Week 5: Google, Copyright, etc.

"Teens are impatient and unsophisticated online researchers who are often limited by their poor reading skills. But because they're attracted to clean and simple Web interfaces, they often turn to Google—and now Wikipedia—to help meet their research needs." (47)

from "Return of the Google Game". School Library Journal v. 54 no. 5 (May 2008) p. 46-8

Is this a problem? Perhaps. Or is this maybe a step in the right direction? We shall see.

Throughout our week 5 readings we have dove into a world of print copyright rules, their judgments, search engines, and the specificity and accuracy of the most popular search engine, Google.

According to the Berger chapter entitled Searching the Web from the book Choosing Web 2.o Tools, student information seeking behavior is analyzed and contrasted to find patterns that we as information professionals can learn from. In the text, the author states, "...students overrate their searching abilities and expect too much from the search engines, they are usually satisfied with their results; what they find is usually 'good enough.'" (Berger, 25) This is where the problems begin; information overload, potential plagiarism, lack of accurate results, etc. Between the Berger chapter,the Watkins & Elder article entitled the Google Game, and its follow up article the Return of the Google Game a world of accurate and refined search methods are detailed.

Within the Google Game, Watkins details how important it is to receive LESS as opposed to MORE results in an online search. At face value this makes little to no sense and might seem hard for any person to understand, especially a child. Since we were all very young we were taught that acquiring more of something was usually better, i.e. money, benefits, experience, information.

This new approach supersedes all that 'mumbo-jumbo'.

Watkins and Elder details great search techniques that include small alterations to search words in order to create a better search result.

The following website details such techniques...
http://www.learnwebskills.com/search/engines.html

Here comes the game (in screen shot format)

(the first image is from Watkins, Katrine. “The Google Game”. School Library Journal (January 2006) p. 52-54.
&
the second image is from
Watkins, Katrine. "Return of the Google Game". School Library Journal v. 54 no. 5 (May 2008) p. 46-8)

Game format is a wonderful technique to helping children and students learn. Playing a game is fun, therefore, learning can be fun too, right.

As detailed in the Simpson Chapter 4 about Fair Use, "Fair use is a balancing act."(36) Of course we are talking about copyright rules, but accurate searching in a search engine online is similar. The balancing act between need for certain information, relevance, type or medium, etc. and HOW TO GO ABOUT SEARCHING teeters just like a judgment about fair usage of information.

Now the final question is: Is my use of the clip art above and both visuals from the Watkins articles within fair use? My answer...it may not abide with all four factors, yet just because it does not agree to one of them (or two of them, or THREE of them) does not mean that it would not be fair.

Week 4: School Libraries & Information Seeking / Copyright

This week's readings and websites were a bit varied in their approaches to the copyright law. To begin, I was first and foremost intrigued by The Fischbowl Blog that dealt with copyright. With a page title called Living Life Against the Law, how could anyone turn a blind eye? According to Jessica Litman, whom is quoted throughout the passage:

"...the U.S. copyright law is even more technical, inconsistent and difficult to understand; more importantly, it touches everyone and everything." (the whole article can be found here)

Understanding that the Copyright Laws and Statures are a 142 page document immediately gives me a headache. Perhaps the only way to gain any understanding from the law is the ease into it, one step at a time. There are many components of copyright that people frankly just do not understand, dare I say all of it? Realistically though chances are that everyone almost all of the time, if working with some sort of creative media (especially in a classroom setting) is dancing a fine line between adhering to the law and breaking it. A perfect example is my last blog. I know that the images I used are protected by someone, somewhere, and that I did not necessarily site them. Was I lazy or ignorant in not citing them? Perhaps a little bit, but first and foremost, I am treating this blog as a conversation, and both of the items I used images for, the filter bubble and 'Bubble Boy,' became part of the conversation.

Would the United States government be upset about that? Yea, probably. If I really wanted to, I could have drawn my own images based off of my thoughts on the subject. What would that do though? Could my drawings be misconstrued as breaking a copyright law because they kind of look like something else that another artist has done? Like I said...a headache approaching means that it is time to ease into it.

Within to the Simpson text, the entirety of an ironically short chapter 3 deals with Licensed and Royalty-Free Materials. It is safe to say that most "copyright-free" items in public domain are hard to implement into everyday life. "Royalty-free" items, which are in fact governed be a license, are probably a bit more usable because they may actually be less antiquated pieces that are still relevant in our current society. Ever since I have came into the LIS program last semester almost all of my professor's have painstakingly made sure to cite the source of their images, if not the actual author the website to which it was found. Be it that we are all dealing with information professionalism then it is, more or less, expected that our teachers understand the law more than we do. Simpson's text somewhat qualifies that citations may not necessarily be enough. Yet, his introduction to the topic is fairly useful.

The CPSD Bound by The Law comic book, provided by Duke University, was very useful and interesting when it came to discussing "Fair Use" under the copyright laws and also what was considered "public domain." The following two picture/charts seemed very helpful:

(Both Images Retrieved from Bound By the Law: http://www.law.duke.edu/cspd/comics/index)

I believe that it is safe to say we as educators and future educators should focus our curricula on attacking what it copyright safe or figuring out the correct ways to cite media in our classrooms. This goes beyond the students, also taking into account other teachers, professors, and administrators. I suppose we would all rather be safe than sorry, but I believe that the best way to actually attack this is NOT head on, yet by EASING INTO IT.

(and now my headache has subsided)

ICT and IL: Week 3 Blog

In discovering and discussing IL and ICT within the wiki group and the readings prescribed for this week I have been sincerely awakened when it comes to education styles in our schools. Be it Librarians or Teachers (or even Teacher Librarians) that are initiating the learning process, it is thoroughly straightforward that the expectations require more teacher and student involvement in their ever day activities and lessons. Richardson harped on the necessity of weblogs in a school setting, whereas Gordon approached the concept of, "student-as-researcher," which embraces the belief that we deconstructed last week that attests teacher's "instructional role is 'sage on the stage' rather than 'guide at the side.'" (Gordon, 61)

I personally feel like it is a call for more all around engagement of students in their learning. Dialing in to an active learning initiative that grabs hold of a collaborative approach can be the way to go in the 21st century.

Going on somewhat of a tangent, Eli Pariser's speech involving Google's algorithmic system replacing the role of human gatekeepers of information, he states, "We need the internet to connect us all together, introduce us to new ideas, new people, new perspectives…[it] won’t do that if it leaves us isolated in a web of one.” In this quote he is referring to the 'filter bubble' model that he has constructed. More information on his belief can be found here:

http://www.thefilterbubble.com/

If we compare the constraints of a filter bubble to ICT and IL, we can see some prospective problems that could strike fear in the education process. However, we can defeat this if we effectively teach our children how to look beyond what the internet wants us to see according to our interests or tendencies. I don't know about anyone else, but when I was a child-student I had NO IDEA what I was interested in, what I needed, what I liked, etc. Things were in a constant state of flux.

I compare these two photos (thanks to google). Consider it an SAT question, but matching images...

The Filter Bubble is to Education as Bubble Boy is to closed off social life.




















In a closing note, I took the time to check out the validity of the links provided on the Novemberlearning website. I felt compelled to post the link to the Dog Park website on my facebook, and immediately received the following response:


Perhaps an exercise for a class would be for students to find one real and one not-so-real website an assess what makes them either classification. It would further strengthen a student's analytical skill and could be a IL skill building task.

Assistive Technology and Accessibility: Week 2 Blog

In discovering Assistive Technologies while studying Accessibility for students in a library media setting I have become sincerely intrigued by certain benchmarks. I have always been a proponent against 'one-size-fits-all' models of learning in any capacity, be it sports, music, or academic learning. One of the utter downfalls of the 19th and 20th century learning sets were the beliefs centered around traditional European methods as well what could be considered common sense principals.

I stumbled upon an interesting blog entry in my search for the basics when it came to the 20th century teaching methods:

http://edleaderlounge.blogspot.com/2011/04/carry-overs-from-20th-century-teaching.html

Not one of the 20th century teaching principles, at least according to Dr. M Walker Buckalew, dealt with special needs children, kids with learning disabilities, or catering to those students who might need enhanced learning methods. The blog link asks which of the-20 principles from Buckalew's text should be carried over into the 21st century. It seems fairly obvious that most are outdated and should be enhanced...and maybe Accessibility should be one aspect that is attacked first.

(On PBS.org I also found a time line of teaching methods, techniques, issues, and landmark court decisions in the United States that made up the DNA of schooling until the present.)

While reading both articles, “UD and UDL: Paving the way toward inclusion and independence inhe school library," and the CEC's "Embedding Technology in Education for All Learners" I have been entranced by the Universal Design for Learning, or, "a research-based set of principles that provide a practical framework for using technology to maximize learning opportunities for all students." (Blue, Elfreda V & Darra Pace, 49) I also took a screen shot of the Cast article that described the UDL in picture form as according to the corresponding neuroscience studies:

(http://www.cast.org/udl/index.html)

As a whole, the UDL method exposes the faults that exist in past teaching strategies employed by our student's educators. I do feel that is necessary to say that these educators, board leaders, school administrators, and education directors are necessarily at fault. Special needs students have been meandering their way through the education system for decades; they were just never addressed in a meaningful way. The UDL appears to defeat the belief in a one-size-fits-all method to teaching. That in itself is a feat that is clearly beneficial to students of the present and future.

In the "UD and UDL" article the authors state, "The true value of [media and library] resources can be realized only if they are accessible to users." (Blue, Elfreda V & Darra Pace, 51) We as students developing our methods, beliefs, and practices involving the profession of information and school library education are now called forth to discover and provide the most up to date learning methods. These methods, with the right amount of luck, research, and practice will hopefully become set in stone as an educational principle in the future. With the right integration of libraries and SLMS then perhaps we can rewrite what has been reinforced unbeknown to our forefathers (and foremothers).