The Least You Need to Know "Information Literacy" is a self-paced course offered through a computer. There's a lesson coming up soon called "A Close Look At Your Computer," but before you get there, there are a few things you need to know that will help you move ahead. You will use two tools to get through this first lesson. You will look at one of them most of the time (the computer screen) and touch the other one (the computer mouse). The mouse rests on a pad on the table next to your computer and has a curved body with an arched back to help it fit comfortably into your right hand. Rest your right hand on the mouse now. Hold the mouse and move it around on its pad, but keep on watching the computer screen. As you move the mouse, you will notice a white arrow/vertical black line moving around the computer screen. The movement of the mouse controls the movement of the arrow/line on the screen. Continue to move the mouse around with your hand some more until you feel comfortable with the connection between your hand movement and the changing position of the arrow/line on the computer screen. Notice that there is a column to the right of the writing on the computer screen. Near the bottom right corner of this column there is a small black triangle that points downward. Move the mouse on its pad until the arrow/line on the screen meets the downward pointing triangle. Keep the mouse in this position. You will notice that your right index finger will be able to reach two flat buttons at the top of the mouse. Press down (click) and lift your right index finger off the left mouse button. If the white arrow on the computer screen is covering the downward pointing triangle, when you click the mouse now, the page of writing on the computer screen will begin to move upward. This is called scrolling. Scrolling allows you to read more information on the computer screen, the information that appears to be hidden below the screen. Scroll through this introductory lesson. You can lift your finger off the mouse button and put it back on whenever you are ready to continue scrolling. When you are done reading the lesson, use the mouse to point the arrow over one of the buttons you see at the bottom and press (click) the left mouse button to move on. Lesson Objectives   To figure out a definition for information literacy To look at a model of an "information literate" person To compose your own model of an "information literate" person To learn what to expect in the other lessons in this course and where to go if you need help To learn how to navigate through each lesson What is Information Literacy?   Finding a Definition - A Little Confusing? A lot of people interested in education are using the term "Information Literacy" nowadays. But what does it mean? If you ask the people who use the phrase, you will probably get different definitions from each of them. And some people you ask may be using the term and not even sure themselves what it means! Try asking people what they think the term "Information Literacy" means. You'll probably hear them use at least one of these phrases: "Computer Literacy," "Workplace Literacy" or "Just-Plain-Literacy." Or maybe they'll tell you that Information Literacy has something to do with "Skills for Life," or "Critical Thinking Skills." The fact is, that all of these answers have something to do with Information Literacy, but each of these answers is only a part of the whole picture. So let's figure out where they all fit and try to come up with our own useful definition of this popular, but confusing, phrase, "Information Literacy." Breaking Apart the Term and Trying It Out A simple way to understand the term "Information Literacy" is to break it down into its two simple words, information and literacy. Webster's Dictionary says that information has to do with facts or data and literacy has to do with reading and writing. Is Information Literacy, then, "reading and writing facts and data"? Let's put our definition to a test. Try to think of a good example of something that gives you facts and data. A nice one that comes to mind may be your telephone directory. White pages, yellow pages, whichever one you choose, you have probably let your fingers do the walking through either of these since you were big enough to reach the diningroom table without using their bulky pages as a booster seat! How about we take a walk right now? Let's grab (or heave over) the yellow pages and see for ourselves how well the directory fits in with our ideas about information and literacy. The yellow pages is certainly a good example of a collection of facts or data. Go here if you want to find phone numbers and addresses for pretty much all the businesses in your community. You probably won't find the names of the owners of most of these businesses listed, the store hours, or the prices of something you want to buy, but the yellow pages does deliver the facts and data it promises as a telephone directory. And an added benefit is that, like any good collection of facts or data, the yellow pages telephone directory is well organized, so that when you have it mind to find anything from beepers to beauty pallors, you can go to the special section that has what you need. Visit the Exploratory: Go to the Cybershop! So if the yellow pages, with all its facts and data, can be called information, does reading the yellow pages (what you do) or writing them (what someone else has done) make the people involved in the process of producing or using the directory "information literate"?   Understanding the Term - There Must Be Something More Information Literacy is more than just looking up a phone number in the telephone book or reading the data contained in this source. According to an author of a recent book calledInformation Literacy: Revolution in the Library, "information literate people know how to find, evaluate and use information effectively to solve a particular problem or make a decision" no matter where they get their information. Other important qualities that information literate people are said to have is the ability to recognize when they need to seek out information and an awareness of and a willingness to look in a variety of places to get their information. Using the yellow pages telephone directory, then, is probably not enough of an indication that a person is information literate. However, using the yellow pages directory at some point may be part of what an information literate person does.   An Information Literate Person - An Example Let's look, for example, at Ronnie Nadler (a fictitious person), who is searching through the yellow pages looking for a dry cleaners in her neighborhood that doesn't use the chemical PERC. Ronnie looks up the words "dry cleaners" and is told to "see 'cleaners.'" She turns pages backwards in the phonebook and comes to a neighborhood guide to dry cleaners. She finds her neighborhood and makes some phone calls. About half an hour later Ronnie knows where she can bring her newest Armani blazer with confidence. She is also ready to do some letter writing to politicians and is anxious to get in touch with her friend Michael Brown who told her he was apartment hunting and recently found a place above a store on Madison Avenue. Ronnie Nadler has just spent the last hour or so showing us that she is a good example of an information literate person. But why is that? When Ronnie Nadler turned to the yellow pages directory, she was doing more than just looking for one piece of information, a telephone number for a local dry cleaners. What Ronnie Nadler was doing as an information literate person was: realizing that she needed to find some information - she needed to find a dry cleaners using a variety of information sources to prepare to make a decision - Ronnie was not just using the telephone directory to find a phone number. At some point earlier, she must have used other information sources to decide she needed a dry cleaner for her blazer (where would she have learned of this need?) and that there were reasons to avoid a dry cleaners that uses PERC (where might Ronnie might have learned about PERC. Magazines? Newspapers? The Radio? Television? The Internet? Is it possible she got this information in more than one place?) allowing the new knowledge acquired from a complete review of information sources to affect her further actions - Ronnie was ready to write letters (did she learn something in her search of the telephone book for dry cleaners that don't use PERC that is pushing her towards some political action?); Ronnie is anxious to speak to her friend Michael about his apartment over a store (is she concerned that the store may be a dry cleaners and Ronnie is worried about her friend's health?)   We can begin to see by looking at the example of Ronnie Nadler that Information Literacy is an ongoing process and not a skill used and discarded after a course or a job ends. Ronnie came to her latest experience with many other similar experiences of deciding that she wants to know more, seeking out the information in many places, acting based on the newest information she has and most likely finding out that she wants to know more after she sees the consequences of her latest actions. What will Ronnie decide to do when the politician answers her letter? Will she decide to organize some people to protest the use of PERC in her local dry cleaners? How will she go about organizing the people if she has never done something like this before? Will she seek out more information? And what about Michael? How will she learn if the dream apartment really is above a dry cleaners? What will she do if Michael is sceptical about her concerns? Will she try to find information for him? Will she continue to use her information literacy skills? Exercise: Go to the discussion list. Visit the Exploratory: Build an Info-Robot! It is no wonder that in understanding Information Literacy one often encounters such concepts as "Workplace Literacy" and "Life Skills." Knowing you need answers, getting answers and making decisions based on all the information you have gotten happens every day. Your ability to move through this process will continue to happen long after you have left school. Teachers may not be available to direct you to look in a particular book for an answer, watch a particular television documentary for information or search a particular Website for direction. You will be on your own in your continued adventure of encountering problems and looking for answers.   Information Literacy and Computers You may remember from earlier in this lesson that some people define the term "Information Literacy" as the same thing as "Computer Literacy." If you look ahead at the next few lessons, you may begin to think that there is some truth in this mixing of the two terms. This course on Information Literacy will teach you alot about computers. There will be lessons on knowing your computer and lessons on the Internet. So why is there so much here about computers if from what we just read, Information Literacy is really about knowing when and how to find answers to questions and problems and using the answers to take some action? The reason you will be learning so much about computers in mastering the skills of information literacy, is that computers play a very big role nowadays in storing information, just the information you need to answer your questions and solve your problems, and making the information accessible. Here at the edge of the twenty-first century, being comfortable with a computer, using it for your information purposes, and understanding its broader terminology, are all important for your growing abilities as an information literate person.   Information Literacy and "Just-Plain-Literacy" Let's say that "Just-Plain-Literacy" is knowing how to read and write. You're going to need that to become information literate. You might think that this is pretty silly stuff and wonder why anyone would be bringing it up now -- after all, you passed that hurdle years ago in elementary school. But the simple skills of reading and writing are going to be crucial in how you go about getting information in this highly technological world. Keep one thought in mind as you become better friends with the machines that help us find and use information. Computers, for all their ability to do what some say is thinking, don't make many allowances when they communicate. When you ask them a question, make sure you spell your words correctly, or else they will come back at you as nit-picky as the worst English teacher you ever had. Of course, it is obvious to you that when you write "Metalica," that you mean the band, but don't be surprised when a computer somewhere bounces the word back to you and says, "never heard of them." That fussy computer only recognizes the word when you spell it with the double l, "Metallica." But hey, don't get too put off by the need to dot your i's and cross your t's. There are computers that will help you with your spelling, your writing and alot of those fine points. Some computers, after all, seem friendlier than others. Are you ready now to move ahead and learn the skills that will help you be the master in an information-filled world? Here's a quick overview of what the lessons cover. What the Lessons Cover The first lesson on Information Literacy gives you "A Close Look At Your Computer." This lesson will help you learn the basic parts of a computer and how they work together. "Your Computer Joins a Network" will help you understand the difference between when your computer is working alone and when your computer is connected to other computers. The next several lessons, "The Internet," "A Closer Look At Using the Netscape Browser," "The Internet-General Resources," "Doing Your Own Research On the Internet," and "Searching the Internet" will get help you be comfortable with using the Internet, a vast information resource of connected computers. "Libraries and Information Literacy" will show you how libraries continue to serve an important function in helping you find information in an electronic age. "Netiquette and Other Rules of Good Research Behavior" will teach you how to go about doing and presenting your research effectively without offending anyone or violating any laws. See where your new knowledge will take you in "Information Literacy and Your Future." After you have completed these lessons, you will be better prepared for many challenges in learning and in life. Good luck with your endeavors. Enjoy the course! The Lesson Format Each lesson is written according to the following format: The lesson opens with a section called "Do You Know These Words?" Important words and terms that will be discussed in the lesson are presented initially to you so that you can spot-check your own knowledge. If you think you know what some or all of these words mean already, you can double-check brief meanings by consulting the glossary and move ahead to take the quiz. If most of the vocabulary words are new to you, move ahead to take the lesson before you try the quiz.   "The Lesson" section includes a longer discussion with illustrations and examples of whatever major concepts the lesson is meant to cover.   "Want To Learn More?" gives recommended reading and direct links to more information about the topic covered in that lesson.   "Take the Quiz" enables you to show what you have learned in the lesson you have completed, to show what you already know if you take the quiz without taking the lesson, and to move ahead to the next lesson. Getting Help Along the way, the lessons will give you suggestions for making your learning easier. A teacher is also in the room in case you get stuck. Don't be afraid to try out what you learn. A few mistakes will not break the computer. Want to learn more? Take the quiz!