Introduction
When thinking about writing, I’m trained to consider the audience and the need. In this case, I have the privilege of choosing my own notional audience, and immediately chose “older” adult learners, because I feel it’s an underserved population and because these are most of the learners I deal with at my day job. As for the need: anyone who’s going to be seeking out an “Information Literacy” guide can be assumed to have some minimal computer skills and probably own a smartphone or iPad. Therefore, the guide should deal with more sophisticated subjects.
Of course, inevitably this will include general research methodologies as well as specifically Internet techniques.
I’m aiming this document at hypothetical adults (say, 40 and over, up to and including senior citizens) who finished their educations before the Internet and PCs were things, long before computers-in-your-pockets became an expectation. My theoretical environment is an “information literacy” adult education course, taught either at a library or community college. (I actually did a class not unlike that at my employer, some 25 years ago.)
START HERE
One thing the new generation does easily: find things out, without much fuss or time spent. Here’s how:
Google (and other search engines)
You’ve probably heard dozens of jokes about how Google can be used to find out anything. That’s not true. You can use Google to find out amazing numbers of things. Don’t want to pull out your calculator? Type “5+5” into Google. Need to read a European weather report? Type “29 Celsius into F” into Google and find out it’s 84 degrees American. There are plenty of things Google isn’t good for, but for simple things like finding the “capital of uganda” (Kampala) it’s really easy and works great.
There are also plenty of other search engines if you prefer to avoid Google. If you worry about privacy, Startpage.com, Ixquick.com, and DuckDuckGo.com all work great and don’t track your searches.
Wikipedia
If you want to actually learn about a subject (as opposed to find a fact), you can’t easily beat Wikipedia. Just like the name says, it’s an encyclopedia, but it has more content than any paper compendium, and it gets updated literally every second.
Every second? Yup. Because anyone who chooses to can change any article (except the few locked ones).
Is it perfect? No. You cannot count on every article, or any article, being right about everything. There are vandals and liars who like to put nonsense, obscenities, and lies in there. And you’ll almost never encounter them, because the truth-tellers way outnumber the liars and vandals. Even if you do come across a vandalized article, odds are it will be fixed shortly. (You can fix them yourself if you’re so inspired.)
Shopping
I’m sure you’ve all bought something from Amazon by now. Even if you’re buying in a store, the Web is your friend. You can quickly compare prices, get and compare product information, and find local sellers. Sites like Cars.com make buying used cars almost painless, by letting you skip the “getting sold to” part! You might want to bookmark sites like Google Shopping (https://www.google.com/shopping), Price Grabber (http://pricegrabber.com), and My Simon (http://mysimon.com), if you want to always get the best price. The manufacturer sites can also be great resources—for instance, my phone company offers “live chat” with representatives, with no waiting on hold and at no charge.
Speaking of chat …
SOCIALIZE
This covers almost any way people can communicate online. You all know about email by now, of course, but let’s compare the leading “social media” services as of right now. (They change constantly.)
FaceBook wants to be your online social life. It includes its own internal email-like service, its own chat, and of course its main service, which lets you post text-and-picture messages that will be seen by people who “Friend” you on FaceBook. A lot of people like its search ability, which lets you reconnect with old acquaintances. It also has lots of hidden features, like games you can play and event calendars that make it easy to invite people to a party, then track who is coming and what they’re bringing. It’s big, slick, reasonably easy to use … and that’s one problem. Lots of people find it addictive and spend hours just “facebooking”. Experts have also raised real privacy concerns about Facebook, as well. Some people love it, some find it unpleasant, like any other social environment.
Twitter lets anyone post short (140 characters or less) messages, which might show up to anyone, but are much more likely to be seen if someone “follows” you. Twitter is used for quick updates more than anything else. It’s also a way to follow breaking news, as reporters and onlookers “tweet” what is happening in real time. Lots of companies are using Twitter for customer support these days, too.
This one is aimed at not-everyone, unlike Facebook and Twitter. LinkedIn is specifically for business people. Not for businesses themselves especially, for people who work at businesses. It’s a great place to find ex-coworkers and to post your resume. LinkedIn is a wonderful source for professional groups to join and to network with colleagues. It isn’t really meant for family or recreational use.
Tumblr
Tumblr is all about its users. It isn’t technically especially interesting—it’s sort of “Twitter but with less features and no character limit.” Some people enjoy it because it’s very tolerant of controversial and/or sexual content, so fair warning.
Instagram is an example of a photo-sharing service. While you can and many people do share photos on all social media services, Instagram is specifically for that and nothing else. It’s very popular among people who take lots of cell phone pics. This is the stereotypical service for people who take pictures of their meals.
One thing to remember: more and more, these services are meant to be used on smartphones. All of these services supply apps for both Android and Apple devices. Twitter and Instagram were really designed more for phones than actual PCs or laptops.
Social media change very fast. No one can confidently predict what the landscape will look like in a few years. (Twitter, for instance, is under 10 years old as this is written.)
ENJOY YOURSELF
Unplugged: no more TV
You don’t need TV any more. The big trend in entertainment, at least according to some, is “unplugging” from cable TV. You can see essentially the same video on your screens without it. Apple TV, or ChromeCast, or services like Hulu and Netflix, can all show you this year’s movies or 1962’s television, and low or no cost, anywhere. You also get more control than traditional cable, watching most things whenever the mood strikes you without waiting for them to be scheduled.
Unbound: no more paper books
Electronic books (ebooks) are revolutionizing publishing in much the same way. If you have a specialized ebook reader like like a Kindle or Nook, you can download a book whenever you like and start reading immediately. You can also install ebook reading apps on your phone, tablet, or computer and read the books there. Lower cost, no storage space needed, and instant delivery make ebooks a pretty compelling thing.
Note that “ebooks” includes magazines, too.
Beyond the chessboard: Games in the 21st Century
You’re familiar with video games, but if you believe the popular image you think they’re all about teenage boys shooting 3D images of zombies. Those games exist and are often fun, but the biggest group of gamers these days is women over 40 years old, according to CNN.
Most of those women aren’t playing games about hitting monsters with hammers. There are games for everyone, from Farmville (a FaceBook game) to phone-based trivia or drawing games to simply playing “Words with Friends” (a Scrabble-like game) on your phone with a friend in, say, Tanzania or Tasmania or Tashkent. Modern games aren’t just fast-moving and graphically beautiful, they remove the limits of time and space.
WELCOME, NEW CITIZEN
You’re a citizen of a new world now. You’ve joined the connected universe. It’s full of information, entertainment, and people talking to each other. Dive in!