Anyway, during the first week of November 2007, Skip launched Thing #2. We have to watch two videos from TeacherTube and read an article from Time Magazine. After that we needed to post what we thought. I felt I needed to advocate for good libraries, especially in a district where libraries has been abandoned for at least 10 years, and many people think that since we have the internet, they are not needed anymore.

What I wrote in the RSD 23 Things moodle course during week 2 summarized some of my thoughts about 2.0 learning and our mission as librarians.

Here I am sitting on my desk on a Sunday afternoon reading the reactions to the videos Did you Know? 2.0 and Pay Attention plus the Time’s article. Everybody has a point to make and I really appreciate every comment. I decided to post on two of the comments I read since it seems to affect me both personally and professionally.

Today I woke up at 6:30 am because of time change, and after my husband and son sung me happy birthday (yes it’s my birthday), received birthday phone calls from Russia and Chile through my cell, and say good bye to my family who went for a week-long trip to Montana, ―in the quietness of my home, and feeling absolutely free―, I logged into my computer. It was around noon. I upload some pictures to update the blog I have for the Hartman library, write a post on it and two more on the blog my family from Chile has, do some online window shopping for an underwater camera case, downloaded a registration for the Veteran’s Day 5k Race in Bend next Saturday at http://www.vetsdayrun.homestead.com/entryform.html , check my emails from school and eventually I entered in the second 23 thing task that I am now trying to answer. In between I have done some cleaning and laundry.

When I read the postings I looked at the time (3:30 pm!!) and outside my window (my house’s not the computer’s). Today is a beautiful day. Outside is warm and sunny while in my bedroom where I need to plug in the computer to get internet connection is cold and shadowy.

I have been able to be in front of the computer for so many hours only because my whole family is away, and I know I won’t get too many of my grandiose plans done if I keep my self in front of it since it’s quite addicting. (I am still in running clothes so I can get at least a run in before gets dark).

I really love the idea of incorporating technology regularly into our classrooms, since we need to integrate something that students might use already but maybe not for learning purposes, and if they want to be successful they will need to know how to use it in the real world anyway.

On the other hand, I have the same mix-feelings that on of the member of my district has about the nature-deficit disorder (Actually, I was wondering if she was reading Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv?

It seems that sometimes we need to devout too much time in front of the computer to be up-to date with technology, professional readings online, pictures, feeders, emails, etc. that little time is left for the outside world. How to keep up with it and maintain a balance? How do we teach students and ourselves to acquire this discipline? Some of my fears are if we as educators and students don’t catch up with technology we will be out of the loop, and on the other hand if we spend too much time in front of the computer our mental and physical health will be in jeopardy.

And here is where I connect with the post of another teacher about equity.

The digital divide is not only apparent in developing countries, but also within societies of developed countries such as the US. As Jeremy pointed out clearly the digital divide is happening in his own classroom. People in the US that cannot access ICTs, have diminished possibilities of finding a job or maximizing their use of time. Every day, more and more activities can be done exclusively via Internet.

As an immigrant myself, one of the things that struck me is that, for example, the application for the immigration lottery can only be done through the Internet, and the whole process has to be done in one session that involves not only typing of data but downloading digital pictures and an e-payment. I doubt many immigrants from developing countries can pursue this opportunity unless they come from the small sector of their society that has technological chances.

What it is scary is that with the digital divide citizens can grow up in a State with two parallel governments in the same society. As a document I read pointed out, one of these governments the e-government will be “transparent, comfortable to use and efficient for the affluent people who can access it. In the meantime the traditional form of public administration, renowned for its slowness, long lines, paper-base bureaucracy and limited opening hours will continue to be available for the ones who cannot afford to participate in the technological evolution of their government”
(Hillbert, Martin and Jorge Katz. Building an Information Society: A Latin American and Caribbean Perspective. Santiago, Chile: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), 2003, p. 69. (last visited 4 Nov. 2007).

We can extrapolate the e-government vs traditional public administration simile to the school. And here is my professional bias. The digital divide has socioeconomic and technological components. What it is crucial is having not only access to electronic devices, but also to the opportunity of access to the creation of knowledge. In this sense, I think that libraries can play a big role, and we need to change the traditional view of them as dusted places, with out dated books and grumpy old ladies shushing silence everywhere.

Well supported and well staffed School Library Media Centers can create a community of life long learners and bridge the digital divide gap by providing to the whole school community physical and intellectual access to information in a wide variety of forms, and by giving the tools and experiences necessary to students to unable them to retrieve, understand, use, and evaluate information in an accurate, efficient, critical and creative manner, and therefore, become responsible and independent users of information.

It took me quiet a bit to get this post done, because it is so easy to digressed, and difficult to maintain focus. I cannot blame students for short expansion span. The internet with its alive links doesn’t allow too much time in one place. My post is already too long for too many people. Only the very patience will read it to the end. Thanks!

If you would like to get Louv’s Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder visit DPSL catalog or Amazon.

November 4th, 2007