Digital Blog Post #D

Photo credit to Ewa Rozkosz on Flickr

Information literacy is the capacity to access and assess information online (Malroy, 2011 p. 114) and it is a skill that every teacher and student should master. With the shifting in the way we search for information being internet savvy has become a necessity.  Now a days sending emails, creating documents and web browsing are very basic things almost everyone is expected to know. In the education field is no different, that's why IT fluency (information technology fluency) and IT FITness ( fluent with information technology)  has become a goal for teachers and students.

Among the technologies available today for searching information we have search engines. Search engines have become the door to the largest source of information the world has seen, the world wide web. One in specific has become very popular, that is of course Google. Google has very intelligently cover pretty much every area possible to offer services, from apps, to email, calendars, maps, translators, etc.. Google is definitely on top in this new information era. That's why I thought ,what a better way to know how google works, than having them explain it to us.



To me it sounds like a pretty complex thing that happens within seconds, depending on your internet speed, and that is the beauty of it. How long would it take a person to do what google does in order to give you the best answer? With tools like this we can easily think that we are a lucky generation. Our parents didn't have it this easy, some of our grandparents were lucky to even go to school and us; we have it all. Having it all has a price though; there is so much information available that we have to learn how to select the right one, and that is precisely my next topic.

Evaluating online information is a challenge. Quantity does not equal quality, so often an internet searcher must shift through pages of poor or wrong information to find a few kernels of valid data (Malroy, 2011 p. 127). Luckily the Association of College and Research Libraries did the work for us and gave us five criteria that we should take into consideration when searching the web.

After reading this chapter I have been reassured of how important it is to be selective and careful when searching or researching something, especially if you are planning to share it, or if it's for school. Many times, especially in social media, with the click of a button we share different things, news, images, videos, links; but it's save to say that we should verify that the information is truthful, and that it actually represents our point of view. A lot of times we read the title of the article and automatically share it, and that is wrong, I know am guilty of that myself. After this week's lecture I will definitely be extra careful and more attentive on the information am helping to spread.

Resources

Google. (2010, March 4). How Search Works. [Video file]. Retrieved on September 20, 2015 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNHR6IQJGZs

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2011). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 1st Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Rozkosz, E. (2011, August 2). Information Literacy. [ Image file]. Retrieved on September 21, 2015 from https://www.flickr.com/photos/erozkosz/6002995338/

Valladares, B. (2015, September 20). Criteria for Evaluating Web Resources. [Image file]. Retrieved on September 21, 2015 from https://www.canva.com/design/DABdG6RFl9o/wVOQ3p9BjLRgawr3EaovEg/edit