The Suburban Barnyard

I was only able to access two out of three of the readings for week 1 as the Emerald site proved a frustrating roadblock. I don’t know yet if others have had the same experience, but I suppose I shall find out as I read your blogs!

As a communications professional, I found both Clifford Lynch’s viewpoint and the viewpoint in Contents Not Containers right in alignment with my own. The idea of libraries thinking outside of the box and moving toward new ways of presenting materials is one that communications managers have also been promoting within the corporate environment.

Lynch is right on target in separating information technology literacy and information literacy into separate but necessary coexistent entities. On one side you have technology infrastructure and on the other you have content and communication, but they need to work together. I’m unsure about whether I agree with him or not about the preparedness of today’s students, although I do agree that they need to have a strong base education in technology literacy.

If people gain a stronger hold on technology, information flow both inside and outside the workplace will become far more efficient and beneficial. Currently, Information literacy tends to get funneled towards “experts” in the IT departments of workplaces. Not that those functions would disappear, but if individuals had greater skills, IT departments would not have all of the focus of the IT function. It would dissipate throughout the organization. Likewise, with information literacy, Communication Departments would spread their function throughout the organization. Overall, the trend leads toward a much more collaborative society