Book,
Digital literacy
John Wiley, New York, (1997)
Abstract
Amazon.com
Until the Net became popular, we were used to pre-packaged, filtered news and information fed to us by giant media outlets. Now there is an abundance of raw material available via the Net. Along with easy access to lots of good stuff, there are sites developed by hate-mongers, conspiracy buffs, and others presenting urban myths or worse as fact. It's imperative, then, that we move from the passive consumer of broadcast media to critical consumers able to quickly assemble reliable knowledge. Digital Literacy capably instructs users in developing a set of critical thinking skills and core competencies that are different from those we've used in the past. Paul Gilster covers topics such as questions to ask when viewing material on a Web site, how to separate form from content, and how links can manipulate the context of hypertext.
From Library Journal
Gilster's latest book is meant to equip Internet users with core competencies and thinking skills. In eight chapters the author, a regular columnist for Carolina Computer News and a contributor to CompuServe Magazine, builds his argument for a critical approach to the information superhighway. Claiming that 'your doubts are the strongest asset you bring to the Internet,' he demonstrates several evaluative techniques for mastering the net's uncontrolled content. Along the way he provides background on the Internet phenomenon, a reassuring explanation for our state of coexisting media (how reading a book differs from reading web-based material), and a description of a productive workday on the net. Unlike Gilster's previous books, such as The New Internet Navigator (Wiley, 1995), this is not a manual for using computerized resources but a rich cache of theory and perspective taking. Recommended for libraries of all types. (Index not seen.)?Martin Jamison, Ohio State Univ. Libs., Columbus
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
