Blog Post 3 - Print vs. Online Resources: Learning in the New Medieval Era

 I feel that the emphasis on e-resources is creating a schism in the classroom. Without adequate access to computers, it can feel as though one is living in a world without books. I've mentioned in discussions and in my assignment 1/part 1 that Britannia has a unique library situation. I should also bring up that I think we have a unique computer situation. Within the school there is one computer lab that all teachers have access to. This lab is heavily booked across the subject areas. Also, the lab is situated in a wing of the school, far from the majority of teaching classrooms.

Thus, while I believe that on-line resources are the way of the future, I feel like we entering into a technological dark age where if you do not have the tools you cannot access the information. Also with the move to put print on line, there is the question of what does the information consumer do while move is happening. I sometimes feel that the print information we had access to through libraries is now being controlled by an invisible technological oligarchy. As an information consumer, I continually question why certain sources are readily available online, while others are barely searchable. Will the move to online resources eliminate important metadata search tools and replace them with search tools that base their results on search term frequency and popularity? I'm also concerned about the authority of the information curator. A teacher librarian who directs students and teachers to print resources is accountable for the resources he or she recommends. There is no such accountability online. This phenom has led to both an increased skepticism among information consumers and an increased naivety where profoundly absurd ideas are accepted as truths.

I think that as educators and information consumers we have a lot to learn about the emerging online worlds. When we talk about online resources, I always have the feeling that we are travelling into an uncharted universe with a very shoddy map.  I hope in the excitement to discover this new world, we remember to hold on to those things of the present and past that still work.