Monday, April 12, 2010

CIL2010: Keynote

Keynote Speaker: Lee Rainie, Director of Pew Internet & American Life Project http://www.pewinternet.org/
Produce reports on Americans' online activities. He has a new book coming out: Networked, the New Information Operating System

Pew is not a think tank, but a Fact Tank. They don't advocate a particular agenda, but generate a lot of information. Lee considers himself an Internet Archeologist - he examines the remains, but does not pass judgment. (I have used their data to support many grant proposals and technology project plans.)

NEW WORD: Tweckle: to abuse (heckle) a speaker via Twitter while he is speaking

Internet is the change agent, then and now. Dawn of the project in 2000 compared to today:
In 2000, less than half of adults used internet
5% had broadband at home
50% owned cellphone

Today 75% of adults
62% have broadband at home
80% have cellphones

Life Logging - ~30% share photos, personal creations, ratings and rankings of about purchases, services, etc.
15% have a personal website
15% are content remixers

There's a fine line between blogging and social networks. It's hard to measure how many people READ blogs, now that so many orgs are using blog platforms as their website platform (like ZSR).

Networked Creators democratize the voices in media, has challenged traditional gatekeepers. Inserted themselves in "expert" affairs. Once you start blogging about something, you become a stakeholder and are more involved in the process. About a FIFTH have contributed health content!! They are reshaping the relationship between providers (doctors) and the consumers (patients). Online patient communities are helping people navigate the system in a new way.

MacArthur Foundation has a new site: macfound.org - digital literacy program
13 elements of new literacy enumerated
New Community-Building activities

Crowdsourcing wisdom, especially among "strangers" who share a common purpose.
Particularly being seen in healthcare - example of Karen Parles librarian with lung cancer who founded lungcanceronline.org. An online support group gave her SO much support that she created a space and it's still going strong after her death. It's still having an impact on others being diagnosed. Just-in-time information provided by someone in their same situation, ad hoc and on-the-fly. Communities of "rare species".

Libraries can be nodes in their social networks, as people seek information to help them solve their problems and meet their needs. They need friends like us!!

We can teach new literacies: screen (graphics and symbols), navigation, connections, context, skepticism, creating content, ethical behavior.

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