How has Information Changed

Responding to David Warlick http://davidwarlick.com/2cents/2007/06/13/how-has-information-changed/

Mr. Warlick starts off his blog by explaining how information is networked in todays age and how it has changed dramatically from the days when you had to find a book in your house or go to the library to research a topic. Now you can simply log on to the internet and have access to anything you desire. This really is amazing, and true. Consider Wikipedia, you go to look up any subject and other topics that are related to that topic are linked withing the document. This means that you can go and view something on Computers and read up on Apple Inc. and within one click read a biography on Steve Jobs. Whereas in a library you would have to find the section for Biographies, find the section for Steve Jobs and hope it is in the library at the time. Wikipedia really is amazing for its networked data. Try playing "Seven Degrees to Kevin Bacon" on Wikipedia :D.

Mr. Warlick goes on to talk about how this information is becoming increasingly digital. I can't argue with that and I feel that with children also becoming more adapt to digital "things" that educators need to embrace these digital "things". Mr. Warlick talks about how this digitization allows us to search quickly and effectively for the information we want and desire. Used properly this can only lead to good things in my opinion. However that is a big if and leads me to remind my self of the mapping concepts I have learned in my Ecmp 355 class.

Because of this networking of informations classrooms are also becoming networked within the information, through blogs, wikis or any other type of information. Schools are now connected to the outside world as compared to before this change in information when schools were only connected as much as the information within the school would allow them to be.