"The internet is too open. People now want an internet that is more stable, the same way they want an automobile or refrigerator or hair dryer that's stable. When people have the choice of an appliance that behaves nicely like the iPhone, they'll move to that. I'm afraid we'll lose the innovation and 'generativity' of the internet." ---Zittrain

Photo by Plan de Alfabetización Tecnológica Extremadura

Maybe I heard this wrong--but this quote seems like such an oxymoron to me. 

On one hand, he says we want a more stable internet--and Zittrain has strong arguments for how that could happen. He gives examples of a community working together to avoid the bad things of the internet. Yet, he also says that he is afraid we will lose the innovation and gerativity of the internet. 

And the scary thing is, I understand where he is coming from. His fear of the internet falling apart, creating computer zombies until no one uses the web anymore because there is so much junk out there--could be a valid point. The idea of the community of web users working together to evaluate websites is an interesting one (hmmm... did you catch my Minnesota use of the word interesting there?!) Basically, I'm not too sure what to think of this idea. Part of me says Wikipedia works well, and it is accurate--so maybe this would be a great thing for the internet. Secretly, I think this is the part of me that read Nicholas Carr last week, and is still a bit freaked out by some of the bad things that can happen with the internet.

The other more rational side of me, connects with losing the innovation of the web. Part of what I love about the internet is that anyone can publish. My students love to create their own web sites to show their learning. I also love to publish on the web. I wonder who will decide what is quality and what is not. My students are in the learning process--and I as a researcher would not use their information as a source. However, they love to share their learning in an authentic way with their family and friends.

As a librarian, I feel like it is a big part of my job to teach my students how to evaluate the information they find on the internet. I don't see the internet changing anytime soon--to be regulated. So, we need to teach our students to evaluate the information they find and use on the web--and to make good decisions based upon the tools they have.

Privacy Online??

"Computer systems are not at their core technologies of emancipation. They are technologies of control" (The Big Switch--pg. 191).

photo from Creative Commons: ckschleg

As I read this section, I honed in on "You have zero privacy." I guess I have thought this for a while, but I didn't totally get what it meant. AND for a pretty boring person like me, it's not really that big of a deal. I mean, I erased my history when I knew I was pregnant, and didn't want my friends and family to know yet, but it wasn't anything that was that damaging. This knowledge that we don't have privacy--that computers actually have control of all we do is a bit frightening. The scariest part, is most of us don't even know how much freedom we have given up (I certainly don't think about it that often--or I just brush it off, for the convenience of the web!)

So what does this mean for libraries?? In schools, it means we need to be doing a better job of teaching our students about privacy issues on the internet. Most kids know not to give out their private home information--they don't probably know that they are connected to a search history in which they can be identified (wow--I didn't know it was that easy!). It may mean that library computers and the multitude of people that search on them can help keep some patron privacy--letting the user have some control back..

As I sit here and type this blog post, I am logged into google--I've now searched privacy, keep out, and did some reading about the same sex marriage debate. Yikes--what are they collecting about me? And, even if I log out, I am still identifiable. I'm now wracking my brain about all the stuff I have researched on my own computers. 

We have a BIG job ahead of us--perhaps with education, more will jump into the fight.

"We see the interplay of technology and economics most clearly at those rare moments when a change takes place in the way a resource vital to society is supplied, when an essential product or service that had been  supplied locally begins to be supplied centrally, or vice versa" (p. 23).

I found it remarkable that so many inventions changed the way society worked. I was quite surprised that Edison had started Electricity as a small powerhouse--and that later it was expanded to be the service that it is. As I read this quote, I kept thinking about the long tail--and how companies like Amazon have changed the way business works. Business on the internet really connects with what Carr was talking about. The internet is changing the way that businesses work.

Blogging

"The blogosphere is the greatest vector for new voices ever created. The convention of linking to ideas and information of merit, wherever they come from, be it professional or amateur, is a powerful force of diversity. The main risk with blogs is the distraction o too many leads to pursue, not too few" (The Long Tail p. 190). 

I would agree with this quote. However, I would note searching the internet, and getting blog posts can be difficult--which was my aha for this week. Web browsers often do not show blog entries in their top results. While getting ready for my textpert presentation, I knew that I had recently read a blog post great school librarians to follow on Pinterest. If memory serves correctly, I had linked to this entry for another blog article that I was reading. Unfortunately, I read it on my phone--and through Flipboard, so I did not bookmark/pin/star in any way. While trying to recover this information I spent much time searching on the web and reading my RSS feed--to no avail. 

This risk of distraction can be powerful, or a total time suck (Yes I have spent an entire evening reading a woman's story from Utah that was in a car fire--Yes this was a random link from a quilting blog--) Did I enjoy my reading, obviously I did. Was I fulfilling my purpose--not really. Sometimes those detours are wonderful--and at other times, there is just too much out there to know where to begin. I love seeing who other bloggers follow, and giving credit to great ideas so that we can create professional learning communities.

Is blogging the end all to the internet--no it isn't. But it is a real and authentic way that many people have their voices heard. And many of those voices are worth hearing.