1946, Orwell decries what he sees is the demise and “bad habits of Modern English”. This is a thought provoking essay and well worth a read. A copy can be obtained from: http://www.orwell.ru/library/essays/politics/english/e_polit

Teaching

I had a meeting to discuss my teaching for the next academic year (starting in October 07). It looks like I will be teaching the MSc students. In the fist instance, I will be limited six hours a week, and will be delivering the Dialog and database searching element of the module.

Bawden - Information and digital literacies: a review of concepts

This paper provides a very comprehensive overview of both information and digital literacies. The author critically reviews “literacy” as a concept as well as exploring related literacies e.g. multimedia, informacy computer etc. The bibliography to the paper was last updated in 2000.

Page
281	Bawden starts by listing other major IL reviews: Cooper, Mutch, Carbo, Behrens, Doyle, Dess, Ochs et al., Olsen and Coons, Kulthau, McClure and Bruce. This provides a useful starting point for reading. This list is now seven years old and there may be more since then. Bawden states that he has not being comprehensive, and has not listed every title in the field.
219	Here he looks at the occurrence of the terms under investigation as they appear in the literature. He searched LISA and social science abstracts 1980-1999. He charts the progress of his search terms in a table showing the progression of the field of study. He also provides a list of his synonymous terms used in searching.
220	Provides a discussion of the term literacy using dictionary definitions. He also mentions the United Nations General Assembly of 1990 as ‘international literacy year’.
221	What is literacy – ‘the ability to use graphic symbols to represent spoken language…..’ The discussion develops, that literacy can be seen as relative, to illustrate, the levels if ‘literacy’ needs in Honduras differs to that required in London. [McGarry] Clifford is quoted suggesting that literacy has a dichotomous nature, revealing a spectrum of skills. Bawden goes on to list several indications or competencies of literacy. [THIS IS A GOOD LIST]
222	The discussion explores functional literacy citing the 1997 UK Office for National that almost a quarter of Britons cannot follow timetables, and the 1999 Sir Claus Moser report which found that 6% had very little literacy skills. Grey’s 1956 definition of literacy is also listed. The discussion of the problems defining, measuring and assessing literacy is detailed.
223	Covers the history of literacy, also lists other sub concepts such as agricultural, cinematic, geographic literacies etc.
224	Looks at the skills based literacies, with the emphasis on informed decision making or leaning the skills to find information. Starts with looking at library literacy.
225	Media literacy and a term and development, is it a subset of information literacy. Barden supports that it has an obvious ‘overlap with the general concepts of information literacy’. There are substantial discussions over the term and skills associated with Computer Literacy. One excellent discussion relating to the ECDL skills based is around the element of self reliance i.e. you can learn a computer package but, what if the computer goes wrong, how dependent are you on other for help, when things go wrong with the computer, outside of the set of learned skills? Here we see another spectrum of literacies at play. Also can you learn a new software package, without help, based on your knowledge?
230	Information Literacy Bawden charts the term from Zurkowski – but notes that is usage of the term has more to do with educational reform in the US. Bawden charts that the term was introduced to the library literature by Taylor, with Doyle twenty-five years later defining the term more succinctly. Over the next few pages Bawden discusses the intertwining of IL with education, through the ALA 1989 lining that IL and lifelong learning, ‘knowing how to learn’.
234	A discussion of the basis for definitions of IL. Listing what the ALA repost lists, Doyle and Bruce and Radar
238	Ducker and in ‘infoliteracy’, in relation to business and managers. It must not be seen as an IT solution.
239	Dupuis lists a summary of her thirty-five skills necessary for ‘creating and nurturing information literacy’.
241	A discussion on the ‘critical thinking’ element of IL. It can be seen as largely equivalent to ‘critical analysis’. With proper analysis, one does not drown in information. Cheek and Doskatsch and their tem ‘an information overabundant environment’.
243	Information literacy and the information society Librarian turned congressman Major Owens – ‘information literacy is needed to guarantee the survival of democratic institutions. All men are created equal, but voters with information resources are in a position to make more intelligent decisions than citizens who are information illiterate.’ Other authors make similar points with some excellent quotes here!
243	Information Literacy per se Behrens and Olsen and Coons – Information Literacy is the key factors rather than n add-on set of skills. Quotes from Lantam, Lynch ask, ‘what does it mean to be information literate in an information society?’
244	Information literacy: criticisms of the concept McCrank is rolled out. Also here is Feinberg asks questions of IL. Foster, Mutch, Miller, Abell all asks questions about IL. There is a good summary to the main concerns.
246	IL: Conclusions Bawden sates that Information literacy . . . is a broader concept than the skills-based literacies described. . . and according [Bawden] subsumes them or lies alongside them.
246	Digital literacies The reaming pages deal with the concept and definition of ‘digital literacy’. This is a newer concept from the mid 1990s, which refers to the ability to understand hyper-textual and multimedia literacy. Langham, is quoted as treating the term synonymously with ‘multimedia literacy.
248	Lists a set to skills forum in digital literacy. Again we see skills such as critical thinking, etc.
249	Digital literacy and Internet Literacy, Network Literacy etc. Presents a very interesting discussion about knowledge and skills. Based on McClure’s definition of networked literacy – at the ability to ’identify, access, and use electronic information on a network’. Of the list of knowledge and skills McClure suggests that they are not ‘add ons’ to traditional literacy rather part of a wider notion of literacy in an electric age. The discussion continues linking into the web and hyper-txt literacies etc. He quotes Vannevar Bush and his ‘enormous mass of common record’. Bawden makes the comment based on the discussions, that ‘ In their emphasis on reading and understanding texts, these terms seem to have more in common with literacy per se’.
251	Conclusions A summary of the conclusions are: It is very possible to spend all of your time discussing the definitions; it might be better then, to adopt a POPPERIAN position or explaining, rather than defining terms. The labels attached to these terms do matter as do and their significance for practice. Secondly, Bawden suggests that for some limited purely limited purpose skills and competence may be useful, however, overall he sees them as too restrictive. This does not answer how to assess, monitor and define, then. To deal with the complexities of the current information environment, a complex and board form of literacy is required. . . Understanding, meaning, and context must be central to it. It matters not whether, you call it digital, information or literacies required for an information age.