Yes, people CAN fight against the power of the algorithm and its effects on young people (like those in the Pro Publica article)--AND that on adults (like those in the pieces from Pro Publica and The Pudding). IMO, the solution is in information (media) literacy education. This is the work of teacher-librarians (a credentialed position in which someone must have both teaching and librarian services credentials), whose training includes teaching learners how to access and evaluate information, and to recognize facts, opinions. triggers, and feelings (among other things). Note that this is not an extra course for students, but that teacher-librarians collaborate to plan and teach with content area teachers, so that the work is done in the context of learning the content standards and part of the work of learners every day. (This introduces another challenge, getting teachers to collaborate in these ways, but I'll leave that for another time!)
However, in CA, we have more than 10,000 students per teacher-librarian (the CA Model School Library Standards say that there should be 1 FT TL for every 750-800 students) and this ratio has been getting worse for the last few decades. In my local district, there are 4 TLs and 14,000 students. None of them is FT at any site; 3 cover 6 sites and one is the district library director. This decrease in TLs is ironic, because at the same time, we have increased the need for deeply critical thinking with the adoption of digital technologies that have "democratized journalism" and introduced more misinformation, disinformation, and outright mal-information into the public square.
I would say that the consequences of this lack of attention to information literacy have been very bad: a public that does not know how to evaluate information; a decline in student research skills; the rise of deliberate use of digital technology to manipulate far more citizens that ever before (Pro Publica article); and an increase in racist, misogynistic rhetoric in society (IMO).
I am very appreciative that you’re part of Article Club, Debra. Thank you for this contribution. Yes to more reading, yes to more media literacy, yes to more teacher-librarians!
Yes, people CAN fight against the power of the algorithm and its effects on young people (like those in the Pro Publica article)--AND that on adults (like those in the pieces from Pro Publica and The Pudding). IMO, the solution is in information (media) literacy education. This is the work of teacher-librarians (a credentialed position in which someone must have both teaching and librarian services credentials), whose training includes teaching learners how to access and evaluate information, and to recognize facts, opinions. triggers, and feelings (among other things). Note that this is not an extra course for students, but that teacher-librarians collaborate to plan and teach with content area teachers, so that the work is done in the context of learning the content standards and part of the work of learners every day. (This introduces another challenge, getting teachers to collaborate in these ways, but I'll leave that for another time!)
However, in CA, we have more than 10,000 students per teacher-librarian (the CA Model School Library Standards say that there should be 1 FT TL for every 750-800 students) and this ratio has been getting worse for the last few decades. In my local district, there are 4 TLs and 14,000 students. None of them is FT at any site; 3 cover 6 sites and one is the district library director. This decrease in TLs is ironic, because at the same time, we have increased the need for deeply critical thinking with the adoption of digital technologies that have "democratized journalism" and introduced more misinformation, disinformation, and outright mal-information into the public square.
I would say that the consequences of this lack of attention to information literacy have been very bad: a public that does not know how to evaluate information; a decline in student research skills; the rise of deliberate use of digital technology to manipulate far more citizens that ever before (Pro Publica article); and an increase in racist, misogynistic rhetoric in society (IMO).
I am very appreciative that you’re part of Article Club, Debra. Thank you for this contribution. Yes to more reading, yes to more media literacy, yes to more teacher-librarians!
What a perfect companion piece to this one! https://wellsourced.substack.com/p/teach-mis-and-dis-information-you . As a school librarian, I loved this round up - thank you!