Category Archives: information activist

December 18, 2009 · 5:04 am

Times have changed

I wonder if because I live in the times, that I have trouble seeing all that has occurred in the last 5, 10, 20 years.  The world has truly changed.  Information is becoming so prolific the world over.  I stand in utter amazement of this.   The internet, and social media, has removed so many barriers to information. 

Yes, the digital divide is real and needs to be dealt with, but just to think that so many people in the world had no access to an encyclopedia or other information resources and now they do.  I am learning to see information as a true resource, like clean water or food.  It is here that my mission lies.  I want to ensure that these resources get into the hands of everyone.  Information poverty is real and cyclical like other forms of poverty.  Lets change that.  Lets bring information to the people.

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Filed under democratization of information, information activist, information poverty

December 17, 2009 · 2:41 pm

Information Activist – Dupree

Nancy Hatch Dupree is an octogenarian (yep she’s in her 80’s) and she is working hard to preserve Afghan’s cultural heritage.  She has helped set up the ACKU.  The “Centre’s overall purpose is to enhance nation building by providing reliable information to policy planners, strategy makers, program implementers and future leaders of Afghanistan, including the faculty and students at Kabul University.”

Dupree states, “If you’re going to have any democracy, people have to have access to the constitution. We got copies of the constitution and the laws passed by the parliament and distributed them.” (AL)

The article in American Libraries goes on to say “Access to information and books in Afghanistan has been in crisis for years: There is no national library. Much of the Kabul University Library was destroyed during the civil war and Taliban years, but now operates, albeit with outdated collections, with no automation, no heat, and very few computers.  The National Archive of Afghanistan is plagued by preservation challenges, with no heat, electricity, or climate control, and an infestation of insects that are destroying the collections. And there is almost no publishing industry.”

Dupree my hat’s off to you for your tireless work as an information activist.

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December 16, 2009 · 2:41 pm

The Democratization of Information, partial post

The Democratization of Information

Information has traditionally been ruled and disseminated by a select few.  Social media and the Read/Write web have changed that.  The power of information has been taken over.  The people have risen up to claim what is rightfully theirs.  Information has been democratized by this technological revolution.  Social media allows statistical groups to decide.   “The resulting judgments of these “statistical groups” can be remarkable accurate.  If we have access to many minds, we might trust the average response, a point that bears on the foundations of democracy itself”(Sustein, 2006, p.17). 

Social media is allowing majority rule in terms of information creation and dissemination.  The reality is that prior to this revolution, knowledge was controlled by an oligarchy.  But now, the power of information and knowledge is controlled by the people.  A prime example of this is seen in the Streisand Effect.  This example shows that when someone tries to remove information, the people rise up. 

Why is it that so many people are opposed to Wikipedia?  Why do they still stand in opposition even after studies show that Wikipedia is more accurate than traditionally vetted encyclopedias?    What is really in question here?  Is it that we don’t trust Wikipedia, or that we don’t trust the fundamental principles that democracy rest on?

This is an incomplete thought and/or post.  More will follow, but I am so excited to think about how the control of information has truly shifted from an elite few to the people.

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Filed under democratization of information, information activist, social media, Streisand Effect