This document discusses the information problems of overload and quality of information sources. It notes that more information is now produced in a short period of time than in previous thousands of years. For the problem of overload, the document questions if simply adding more technology or content is the solution. For the problem of quality, it notes that most students use the internet for research but many sources are unreliable. It raises questions about restricting students' access or pre-selecting sources for them as potential solutions. The document concludes with a parable about teaching people to fish for themselves rather than just giving them fish.

1. Information Literacy
by Mark

2. Information Problem : Overload
• “More new information has been
produced in the last 30 years than in the
previous 5,000.”
• “The Amount of new information stored
on paper, film, magnetic, and optical
media has doubled in three years..”

3. The Solution?
• Is it to Speed things up?
• Or pack in more and more content?
• Add is more technology the
solution?

4. Information Problem : Quality
• “More than 2/3 of teens said within the last year that
they use the internet as their major resource when
doing a big project for school…”
• In a study of 500 sites used by Colorado high school
students to do research, only 27%of the sites were
judged to be reliable for academic research!

5. The solution?
• Is it to Discourage Web Use so that they only can use
books for information?
• Pre-select resources that the teachers or school
provide?
• Or have filtering so that certain site are block that
don’t have authenticity?

6. Eisenberg’s version of the “parable of
the fish”
If you help someone to learn how to find and
use information about fishing and then can
teach themselves how to fish or to do anything
else they want to do in life!