The Google Generation: a crisis of information literacy?

Webcast by Dr Ian Rowlands

The Webcast itself

In the webcast Dr Rowlands talks about research commissioned by the British Library and the UK’s Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC).

“Is there something qualitatively different, quantitatively different, about the Google Generation? If so, as they migrate through school, university and become academics and researchers, what should the British Library be doing in 2017 to cope with those changes?”

Dr  Rowland Touches on a number of different themes and questions, but I would highlight the relevant parts thus:

Behaviour of Generations

Probably the most intersting part of this webcast, considering the discussions we have had within the tutor forum, is the idea that it’s not about the generations being different in a generational way, but that as we get older, we do and see things in a different way. Our perceptions change. Therefore our behaviour as a child, is no different to the behaviour of a child today. And when the gogle generation gets to 50, what’s to say they won’t behave in the same way as 50 year olds did twenty years ago. So there is something about the sociological development of humans that might change the way we interact with technology.

Information Literacy

Following on from this, should we expect young peole to be able to process in the digital world. Is this not a skill that they need to learn or be taught. Young People have a poor understanding of what their needs are.

He makes the point that there are two hypotheses about the actual behaviour highlighted. Either that people are dumbing down, and canfind what they want (which incidentally may be because it is hard to find). Or secondly that people are actually smarter and searching in a clever way to find what they actually need.

The Digital World versus bricks and mortar

Another subject that we touched on in H807, and in particular when looking at the ecolgy metaphors. Rowland using fantastic imagery in talking about the mind map of the physical library. He knows where the different sections are, what different types of books look like. Do we recreate this in the digital world, or are people visiting digital libraries with no clear map of what is there? Do libraries need to take their skills and use them in a digital context to make the virtual visit more enjoyable? I like the point he makes about branding – libraries evoke print, google evokes search.

What does this mean as a student or reader?

I think all of these areas are important for me as a student. Naturally as a Masters student, I have already committed to wanted to further my own understanding and I am therefore receptive to development. I am not a 12 year old who needs to do their homework. Therefore my tenacity may be greater.

However I do struggle with online digital libraries when the mapping is hard to traverse. I am happy this year this year that the links within the module to information and papers connects me directly. (better than the last module, although this may just be a warped perception). But does this mean that I become lazy. I have no need to trapse round the digital library because the content is automatically fed me. How important is it that I can be engage within and find content in these digital spaces?

Which then links us on to information literacy. If we want people, young and old, to develop these literacies, we need to build in activities that enable this.

What does this mean as a teacher or practitioner?

It goes back to the old argument about knowing your learners. When you are involved in adult learning this is even more difficult. Avoiding assumption, is always important, but not always easy with limited time or resources. How do you ensure that you deliver the right activities for everyone.

Again, I think that the OU have this right. There are activities that allow those without the literacies to follow up and investigate, as well as activities that allow students to explore further on tehir own, without the pressure of it being mandatory.

I think as trainers we need to think carefully about how we present resources, and what resource hubs we use, as this fits into the development of each individual. If we want our students to feel confident at accessing research, we need to ensure we give them opportunities to explore.

The presentations themselves

One of the other questions asked about this activity was the different mediums used. Was the web cast better than the report? For me, I like a mixture of both. In the first instance, I skimmed through the report , pulling out the data that I thought was useful.

In the webcast, I listened to reasonings and ideas behind the report. It gave it more personality and depth. Separate from each other they each have their strengths an weaknesses.