iMusings

Another week has gone by, and I have finally narrowed in on a topic! Not a moment too soon, considering that the program of study is due next week… I still have a lot of work to do, in terms of refining the area I would like to focus on, but I am happy to be making progress.

I am interested in studying libraries which are community resource centers, supporting community members to borrow items which might seem outside the realm of typical library materials (including fishing rods, cake pans, etc.). In Toronto, public libraries host a variety of "non-book" materials for patrons to borrow, and increasing numbers of subscription libraries are also creating exciting spaces for people to learn, make, and share (such as the Toronto Tool Library). 

This past week in Professor Shade's INF1001 class (Knowledge and Information in Society), we discussed digital media literacy, and prepared for the class by reading a number of articles, including Sora Park's "Dimensions of Digital Media Literacy and the Relationship with Social Exclusion". Although the article engages with digital media literacy, Park also unpacks the word "literacy" as a multi-layered term, which includes both content and device literacy (not just accessing a device, but learning how to use it). Specifically, she understands the word "literacy" to mean not just accessing materials and learning decoding the meaning of content (on, for example a website), but also the ability to create and participate. The concept of creating and making is one which I think is particularly relevant to my topic, because the tools, games, and devices which libraries lend out enable community members to participate as makers - borrowing cake pans to embark on a baking projects, or borrowing a drill to initiate a home renovation project. Libraries are supporting people to not only access information, but also to become active participants in their learning processes.

Exploring topics from a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives and valuing the insights of students are two aspects of the iSchool education which have been particularly beneficial to the research process for this class, Research Methods. Although I have only provided one example, similar topics and themes have been weaving in and out of all my classes, and it has been really engaging to discover connections between texts and discussions from one course to another.

 

Sources

Sora Park. (2012, February). Dimensions of Digital Media Literacy and the Relationship with Social Exclusion. Media International Australia 142: 87-100. [e-article]. http://go.galegroup.com.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA284323808&v=2.1&u=utoronto_main&it=r&p=ITOF&sw=w