SUNYLA Emerging Technologies for Information Literacy

As weary as I and others might be of the breathless microblogging-as-miracle media narrative,

And yet, I still think that at its core Twitter is simply right now’s next big thing, sure to be knocked off its pedestal by Google Wave or something else sooner or later. Moreover, it is following the predictable tech startup arc almost perfectly: Stage 1. Confusing blog buzz  Stage 2. Reactionary doomcrying about whatyouhadforbreakfast status updates Stage 3. Noticed by NPR, which flogs it to death Stage 4. Takes off in a big way Stage 5. Creators sell for billions or arrange an IPO (this is where we are currently) Stage 6. Finally, either A) relative stability (Facebook) or B) meteoric decline (MySpace)

Data visualization is the practice of summarizing vast amounts of information in graphical form. For a quick primer on the subject, see the examples at Information Aesthetics and the Periodic Table of Visualization Methods, or watch Gapminder creator Hans Rosling demonstrate the “beauty of statistics” in his TED presentation on global health.

In terms of visits to the library, there's no overall correlation — the average number of visits per student ranges from 109 to 120 — although we do seem some correlation at the level of individual courses. What does this tell us (if anything)? I'd say it's evidence that the library is for everyone, regardless of their ability and academic prowess.

We also discussed the fact that youth civic participation does not seem to have increased, despite the Internet’s ability to connect like-minded people and support the easy formation of issue-oriented groups. While it is true that recent presidential elections have seen an increase in voting among young adults, Paul Starr, professor of sociology at Princeton University, believes that this presidential level increase is not translating to an increase in voting in elections at state and local levels.

There is a value to this. We have a mix of real friends, people pulled up from the past, and new connections. Many fall into the category of ‘weak ties,’ becoming part of your ambient awareness, monitored somewhere at the periphery of your consciousness. We form digital social bonds through our behaviors and interactions, and there’s a feeling of being part of something substantial. It seems to fulfill some basic human needs of inclusion and validation.

That means that tomorrow I can choose to be different from today, to make an unexpected decision, or to change my mind completely. I am not one thing. I am not one identity. I am a system in flux. And so I’m frightened when someone is so quick to say that who they are online is who they are. Reduced to bits.

I place value on interacting and sharing, but at what point do we become so intertwined with the upkeep of the persona that we forget how to be fully engaged in the experiences of our physical lives? How strong is the itch to update? Are you in control of your online self? Or is it in control of you?