Librarian by Day » Digital Divide

Top Ten Links 2.27: The Digital Divide, Digital Devices & Your Rights, Personal Brand, Time Management & More!

Bobbi Newman — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 13:24:57 +0000

My personally selected top ten from the links I shared on Twitter 7.2.2011 through 7.9.2011. In no particular order:

1. Comcast targeting digital divide - If you’ve heard me speak or read my writings about the digital divide you know I applaud the FCC’s National Broadband Plan to ensure that high-speed internet access is available to everyone. But that I also express concern that just making it available doesn’t solve the problem, there are still the issues of the affordability of the service, the affordability of the hardware to use it and the skills needed to use it all well. Comcast is addressing the first of these two issues.

In an attempt to bridge the nation’s digital divide, the country’s largest Internet provider soon will offer discountbroadband access to help low-income families get online.

The service, called Internet Essentials, costs $9.95 a month for households that qualify. Also as part of the program, subscribers will be able to purchase a computer for $150.

2. Digital Divides & Digital Literacies: An Ongoing Report | The Young and The Digital #digitaldivide. In this interview S. Craig Watkins, author of The Young and The Digital, talks with Tony Cox about the Digital Divide. Great stuff can’t wait to see/read/listen to more!

Earlier this week National Public Radio’s “Tell Me More” aired a conversation that I shared with Tony Cox about the digital divide. We talked about the ways in which the digital divide is evolving and how the shifting digital media terrain, especially the steady adoption of technology by a growing diversity of young people, is redefining how we think about issues related to technology, diversity, and equity.

I am exploring these issues in a series of new projects that I will be reporting on over the next year. The projects are designed to examine the digital media lives of diverse young people and how, among other things, their adoption of media technologies are redefining what it means to be a young learner or citizen.

3. The MacArthur Foundation and IMLS offer $4 Million in Grants for Learning Labs in Libraries and Museums.

These grants will support the planning and designing of up to 30 Learning Labs in libraries and museums throughout the country. The Labs are intended to engage middle- and high-school youth in mentor-led, interest-based, youth-centered, collaborative learning using digital and traditional media. Grantees will be required to participate, in-person and online, in a community of practice that will provide technical assistance, networking, and cross-project learning. Projects are expected to provide prototypes for the field and be based on current research about digital media and youth learning. There will be two project deadlines for this grant program, with the second deadline planned for spring 2012.

4. A Fifth of My Time by @LizDanforth Via @ellenforsyth @janholmquist Love this post by Liz Danforth and I’ve already ordered the book she mentions, 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think. I have a couple of big projects I’ve been putting off tackling and I think thanks to Liz and her post and suggestions they might actually become a reality.

5. RT @alalibrary: “Every day that America’s 16,000 public #librariesare open, more than 300,000 people search for #jobs“ via @shifted – Great quote from the article The Sound of Libraries Suffocating.

6. 23 Things for Professional Development: Thing 3: Consider your personal brand #cpd23 If you’re not following along with the 23 Things for Professional Development you should be! It’s an international effort with some amazing contributors. Sure some of it maybe old news to you but there is plenty of new perspective like this one on personal branding -

Thing 3 is about your personal brand. We’ll consider how people see your online brand, what brand you would like to convey, and how to match the two.

I have a couple of confessions:

It took over three weeks for me to decide on a blog domain for my 23 Things for Professional Development blog.

It took me an hour to brand my blog the way I wanted to before I registered it with the 23 Things for Professional Development programme.

I know what some of you might be thinking; what a waste of time! Or is it? It might *only* be a blog, but it’s part of my online presence, and even more crucially, it’s part of my professional online presence. I want that online presence to be an accurate reflection of who I am, whether someone comes across my blog, my Twitter account, my LinkedIn account, or any of my other online professional networks. I also want to maintain consistency across different platforms.

7. before you hand over your phone, PC or other digital device Know Your Rights! essential advice for any digital citizen or anyone who loves their phone

Your computer, your phone, and your other digital devices hold vast amounts of personal information about you and your family. This is sensitive data that’s worth protecting from prying eyes – including those of the government.

The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution protects you from unreasonable government searches and seizures, and this protection extends to your computer and portable devices. But how does this work in the real world? What should you do if the police or other law enforcement officers show up at your door and want to search your computer?

EFF has designed this guide to help you understand your rights if officers try to search the data stored on your computer or portable electronic device, or seize it for further examination somewhere else.

Because anything you say can be used against you in a criminal or civil case, before speaking to any law enforcement official, you should consult with an attorney.

8. How to Get Long Life Out of Laptop and Cell Phone Batteries

Like all batteries, rechargeable batteries wear out over time. Dell says that a full life span for a garden-variety lithium-ion laptop battery is18 to 24 months. A cell phone battery can last the same length of time, and is good for approximately 400 recharges. The average life span of a cell phone, however, is only 18 months, so a single battery should last the lifetime of a mobile phone.

9. Should We Shrink Wrap Our School Libraries? & Transliteracy brill post by @steelepierce #TLChat via @gwynethjones

In the library U-Scan line, the customer in front of me was perhaps four years old, not much taller than a toddler. Fascinated, I watched as she scanned her stack of picture books.

She stands at the intersection of physical print and technology. What is reading going to be like for her as she grows up? How will literacy be different in her world to come? And how will schools prepare her for that?

10. A Special Issue of NISO’s Information Standards Quarterly Focuses on eBooks (incl. 2 articles abt libraries) #ebooks

Direct to Full Text of Spring 2011 Issue (Vol. 23 No. 2)

Table of Contents

Full Text (PDF)

Articles Include:

EPUB 3: Not Your Father’s EPUB
by Bill Kasdorf

Ten Questions and Tentative Answers about the State of E-book Publishing for University Presses
by Marlie Wasserman

E-books and the Public Library: the Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library Experience
by Mollie Pharo and Marcia Learned Au

Drinking the E-book Kool-Aid in a Large Academic Library
by Wendy Allen Shelburne

Standard Spotlight: The Challenge for Standards in the E-book Supply Chain
by Mark Bide

Member Spotlight: E-books on EBSCOhost: Combining NetLibrary E-books with the EBSCOhost Platform
by Michael Gorrell

The Evolution of Accessible Publishing: Revising the Z39.86 DAISY Standard
by Matt Garrish and Markus Gylling

NISO E-books SIG
by Todd Carpenter

From the Noteworthy Section of ISQ

NISO Issues Journal Article Tag Suite Standard for Trial Use

Read the Complete NISO Announcement and Summary

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New Project – Libraries and Transliteracy Blog

Bobbi Newman — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 14:45:59 +0000

CC image used courtesy of Meredith Harris on flickr

I am excited to announce the kick-off of a new project, the Libraries and Transliteracies blog! The blog is a group effort from me, Buffy Hamilton and Tom Ipri. Due to the amount of interest in transliteracy and the role libraries play, we have created one place to share information and resources. The blog will contain information, resources and links to other new literacies related content from all three authors.

I will still be posting about transliteracy here, but you will find more transltiteracy related content more often on the Libraries and Transliteracies blog. So add the feed to your feedreader.

How this came about (if you’re interested in that sort of thing). Due to the amount of interest in transliteracy and the role libraries play in 21st century literacies, I wanted one place to share information and resources. I decided this blog was not the best venue as I wanted everything pertaining to transliteracy to be easy to find and adding to the current page doesn’t help others keep track of new information. I also I did not want all of the information to come from me, this is an important issue to ALL libraries. This led to the idea of a new blog, with additional authors, but even more importantly, authors from a variety of library types. Having worked with both Buffy, a high school librarian and Tom an academic librarian, before and knowing their interest in transliteracy, they were obvious choices and I am so grateful they said yes.

If you are not familiar with Butffy and Tom, here’s a little about them. The short version – They are both awesome!

The long version:

Buffy Hamilton–Buffy is the lead librarian at Creekview High School in Canton, Georgia. She is passionate about creating library experiences for her students that will encourage them to be lifelong learners and advocating for the power of the library in her community. She collaborates extensively with the teachers and students in her school to create learning experiences to foster students’ information fluency and digital citizenship, the cultural capital students need to fully participate in today’s society. Buffy shares and teaches through her work as a keynote speaker, workshop consultant, adjunct trainer, and guest speaker. Her professional interests include applications of Web 2.0 tools in library programs and instruction, participatory librarianship, an inquiry stance on traditional and new literacies, social scholarship, libraries as sponsors of multiple literacies, social media, and connectivism. She writes at http://theunquietlibrarian.wordpress.com .

Tom Ipri – Tom is currently the Head of Media and Computer Services at Lied Library at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. In this position, he directs the future of the libraries’ media collections and services and leads the development of the media design studio, the learning commons, and the strategic evolution of media services within the University Libraries. Tom has published in Computers in Libraries, Lore: An E-Journal for Teachers of Writing, and Information Technology and Libraries. He has presented at Computers in Libraries and Internet Librarian, as well as presented at a variety of workshops. He also reviews films for Educational Media Reviews Online. He writes at http://tombrarian.netSimilar Posts:

Transliterate Divide – Working Definition

Bobbi Newman — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:19:59 +0000

CC Image courtesy of ElektraCute on Flickr

Transliterate Divide – The gap between people who have the skills to understand (read) and create (write) a message (information) and interact using a variety of tools across multiple media and platforms and the ability to apply those skills to new situations and formats and those who do not.

My interest in transliteracy is tied to the skills one needs to be transliterate and determining the role of libraries in the acquisition and development of such skills. Although the primary direction of my work and this blog is tied to the internet and digital content, transliteracy is not.

I’ve been reading. A lot. Reading about literacy and all the different types of literacies, technology, the digital divide and anything specifically written about transliteracy. My research and subsequent note-taking on a relatively new term (the practice is in no way new) has created a need for definitions. What about those who are not transliterate, un-transliterate, non-transliterate, transilliterate? I don’t know, I gave up on moved on leaving the decision, if any, to individuals wiser than me.

This lead to my next issue, since I’m more interested in the skills and the development of those skills, I am interested in the divide between those with the skills and those without them and what that divide represents. I need to talk about that divide and have a understanding of my meaning. Based on my knowledge of transliteracy, definitions of transliteracy, digital divide and literacy divide* I worked up the term transliterat divide and a definition. Is it needed? I don’t know. Will anyone other than me use it? I have no idea. Will I use? All signs point to yes. It is a working definition, not set in stone and certainly open to questions, suggestions and modifications .

Definitions accessed

Transliteracy is the ability to read, write and interact across a range of platforms, tools and media from signing and orality through handwriting, print, TV, radio and film, to digital social networks.
Literacy Divide – literacy divide of the 20th century distinguished between people who could functionally read and those who could not
Digital Divide refers to the gap between people with effective access to digital and information technology and those with very limited or no access at all. It includes the imbalances in physical access to technology as well as the imbalances in resources and skills needed to effectively participate as a digital citizen
Digital Divide – the gap between those individuals and communities that have, and do not have, access to the information technologies that are transforming our lives.
Digital Divide- the divide between those with access to new technologies and those without

What I was reading

*Although the term “literacy divide” is used frequently I had trouble finding a definition for it.Similar Posts:

Commentary On the Digital Divide from the Chief Executives of Netflix & CommonSenseMedia

Bobbi Newman — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:05:09 +0000

CC image courtesy of ap. on Flickr

If you’re thinking about transliteracy you almost have to be thinking about the digital divide. What does it mean? Is it real? How will we close the gap?

This New York Times piece Will the Digital Divide Close by Itself? From the Google’s Breakthrough Learning in a Digital Age provides a look at and arguments about the digital divide from two different perspectives.

From Jim Steyer, chief executive of CommonSense Media and co-sponsor of the event

“every kid needs to be digitally literate by the 8th grade” and called for a major public education campaign to make that happen. He argued that technology and learning are synonymous and that schools, parents, and kids must get up to speed in the next five years.

On the other hand:

Reed Hastings, the founder and chief executive of Netflix, contradicted him directly, saying it would take well more than five years to bridge the divide.

Mr. Hastings, an avid education philanthropist and proponent of school reforms, argued that at the advent of any new technology — television, cars, even rockets — people get riled up and wring their hands over a growing gap between the haves and have-nots.

He said that gaps narrow naturally as the market evolves and prices drop, enabling more people to bring new technology into the home and schools.

Most interestingly:

“We need to shift our expectations,” Mr. Hastings said. “This is a natural part of the evolution of technology.”

If I understand this correctly he is saying that the digital divide is part of an evolutionary process where technology and access to technology will be ubiquitous. I’m not sure I make the connection.

Most importantly:

Failed school reform might point to the need for more efforts outside of the classroom.

This is where libraries need to step in. We need to help students close the digital divide because what that means, what were talking about is the same thing as transliteracy. Becoming transliterate closes the digital divide. If schools can’t or wont, libraries need to step forward. We’ve done it for years with literacy, we need to do it now with transliteracy.

Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy Warns of “Second Class Citizens” in the Digital Age

Bobbi Newman — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:34:19 +0000

The Knight Foundation has released a new report Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy. A good deal of the content either is or could be applies to libraries. The entire report is 148 pages, you can also download a 2 page summary that includes recommendations like these

2: Increase support for public service media aimed at meeting community information needs. Read more …
6: Integrate digital and media literacy as critical elements of education at all levels through collaboration among federal, state, and local education officials. Read more …
7: Fund and support public libraries and other community institutions as centers of digital and media training, especially for adults. Read more …
10: Support the activities of information providers to reach local audiences with quality content through all appropriate media, such as mobile phones, radio, and public-access cable. Read more …
12: Engage young people in developing the digital information and communication capacities of local communities. Read more …
14: Emphasize community information flow in the design and enhancement of a local community’s public spaces.. Read more …
15: Ensure that every local community has at least one high-quality online hub. Read more …

The Foundation has also taken actions that affect libraries:

$3.3 million to improve free, public Internet access in libraries in 12 communities

$2.28 million in broadband access projects in underserved neighborhoods in three cities

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The UNICEF Bee and the Digital Doorway

Bobbi Newman — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:45:19 +0000

This video, The Future of the Library, has been making the rounds on library blogs and after watching it I visit the blog Everywhere is Here. Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the digital divide and the bubble I spend most of my time in so I was much more interested in this video. It is about the Digital Doorway and the UNICEF Bee, providing access to the internet for those in remote areas. The project was inspired by the Hole in the Wall experiment (perhaps more famous for inspiring the movie Slumdog Millionare)

The information and access we take for granted, so for granted in fact that we we’re concerned about the future of libraries as they have been traditionally, is something a great many people don’t have. This video and the projects linked to are in Africa and India but the divide is real, right here in the United States. There are a great many people without access to the internet access or a computer or a smartphone. People, who, if they did have access wouldn’t know how to use them. Just something to think about.Similar Posts:

“Go be secretly awesome. Then tell someone.”

Bobbi Newman — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:40:19 +0000

I’ve never been fortunate enough to hear Jessamyn West speak and based on Jenica’s notes from last week, I’m really missing out. Some of my favorite bits

The digital divide is real, and our system for technology education scales very badly. There are economies of scale in most library work – processing 30 books does not take 30 times as long as processing one book – but teaching 30 people about the internet and computers takes 30 times longer than teaching one person. Libraries have become the social safety net for many Americans to learn what the tech-savvy think of as remedial technology skills, but the project doesn’t scale.

“We are living in a future that they are not that interested in.”

“Librarianship both is and is not sexy. Exploit that. Go be secretly awesome. Then tell someone.”

These are some really good things to think about, but we’re supposed to do more than just think – “Go be secretly awesome. Then tell someone.”Similar Posts: