The Importance of Information Literacy Essay

If a person wishes to be up to date on what is going on the world around them, in all facets and walks of life, then they must spend a considerable portion of time merely skimming the water of each pool of knowledge, never having the time to truly sink their feet in. This correlates directly back to the massively increased availability of information and writings, whose shoulders Birkerts puts the blame of our loss upon. Nicholas Carr cites a study done on the “behavior of visitors to two popular research sites” which gives its users an even larger degree of online texts.

With the rise of technology and the staggering availability of information, the digital age has come about in full force, and will only grow from here. Any individual with an internet connection has a vast amount of knowledge at his fingertips. As long as one is online, he is mere clicks away from Wikipedia or Google, which allows him to find what he needs to know. Despite this, Nicholas Carr questions whether Google has a positive impact on the way people take in information. In his article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Carr explores the internet’s impact on the way people read. He argues that the availability of so much information has diminished the ability to concentrate on reading, referencing stories of literary types who no longer

Gen Z is later described as not similar to millennials but “‘more like their grandparents (or, in some cases great-grandparents)’, Mr.Howe said [who is a researcher and a social trends consultant]”(Williams). They grew up in the same kind of struggle, them with the Great Depression and Gen Z with the Great Recession.

Information literacy is said to be the foundation of the learning process. Unfortunately, as the Internet expands to meet the demand for easy accessible information, people are abandoning the literacy component by not seeking to understand the importance of reliable information to the learning process itself. The objective of this paper is to explore how the scholar, practitioner, leader model is influenced by information literacy, examine the responsibility of each, and provide alternate solutions to meet the challenges.

Essentially, he bluntly says throughout his article that the Internet and search engines such as Google are “making us stupid”. He goes on to explain how the rise of the internet is adverse to the intellectual mind because it is starting to replace physical reading, and reading allows for “intellectual vibrations” to be “set off” within the minds of the people (Carr 28). However, it clear to see that as technology evolves, so does the world and its views on what is considered to be intellectual. While people may not be reading as many physical books anymore, they do tend to educate themselves on the world around them in other ways. Even on seemingly casual social media sites such as Twitter and Instagram, people speak out about what they understand and feel about the world around them, showing how “intellectual vibrations” are now set off differently than in years past. A technology press conference, a controversial social media post, or a compelling article from an online news source could get a person to deeply think about something just any form of physical print would be able to; this is made evident by how the younger generations are currently using the Internet and its sites. In fact, Carr even quotes an Italian humanist by the name of Hieronimo Squarciafico who stated that the introduction of the Gutenberg printing press and readily available publications would make men “less studious” (28). However, the introduction of readily available literature has proven to have had the opposite effect, with the most studious of people accepting books and other printed publications as some of their most treasured intellectual resources. In the same way, a parallel can be drawn to the Internet, which will likely turn out to be a blessing for intellectuals around the world just as the printing press was all those years ago. With knowledge and

There is no denying the incredible library of knowledge the internet has made readily available for all to use. Having such a resource is transforming modern society in many ways, as it brings insight and news across the world at a moment’s notice, all the while enhancing educational and technological advancements. However, according to Sven Birkets, an American essayist and literacy critic, in his essay, “The Owl Has Flown”, it is not without fault as observations are to be made on how this new resource has transformed people’s intelligence and wisdom. The author theorizes that the large, almost unlimited, library that is now being offered by services such as the internet, reshapes the public’s knowledge. Knowledge is transformed to be horizontal or insubstantial compared to the much deeper lateral understanding pertaining to older generations because of the amount of time they spent dwelling on a much smaller set of resources. This observation made by Birkets in the late 90’s is expanded upon, and modernized by Nicholas Carr, an American writer and author, in a more inflicting and self-reflecting article for The Atlantic magazine entitled “Is Google Making Us Stupid? What the Internet is doing to our brains”. Carr does not just blame the Google search engine in this claim, but the internet as a whole on how it impacts concentration and our ability to contemplate. These cognitive impacts are observed and explained in more scientific terms by Eric Jaffe, a regular Observer

According to the United Nations Agency, approximately 3.2 billion people have used the Internet since 2015, which has made a drastic increase since 2000 with there only being 738 million internet users then. That is almost 43% of the world's population that uses the internet. A controversial topic that is commonly being brought up in today's arguments is the use of the internet and how people believe it is becoming such a detriment to our society, because nobody in this generation acknowledges the value of books, or even prefers to use an actual copy such as a paperback. The internet, such as Google, is being classified as lazy or ignorant, but reading a book is labeled as literate or being knowledgeable. Thesis:“Teaching in the #Age Literacy” by Jennifer L. Nelson and “Is Google Making Us stupid?” by Nicholas Carr, both analyze the pros and cons to having the internet and information at our fingertips, how it is affecting the way we read and analyze text and different scientific experiments that have been put to use to decode why we think the way we do now and how to improve our intelligence.

Carr writes articles and books on technology, business, and culture, and has written for the Guardian, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. He is a well established writer and was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in 2011. Carr wrote this article because he found himself having a hard time focusing on any type of deep reading, something that he feels is very important to having a well rounded mind. He emphasizes that because the internet is structured to be a massive amount of information read one small piece at a time, our minds are starting to reflect that. He is writing for an intellectual audience who are probably for the most part highly educated. His audience would be those who can see the importance of the way that we consume information, and how our brains use that information. His writing in this article does a very good job of reaching that audience thanks to his obvious knowledge on the subject, and how he relates to his

In a research survey it was found that 56% 18-19 year olds possessed low knowledge levels compared to the 22% of 50-64 year olds (Source A). But as suggested by Source B this “reflects not dumbness but choice”. In today’s age it is not about knowing information it is about knowing where to find it. In previous generations the internet was not available and information was not so easily accessible so it was important to memorize information. But with today’s technology all information is a google search away lifting the burden of having to memorize and having to read through pages of books. As “research that once required days in the stacks or periodical rooms of libraries can now be done in minutes” (Source D). Making choosing not remember information that doesn’t appear valuable a practical choice, because it’s simply not worth the effort. But that doesn’t mean that the modern generation doesn’t research or explore as much as the parental generations. In fact to the internet allows them to research areas of interest or simply “geek out”, where there motivated and self-directly learn and explore about a certain topic or interest (Source C). Where they receive feedback and earn respect form peers without any borders. With outcomes unparalleled to the classroom setting. In short remembering facts has become impractical, but the generation passionately use the internet to explore their

“Just as a car allows us to move faster and a telescope lets us see farther, access to the Internet’s information lets us think better and faster,” says Peter Norvig, Director of Research at The New York Times, in “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Internet access is both something very few and very many people have. Some, who live in rural areas or cannot afford it, yearn to have the privilege that comes with the internet. Why deny students the privilege many people hunger for: the privilege of knowledge? Many people fear technology will make the world stupid, such as Socrates feared the written word would make world forgetful. But writing “has improved our law, science, arts, culture, and our memory” (Norvig), and Google will not make our brains rot from under-usage; it will help our minds flourish with new

The assignment required that we provide students with learning activities that empower them to integrate information literacy and technology. This project enabled my partners and I to provide students with opportunities to use digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information accessed from a variety of sources available, empowering them to perform independent searches in future research projects. My partners and I formulated a lesson to teach students different strategies to locate the desired information in the school databases. In doing so, students will acquire the necessary technology skills that will help them fulfill their learning

Anyone can seemingly pull out their phone out of their pocket and begin browsing the Internet, scavenging for information. Technology has made reading books irrelevant, and as Hurley feared, there “would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one.” In the current day and age, any knowledge needed can easily be googled and does not need to be ferreted out of books. Overall, the accessibility of information and the decreased dependency on books is parallel to Huxley’s vision, still proving to be

Technology is not all to blame for the stereotypes about Generation Z. Despite the negative comments about Generation Z being lazy and unaware, they are not at all. In fact, because most of them are technologically inclined and virtually updated, they are not apathetic, they’re just being teenagers who were raised in a different environment. This is why there is such a thing as generations in this world. If there weren’t any changes in the world, we wouldn’t even be able to tell if a new generation has come. Every generation has its benefits for a better and more advanced living.

The purpose research is to outline the importance of information literacy and recommendations for the future. Specifically, it argues for the importance of Information Literacy to individuals, business, and citizenship. It suggests opportunities to develop information literacy which addresses the information age in school.

Information literacy skills are used for academic purposes, such as research papers and group presentations. They are used on the job—the ability to find, evaluate, use and share information is an essential skill. They are also used in consumer decisions, such as which car or vacuum cleaner to purchase, are critical. Last but not least, they are used by informed citizens in participating fully in a democratic society through voting (Kenney, 2007).