Hi Interwebs,
Once again for this lecture we were given a set of questions to answer:

1. How can you judge the validity of things on the internet?
2. What are the limitations of network literacy? How does it differ to print literacy?
   • What limitations do both literacies share?
   • What strengths help compensate for each other?
   • Can they work together?
   • Are they destined to be rivals?
3. Should network literacy be focused on in earlier education?
   • Can it be taught formally?
   • Is there a formula for blogging? Like how essays have one?
   • What do you think the solution is? Should we let kids teach themselves through doing?

I feel as if we are doomed to never really answer all the questions that we receive…

The validity of information we find online can be quite… untrustworthy… As you discover by websites like The Onion. Which prizes itself on false (but really hilarious) news and the tremendous amount of people they trick everyday. However we were discussing in class and I realised that it doesn’t matter how public and open the online world is, any information you discover there will be more valid than anything you’ll find in a book or library. How do you know the book you’re holding is valid either? You really don’t because that information is probably a decade old, whereas the information that you find online is probably 2 weeks old and probably way more accurate despite a random posting it. There, of course, will be many indicators that information from a certain website will be correct, educational websites and Wikipedia should be the most accurate. Despite what many think of Wikipedia, there are actually a group of professionals hired that are there to make sure Wiki stays on the right track when it comes to correct information and sourcing.

Of course: Always double check the information you’ve been given and the date it was written.

Secondly, network literacy vs print literacy, who will win? I’ve already made a previous post about this (due to a previous reading regarding this decision) and I shall say it again: NETWORK LITERACY KICKS PRINT LITERACY’S ASS!! Example: the day of the symposium, was also the death of beloved comedian, Robin William (RIP), and before the tabloids can even print it on paper it was already all over Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter… any social media and you would have discovered the news. When some heard of the news from friends, instead of going and purchasing a local paper they instead chose to Google it, that my friends, is the power of the internet and network literacy.

Not saying that print literacy won’t ever come back into fashion again. I personally prefer printed books as opposed to ebooks or audio books, and the same concept with magazines. The main issue is that information defiantly travel’s faster via the internet.