Welcome!
Isn't it telling that we have adopted the word "viral" to describe the spread of media posts? It connotes infection, danger, and a need for inoculation while at the same time, many of us (including me on this site) hope that the content we disseminate will do just that—spread exponentially. The ongoing conversations that will take place on this page are intended to strengthen our information savvy and our capacities for nurturing information literacy in the members of our learning communities. I invite you to join the conversations and engage with me and each other to these ends.
Jacquelyn Whiting
Instructional Coach and Technology Integrator, Connecticut
Jacquelyn Whiting
Instructional Coach and Technology Integrator, Connecticut
My Bias Isn't the Only Obstacle to Comprehensive Research
by Jacquelyn WhitingI first encountered the idea that bias can be coded into the algorithms that run the platforms I use on a daily basis when reading John Maeda's book How to Speak Machine. Maeda discusses disparities in hiring practices that result in a disproportionate number of what he calls "pale males" throughout the tech sector and considers the impact on corporate culture as well as on the computer code that these technicians write. More recently I discovered Algorithms of Oppression by Safiya Noble, who picks up where Maeda left off and delivers a scathing examination of the ways in which the bias coded into Internet search engines returns stereotypical at best and downright offensive at worst search results. Think of the impact on information acquisition by us, our colleagues, our students! As search algorithms become increasingly responsive to search criteria that are phrased as questions, this issue deepens Read More >>
Article
Jacquelyn Whiting sits down with Jill Baron, librarian at Dartmouth College and co-director of Change the Subject, a documentary film, to discuss what she learned through the process of understanding her students' concerns and responding with community-driven action.
Feature
It can be difficult to keep up with the trends our kids are into. Having the experience of sense making with a topic utterly unfamiliar to me helps me retain humility when it comes to teaching research. My feelings of confusion and ineptitude are exactly what students experience whenever we have them interact with information that is new to them.
Column
An algorithm is a set of instructions that is used to perform a task. They are often taught in math, but algorithms are pervasive in modern life. They control stop lights, bus schedules, how we grade papers, and even how we sort books. An algorithm can be everything from that delicious cookie recipe to PageRank—Google's infamous Internet search engine algorithm. In library land, algorithms control most of the research we and our students do online.
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Novice researchers are less likely to notice or compare conflicts across multiple texts when writers use different terms (e.g., prejudiced, racist, bigoted, biased) for the same concept. Could the librarian address these blind spots in reading comprehension using search terms students have already gathered?
Webinars
Why do some people just seem to be naturals at finding information when they need it? Many expert searchers describe "imagining their perfect source" as a key step prior to searching. While some people develop this strategy intuitively—often without even being aware that they are doing it—there is no reason not to cultivate the necessary skills for research success in all our students. Watch this session to learn the basics of imagining sources for yourself, and explore ways to teach our students how to start thinking like expert researchers.
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Online resources are not just for conducting research. They are also excellent instructional tools for teaching information literacy skills.
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An alternative to a procedural activity like a hunt is an inductive reasoning puzzle which invites curiosity about the content. The following database activities require information literacy strategies, as well as inferencing and reasoning.