Tell Me Again Why They Need to Learn That???
In a recent interview, David Brin, who has an excellent track record portending the future, made some observations about the effects of technology on society.
He said “In the 15th century, we got the printing press. Printing is a way of augmenting human memory. Printing not only vastly expanded the ability to convey human knowledge and memory to other people but also made it more robust.”
“People tend to assume that when things like this happen, it automatically results in an improved humanity. … It is a religious statement that what we are seeing on the Internet today is improving discourse and improving democracy and improving markets.”
“I’m very skeptical of that because at the beginning of any of these (technological) revolutions, always what is empowered is demagoguery. The immediate outcome of the printing press was the Thirty Years’ War. The immediate outcome of radio was the empowerment of demagogues like Huey Long and especially Adolf Hitler. It always takes a while for the people to learn how to use the new media critically, to be able to perceive the good from the bad (my emphasis).”
Elsewhere in the interview, Mr. Brin discusses his book ‘The Transparent Society’ in which the “age of amateurs” is progressing faster than he envisioned. He states “What’s very fast paced is the spreading of seeing in parallel” … “Fifty million hobbyists are demanding that professionals, from doctors to scientists to movie directors, accept a new world where expertise is not limited to the licensed.” …There is a “redistribution of power”.
My question is how do we trust this wisdom of the masses? How do we know what is true, and how do we determine it is the truth? As Mr. Brin puts it “What is going to enable us to perceive better?”
Just how are people going to learn how to use the new media critically? Shall we ignore these necessary skills in schools, since they is not easily assessed on high-stakes, standardized tests and therefore not tested? Or should the tests be changed to address these critically important issues?
Or should the issues be emphasized anyway (remember the book “Teaching as a Subversive Activity”?) because we know that these information literacy skills (such as the 4 E’s highlighted by David Warlick) are necessary for our children to become good citizens through being good consumers, managers and producers of information.
References:
The Discover Interview – David Brin by David Kushner, Discover Magazine, Special Issue June 2007, pp. 64-7
Literacy and Learning in the 21st Century http://davidwarlick.com/wordpress/?page_id=61
In a recent interview, David Brin, who has an excellent track record portending the future, made some observations about the effects of technology on society.
He said “In the 15th century, we got the printing press. Printing is a way of augmenting human memory. Printing not only vastly expanded the ability to convey human knowledge and memory to other people but also made it more robust.”
“People tend to assume that when things like this happen, it automatically results in an improved humanity. … It is a religious statement that what we are seeing on the Internet today is improving discourse and improving democracy and improving markets.”
“I’m very skeptical of that because at the beginning of any of these (technological) revolutions, always what is empowered is demagoguery. The immediate outcome of the printing press was the Thirty Years’ War. The immediate outcome of radio was the empowerment of demagogues like Huey Long and especially Adolf Hitler. It always takes a while for the people to learn how to use the new media critically, to be able to perceive the good from the bad (my emphasis).”
Elsewhere in the interview, Mr. Brin discusses his book ‘The Transparent Society’ in which the “age of amateurs” is progressing faster than he envisioned. He states “What’s very fast paced is the spreading of seeing in parallel” … “Fifty million hobbyists are demanding that professionals, from doctors to scientists to movie directors, accept a new world where expertise is not limited to the licensed.” …There is a “redistribution of power”.
My question is how do we trust this wisdom of the masses? How do we know what is true, and how do we determine it is the truth? As Mr. Brin puts it “What is going to enable us to perceive better?”
Just how are people going to learn how to use the new media critically? Shall we ignore these necessary skills in schools, since they is not easily assessed on high-stakes, standardized tests and therefore not tested? Or should the tests be changed to address these critically important issues?
Or should the issues be emphasized anyway (remember the book “Teaching as a Subversive Activity”?) because we know that these information literacy skills (such as the 4 E’s highlighted by David Warlick) are necessary for our children to become good citizens through being good consumers, managers and producers of information.
References:
The Discover Interview – David Brin by David Kushner, Discover Magazine, Special Issue June 2007, pp. 64-7
Literacy and Learning in the 21st Century http://davidwarlick.com/wordpress/?page_id=61
Labels: David Brin, information literacy
posted by Rich Levine | 7:13 PM
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