UCLAPacific Bell Initiative for 21st Century Literacies

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UCLA/Pacific Bell Initiative for 21st Century
Literacies

• Howard Besser
• UCLA School of Education Information
• http//www.newliteracies.gseis.ucla.edu/
• http//www.gseis.ucla.edu/howard

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UCLA/Pacific Bell Initiative for 21st Century
Literacies-

• The Problem and Issues
• Project Dates Staff
• The User
• Adaptive Systems
• Summit
• Policy
• More details on going beyond Info Lit dealing
  w/Design Issues

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21st Century Literacies

• Information Literacy
• Visual Literacy
• Media Literacy
• Cultural Literacy
• ...

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The Problem and Issues

• If we solve Access Problem (technology,
  bandwidth, training), other impediments to an
  informed citizenry still remain
• Need critical evaluation of resources
  (reliability, authoritativeness, thoroughness,
  recency)
• Need skills to pare down from information
  overload
• Need critical thinking skills
• Need to deal with different users having
  different backgrounds and capabilities

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Project Dates Staff

• Summer 2000-Dec 2001
• 1 million
• Co-Directed by Aimée Dorr and Howard Besser
• October 21, 2000 Summit (planning involved 20
  people from Pacbell UCLA)
• Rest of project primarily UCLA
• Coordinator Sheila Afnan-Manns (afnanmanns_at_gseis.u
  cla.edu)

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The User

• Evaluative bibliography of literature and
  projects
• Analysis of what we know thusfar from several
  different perspectives (curriculum design,
  library services, critical theory, information
  retrieval, user-centered design, )
• Examining model curriculum

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Design Issues

• Examine factors that inhibit efficient and
  effective use of an information system
• Examine how best to design systems to match the
  literacy levels, technological capabilities, and
  other characteristics of the user
• Principles, Practices, and Guidelines for Good
  Design for Facilitating Access (screen design,
  searching navigation, metadata description,
  info structures organization, usability
  testing, )
• Build Adaptive Systems

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Build Adaptive Systems

• Build Systems that adapt the same back-end
  information to different user profiles (different
  knowledge bases, different technical
  capabilities, different cognitive structures)
• User profiles may include advanced researcher in
  a particular subject area, general undergraduate
  student, high school student,
• Different profiles will need different user
  interfaces, navigation, searching vocabulary,
  file formats and sizes, ...

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Summit (1/2)Oct 21, 2000

• Bring widespread attention to the underlying
  issues
• 360 professionals from education, librarianship,
  public policy, and industry
• 15 Higher Ed faculty, administrators, librarians
• 28 K-12 teachers, principals, superintendents
• 14 public and K-12 librarians
• 33 future practitioners, policy makers,
  librarians, educators
• 8 business community
• 3 government (governors office, state dept of
  Educ, )

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Summit (2/2)Oct 21, 2000

• Snappy video to highlight the problems (25
  unsolicited requests to show video in 1st month
  after Summit)
• Over 2 dozen exhibits and poster sessions
  explaining related projects throughout the
  country
• Guest speakers (Alan Kay, Marcia Bates, Pat
  Breivik, Kathleen Tyner, Anna Deavere Smith, Tal
  Finney)

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Policy

• information literacy standards
• issues related to the "Digital Divide
• privacy and ownership concerns
• ...

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Information LiteracyBeyond Users to Design-

• Traditional Approaches to Information Literacy
• Why is Design of Information Delivery Systems
  Important?
• The UCLA/Pacific Bell Initiative for 21st Century
  Literacies
• The Initiative as a whole
• Adaptive Design Systems
• What does this all mean for Higher Ed
  Professionals?

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Information Literacy Definitions

• Information literacy is a set of abilities
  requiring individuals to "recognize when
  information is needed and have the ability to
  locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed
  information (ALA 1989)
• "the ability to locate, evaluate, and use
  information to become independent life-long
  learners" - Commission on Colleges, Southern
  Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).
  Criteria for Accreditation. 10th ed. Dec. 1996.
  http//www.sacs.org/pub/coc/cri70.htm
• "the abilities to recognize when information is
  needed and to locate, evaluate, effectively use,
  and communicate information in its various
  formats" - State University of New York (SUNY)
  Council of Library Directors. Information
  Literacy Initiative. 30 Sept. 1997.
  http//olis.sysadm.suny.edu/ili/final.htm
• "a new liberal art that extends from knowing how
  to use computers and access information to
  critical reflection on the nature of information
  itself, its technical infrastructure, and its
  social, cultural and even philosophical context
  and impact" - Shapiro, Jeremy J. and Shelley K.
  Hughes. "Information Literacy as a Liberal Art".
  Educom Review. 3.2. Mar./Apr. 1996.
  http//www.educause.edu/pub/er/review/reviewarticl
  es/31231.html
• "the skills of information problem solving" -
  Wisconsin Educational Media Association (adopted
  by the National Forum for Information Literacy).
  Position Statement on Information Literacy. 1993.
  http//www.ala.org/aasl/positions/PS_infolit.html

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Traditional Approaches to Information Literacy
(IL)

• Individual User assumed to lack skills
• Focus is on development of curriculum to train
  individual users and test competencies

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Critique of Traditional IL Approaches

• Goes beyond the equipment-based approaches to the
  Digital Divide (Net-Day, TIIAP, state federal
  initiatives)
• Assumes that all Users need is training
• Relies on school-based model where instruction
  can reach everyone
• Often doesnt account for rapid changes that
  necessitate lifelong learning/re-education
• Assumes that Info Delivery Systems can be clearly
  understood by a well-trained user

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Examples of Traditional IL Approaches-

• ALA/ACRL Competency Standards
• AASL/AECT Standards

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ALA/ACRL IL Competency Standards for Higher
Education

• Determine the extent of information needed
• Access the needed information effectively and
  efficiently
• Evaluate information and its sources critically
• Incorporate selected information into ones
  knowledge base
• Use information effectively to accomplish a
  specific purpose
• Understand the economic, legal, and social issues
  surrounding the use of information, and access
  and use information ethically and legally

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AASL/AECT 9 StandardsInformation Literacy

• The student who is information literate accesses
  information efficiently and effectively.
• The student who is information literate evaluates
  information critically and competently.
• The student who is information literate uses
  information accurately and creatively.

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AASL/AECT 9 StandardsIndependent Learning

• The student who is an independent learner is
  information literate and pursues information
  related to personal interests.
• The student who is an independent learner is
  information literate and appreciates literature
  and other creative expressions of information.
• The student who is an independent learner is
  information literate and strives for excellence
  in information seeking and knowledge generation.

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AASL/AECT 9 StandardsSocial Responsibility

• The student who contributes positively to the
  learning community and to society is information
  literate and recognizes the importance of
  information to a democratic society.
• The student who contributes positively to the
  learning community and to society is information
  literate and practices ethical behavior in regard
  to information and information technology.
• The student who contributes positively to the
  learning community and to society is information
  literate and participates effectively in groups
  to pursue and generate information.

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Why is Design of Information Delivery Systems
Important?-
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Graphic Layout-
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Bad Type
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Fonts/Colors/Backgrounds
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Colors Fonts
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Background Color D9D900
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Blinks Fonts 1
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Blinks Fonts 2
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Blinking Drawings
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Width Problems
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Navigation Choices-
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Cluttered Choices
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Clutter
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Icons
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More Advanced Navigation, Choices, Graphic
Design-
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Sliding DHTML Menu
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Background Menu Bars
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Too Many Pop-ups
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Mouse-Up
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Fancy Motion-
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Too Much Flash 1
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Too Much Flash 2
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Basic Set-up-
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Meta Tags
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Make User Change Browser
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Contact Information
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Design Issues (repeat)-

• Examine factors that inhibit efficient and
  effective use of an information system
• Examine how best to design systems to match the
  literacy levels, technological capabilities, and
  other characteristics of the user
• Principles, Practices, and Guidelines for Good
  Design for Facilitating Access (screen design,
  searching navigation, metadata description,
  info structures organization, usability
  testing, )
• Build Adaptive Systems

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Good Design Principles

• Promote good design practices throughout the
  Design community
• Get the Design community to sign on to a set of
  Principles for Good Design-
• Create Guides Best Practices Documents-

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Possible Good Design Principles

• Dont disenfranchise users who have slow
  processors, older browsers, low bandwidth, visual
  impairment, etc.
• Clearly note the recency of any information
  resource
• Make sure that a user can easily determine what
  organization/agency created or contributed to an
  information resource

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Important Dimensions toGood Design Principles

• screen design
• searching navigation
• metadata description
• info structures organization
• usability testing

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Our Resources related toGood Design Principles

• Screen Design - The visual design of the screen
  can impact usability. Color, font, the use of
  images, and layout of screen elements are
  essential design components.
• Searching and Navigation - Ease of navigation and
  search/browsing options are critical components
  of usability.
• Metadata and Description - Good metadata and site
  description will help users find the appropriate
  website.
• Information Structures and Organization - How
  information is organized and categorized shapes
  access. For systems with an underlying searchable
  database, the structure of the database itself
  will determine the outcome of searches.
• Usability Testing - Includes resources on how to
  evaluate sites and on testing for usability.

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Build Adaptive Systems (again)

• Build Systems that adapt the same back-end
  information to different user profiles (different
  knowledge bases, different technical
  capabilities, different cognitive structures)
• User profiles may include advanced researcher in
  a particular subject area, general undergraduate
  student, high school student,
• Different profiles will need different user
  interfaces, navigation, searching vocabulary,
  file formats and sizes, ...

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Our Resources Website
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Adaptive Systemswhat theyll do

• Can serve different audiences (general public,
  purposeful inquirer cultural tourist, domain
  specialist)
• Each profile audience will
• see a level of discourse addressed to them
• experience a user interface appropriate to their
  profile
• use vocabulary they are familiar with
• Yet all will be using the same back-end set of
  information

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Adaptive Systemshow theyll work

• Passing search terms through a thesaurus to map
  specialist vocabulary to/from vernacular
• Adapting vocabulary from curatorial language into
  common discourse development of markup
  extensions to EAD/CIMI/CIDOC to allow description
  for different audiences
• In general, specialized users will experience
  more text-based interfaces, while general users
  will experience more graphic/visual interfaces

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Adaptive Systemsdevelopment plan

• Research and experimentation
• Profile 5-10 different user communities
• Mechanize 2-3 different information delivery
  systems
• Demonstrate the utility of this approach (proof
  of concept) for further research and design

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What does this all mean for Higher Ed
Professionals?

• Good set of Design Guidelines
• Feasibility of Adaptive Systems that deliver the
  same back-end info tailored to different sets of
  user needs

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Information LiteracyBeyond Users to Design

• Howard Besser
• UCLA School of Education Information
• http//www.newliteracies.gseis.ucla.edu/
• http//www.gseis.ucla.edu/howard/
• http//www.infolit.org/

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Additional CommentsContent Access Issues for
Haves vs. Have-Nots

• Costly Content
• Disappearing Public Domain
• Locked-Up content
• Commodification of Information
• Disintermediation
• Preservation Failures