Web Technology in the 21st Century

Web Technology in the 21st Century

Bertram C. BruceLibrary & Information Science

Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Outline

1) The problem of knowledge in health care

2) New ICT's 3) Knowledge transfer4) Inquiry model for knowledge5) Community inquiry laboratories

1) Problem of knowledge in health care

• Globalization• Environmental quality• Working conditions• Poverty• Literacy• New technologies for

– prevention, diagnosis, & treatment– for information and communication

Research versus practice

• Knowledge vs. application• Science vs. ordinary knowledge• Producer vs. consumer• Technology developer vs. user• Knowledge as output vs. knowledge as

input

2) New information and communication technologies

Think of it [Mosaic] as a map to the buried treasures of the Information Age. / A new software program available free to companies and individuals is helping even novice computer users find their way around the global Internet / … an applications program so different and so obviously useful that it can create a new industry from scratch. --Dec. 8, 1993, John Markoff, New York Times

Telesurgery

• doctors in NY remove a gall bladder in Strasbourg• use joysticks & voice commands to direct robotic arms

holding an endoscopic camera & surgical instruments• watch their work on monitors• transoceanic, fiber-optic line connects the control

console to the robot

Bandwidth: The Matrix

• standard telephone modem: 171 hours

• ISDN line: 74 hours• cable modem or DSL:

25 hours• T1: 6.5 hours• Internet2: 30

seconds

In the future already

Science fiction itself has remained the same. We have caught up to it...We are a science-fiction generation. – Ray Bradbury We can’t think far enough ahead anymore. – Ron Shusett

Internet bookmobile

• millions of books: Project Gutenberg, Liber Liber. the Million Book Project

• satellite download• print on demand• high-speed binder

Access in India

• Hole-in-the-wall computer• Simputer• 1 million Internet kiosks

3) Knowledge transfer models

Repository =>

Dissemination =>

Inquiry (knowledge construction)

• a cycle of asking, investigating, creating, discussing, and reflecting; each question leads to further questions

• dialogue (two-way communication)• learning connected to life• active learning based on the learner's

purpose

Inquiry model

• Resources for inquiry teaching & learning

• Support for communities

• Tools for everyday problem-solving (personal websites, to-do lists, events calendars, …)

4) The Inquiry Page

5) Community inquiry laboratory

what happens when a community uses ICTs to engage in collaborative inquiry and to interact with other communities

a) Research and education on waterb) Community technology centersc) Spiritual health pland) Paseo Boricuae) Hull-House

a) Research and education on water

Saris and cholera

• Cholera kills tens of thousands of people/year

• Rita Colwell: copepods harbor the bacterium; 200-500x larger

• a folded sari cloth can remove the plankton

• 65 Bangladesh villages; cholera reduced by half

• effective as nylon filters• less diarrhea, cheap and

convenient, easily adopted

b) Community technology centers

c) Sisternet

• African-American women• low-income community• use of Prairienet• workshops run by members of the

community• identifying information &

communication needs

“Spiritual health plan”

For the Create section --

I would like to accomplish the following goals: Once each week I would like to take at least four (4) hours of the weekend for my own enjoyment. This will include, but is not limited to, things like: going to the beauty shop, going out to dinner or to the movies with my husband, reading my Bible or some other book, or just praying or meditating. … I also will let my family know that I love and support them...

d) Paseo Boricua

Puerto Rican community, Chicago

• Pedro Albizu Campos alternative school• Paseo Boricua Community Library• Puerto Rican Cultural Center • Batey Urbano– all-ages, no-alcohol club,

featuring theater, poetry, and live music• SIDA, diabetes, hypertension• park with polluted lake

e) Hull-House

Jane Addams

• kindergarten & day care facilities

• an employment bureau

• an art gallery• libraries• English & citizenship

classes• theater, music, & art

classes

• a Labor Museum• the Jane Club for

single working girls• meeting places for

trade union groups• a wide array of

cultural events

Questions

• How do people construct knowledge to address their needs?

• How do forces of unity and diversity operate in the development of communitites?

• How do knowledge, technology, and community co-evolve?

Active participation

No matter how ignorant a person is, there is one thing he knows better than anybody else, and that is where the shoes pinch on his own feet....every individual must be consulted in such a way, actively not passively, that he himself becomes part of the process of authority…that his needs and wants have a chance to …count in determining social policy. .

--Dewey, Democracy & Education

Participatory inquiry

aims to respond to human needs by democratic processes. Through creation of content, contributions to interactive elements, and incorporation into practice, users are not merely recipients of technology, but participate actively in its ongoing development.

Library

a collection organized for use =>

a system to support community inquiry

Conclusions

• provision of health information => active, two-way, co-construction of knowledge

• citizens use technologies to develop healthy communities

• new literacy skills develop along through meaningful problem solving

• community inquiry provides a framework for democratic change

Further information

• inquiry.uiuc.edu• www.uiuc.edu/~chip• chip@uiuc.edu• Literacy in the Information Age:

Inquiries into Meaning Making with New Technologies (International Reading Association, March 2003)

El extremo

Malaria and mosquito nets

• 300 million malaria cases/year; 1 million deaths

• Anopheles mosquito feeds at night • treated mosquito nets can reduce infant

mortality by 27% and cut the number of illnesses in half (Tanzania)

• $4.30

Online sources

• WebMD–web-based, news-style articles, commercial

• PubMed (NLM)–12 million MEDLINE citations and life science journals; links to sites with full texts

• Blogs• Email groups

3) Knowledge transfer

New digital tools

Computer-mediated work

Ubiquitous computing