A post from Catherine Lombardozzi, one of the thought leaders I follow as part of my PLN RSS feed, popped for me and I just had to share it with other members of the MetaliteracyMOOC and readers of my blog.
The blog post, Perils of popular science (October 17, 2013) raises questions about the increased need for 'due diligence' in 21st century research and scholarship.
Since my response to her post is awaiting moderation, I'll share it with you here:
Catherine, this is a great example of why those of us in the library profession make such a big deal about the concept of “information literacy” or ‘Metaliteracy,’ as some are suggesting we call it in the 21st century. With the advent of OERs – with the plethora of curation tools and the ‘noise’ they can generate – with self-publication AND self-promotion being so readily available and accessible, critical literacy becomes increasingly important. Caveat emptor!
Are your ideas about critical evaluation changed or sparked by Lombardozzi's blog post?
Lombardozzi's post only helped to bolster my concerns about credibility and authority. It is completely insane to me that published books could feature ill-interpreted statistics. If an author needs to tailor their research to bolster their own thesis, then the book/article/review should not even have made it past the preliminary stages. It makes me fearful of a day where I would have to look into a scholar's research to ensure that it was utilized objectively. I think that we are now bordering on a point where certain standard criteria will need to be met for a person's work to be scholarly, and credible.
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ReplyDeleteTo benefit those that are having trouble following this 'string', here's a link to Brittany's post http://bmfrederick.blogspot.com/2013/10/inspired-thoughts-about-textbooks.html, which refers to a post by Geoffrey Bapteau http://ggmetaliteracy.blogspot.com/2013/10/free-textbooks.html .
ReplyDeleteGeoff's post had 2 great responses: one from a fellow Metaliteracy MOOCer and fellow librarian, Donna Witek and another from their instructor and co-facilitator of Metaliteracy MOOC, Trudi Jacobson (librarian). Trudi referred to a recent article from the Albany Times-Union http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Online-materials-close-book-on-texts-4905095.php.
My response to Geoff's post appeared as part of the MOOC's Discussion Forum , eliciting responses from fellow MOOCers C[athy] Marten,Library Media Specialist & Jr. High Reading Teacher at USD 322 in Onaga, KS, and Joyce McKnight, Associate Professor SUNY/Empire State College.
If you're as confused as I am by all this, consider taking my survey http://beyondinformationliteracy.blogspot.com/2013/10/metaliteracy-mooc-participant-survey.html and sharing your preferences for discussions with me so I can share them back to you and the Metaliteracy MOOC facilitation team!