The myth of info-glut v. the myth that more is always better v. the myth that information is power, all intersect to create a populace that feels overwhelmed by the massive amounts of information waiting to be proceed. Luker notes that with the rise of new institutions of higher learning and the spread of new disciplines "the early years of the 20th century were ones much like today, with a vast expansion of information...early twentieth century info-glut was a challenge to scholars of that time, just as ours is to us." (p. 77,78) Last week's lecture discussed the myth of info-glut even before the time noted by Luker.
I guess the question this leaves me with is why - why keep perpetuating a culture that is constantly churning out more and more pieces of information, but also, given that the demand for new information is unlikely to cease anytime soon, wouldn't it be helpful if information literacy processes were instituted as a basic criteria for populations required to navigate this real and or perceived deluge of data?
While I think there a definite myth of the extreme of an info-glut, I do think we cannot deny the sheer volume of information available, and constantly being created out there. I agree that information literacy is so crucial now more than ever, but I don't quite know, other than in schools, and I guess community programs and private courses maybe where one would go to seek out learning the ways to sift through all this information in an informed and educated manner. I guess that's what makes published research papers so impressive; they are about navigating and organising all the relevent information on a specific topic into an original and arguable paper.
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