K-12 Information Literacy: Preparing for the Dark Side

This column concerns some of the stuff we need to teach but are less comfortable with, mostly because it doesn't involve information so much as manipulation. I'm talking about advertising literacy and media literacy in the Web environment.

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IT is essential that we teach information literacy skills to our learners--and today, the younger the better. We are already getting good at teaching how to select great sources, directories, and indexes; full-text searching skills; advanced and introductory modes; and the evaluation of quality. We're getting better at warning our learners about the bad guys--the four horsemen of gambling, sex, stalkers, and racists--plus other bad guys in black hats. What do we need to focus on next?

This column concerns some of the stuff we need to teach but are less comfortable with, mostly because it doesn't involve information so much as manipulation. I'm talking about advertising literacy and media literacy in the Web environment. It can also be quite contradictory. After all, we accepted television advertising in return for free TV. Now we generally pay cable fees for access, and still there are ads. We pay access fees for the Internet, but we still see thousands of ads weekly. Are we ready for some of the more advanced advertising techniques coming down the wire? It's changing so fast we have to prepare our students to be aware of the range of techniques already there. If we don't, who will?

The Pew Internet & American Life Project discovered in its 2005 report that "some 38% of those who have used a search engine are aware that there are two different kinds of search results, some that are paid or sponsored and some that are not. The remaining 62% are not aware of this practice" (www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/pip%5fsearchengine%5fusers.pdf). People can't always tell what is and what isn't an ad on a search engine list. What do sponsors bring us? NPR, PBS, Hallmark Hall of Fame … Sponsors often bring us the higher-quality content! So who could blame search engine users for thinking that clicking on that sidebar link will bring them better content? I wonder how many apply their skills about judging bias and partisanship in ad links if they don't even know it's an ad.

So, what would be the components of student learning to develop advertising and media literacy skills in the Web environment?

I think I'll call these alternative information literacy skills for now. I don't suggest that this is anywhere near a complete top 10 list, but these are the 10 that I think are important to start with (I am sure you could add a dozen more!):

1. Advertising in General

First of all, let's remember that advertising is not always evil. Think about charity drives for instance. Let's also make sure we know that this is a big economic engine for the modern economy. Whether we like it or not, the cost of TV, the Web, radio, and magazines such as this one would be prohibitive without ads. So we should start with a good discussion of the good and the bad of ads, the white-hat and blackhat advertisers, and the information component of ads. We should also remind our learners that ads don't just sell products and services but can be used to sell ideas, political positions, and lifestyles. Either way, the Web has become a huge advertising medium. Indeed, Google alone recorded profits of more than $1 billion in just 1Q 2007.

2. Pop-Up Ads

We are challenged daily by pop-up and pop-under ads and introductory pages using Flash technology. It's only a matter of time before ads are introduced to YouTube, podcasts, and other nextgen faves. Here's a tool that every student needs to know how to use: the pop-up blocker on his or her search toolbar. Almost every search engine offers a good one, and they are commonly preinstalled now on home PCs and many public PC stations. If your students haven't already installed one, they should. And then they need to know how to use it. Unfortunately, popups have many valid uses, and many Web site sign-ins and content arrive using pop-up technology, so blocking them permanently results in limited access to many useful Web sites. So, we need to make sure that our students have the skills to make their surfing more effective with blockers and that they can make good choices of when to block and unblock.

3. AdWords

This is one of the least understood aspects of the Web. Too many folks don't understand that the ads delivered to them can be quite targeted and contextual. People, companies, charities, and political parties choose to make sure that their ads are delivered in context to you as part of every search. Have your class learn more about Google's AdWords program and the other ad programs from Yahoo!, Amazon, MSN, Ask.com, MySpace, Facebook, and more. It's not hard to find out more. And knowing is half the battle. Have them learn to place an ad. Ask questions. What is your click worth--5 cents, 25 cents, $42? Why? An aware searcher is a smart searcher.

4. Search Engine Optimization

This is scarier than AdWords. Ads in banners, sponsored links, and pop-ups are clearer and above-board. What about the entire search engine optimization (SEO) industry? Have your class learn more about SEO from Web sites such as Search Engine Watch and Search Engine Land. Have them read the marketing Web sites for people who put themselves out for hire to organizations so that their sites appear in the top pages of hits. Help them to learn about whitehat and black-hat optimization. It's one thing for Ford Motor Co. to make sure it gets top hits for its cars. It would be quite another thing for its competitors to use its name to highjack hits. Is it OK for the American Cancer Society to optimize searches to collect donations? Is it OK for a quack to offer cures using the society's good name? These are the issues that must be understood and learned in class. Should special-interest groups ensure that their positions are always on the top page of hits on issues such as elections, gun control, abortion, evolution, death penalty, eminent domain, or any other topic of current interest? Should the results of search engine searches be subject to extreme manipulation? And by whom?

5. Wikipedia Entries

Wikipedia has the image of being the socially engaged encyclopedia. This is largely true. It's very difficult to outright lie on the major pages of Wikipedia. For topics people care about, such as Civil War history, it would be unusual for errors not to be corrected quickly. There are issues here too. How many pages in Wikipedia are put up by special interests? When a new page coincides with a major marketing campaign, should it be trusted? When the page is written by the organization that it's about, is that authoritative? Maybe. Either way, these are opportunities to build critical thinking skills in our students.

6. YouTube

YouTube doesn't have explicit ads in it--yet. Have your students find the ads. It's a great awareness campaign. (Hint--look for the Dove real women videos.) Also, have them review the political videos for bias. All of the current U.S. presidential campaign entrants have videos, sometimes several, on YouTube. Have them discuss the role of YouTube in influencing the election or presenting certain ideas. Have them review the anti-videos or satirical videos such as the famous Apple mashup about Hillary Clinton. Compare the raft of first-person war footage from Iraq with videos that aren't first person. Either way, you can have them learn through experience that YouTube isn't Switzerland.

7. Sign Ups and Registration

This is one of the most important Internet literacy skills. When and how should we fill out forms and registrations on the Web? How much information do Web sites need to permit access to their sites? What is the minimum? Have them review the various registration forms that they encounter. Have them look at the registration forms for the major sites such as MySpace, Facebook, Flickr, The New York Times, CNN, etc. Are spam or mailing lists being built? Is this a permission-based marketing site? Then have them review the privacy policies. They'll learn stuff. They'll be aware, and they'll be engaged citizens. Let them learn that mailing lists can be forever. Is that coupon worth it? Are those cheat codes for EverQuest or World of WarCraft worth it? Maybe, but the decision should be an informed one. In older grades, ask them how many email ads they get from those university and scholarship registration sites. Just have a discussion.

8. Product Placement in PC Games and Virtual Worlds

Are your learners aware of paid product placement? It goes beyond the can of Coke, that Apple PC, and the Toyota we might notice on our favorite television shows. It goes beyond the REESE'S PIECES in the movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Law book publishers place their books and online services on TV dramas. Every major studio movie has hundreds of subtle but blatant ad promotions. Advanced product-placement strategies are already showing up in PC games and Web gaming. Check out the billboards in Second Life. Just being aware is a good start.

9. Election Tools

Here's the list of Web 2.0 tools purported to have their digits on the pulse of the American public for the 2008 presidential election:

1. YouTube
2. Second Life
3. MySpace
4. Facebook
5. Wikipedia
6. Ning
7. Twitter
8. Mozes
9. NowPublic
10. MyBlogLog

All of them are already in use by the major parties and candidates who want to leverage them to have an impact on the results. Advertising and influence are getting more and more sophisticated. We need to create a more sophisticated generation of Web and Internet users. That requires us to teach advertising and manipulation. Have students review these sites and find the politics. An informed citizenry is the basis of a good democracy.

10. Google--Plain and (Not So) Simple

Google is the big kahuna! Virtually everything about Google is a lesson for your learners. Google's success is not about actual search; it's just the best advertising seller in the world. Many other sites deliver better information, display it better, and get more traffic. Our learners deserve to know that and choose based on content, quality, and need and not just reward ad sales success. What follows is a Google focus.

Sound bite No. 1 : Why would we follow the Google model on our Web site, portal, or intranet? Google is very successful at selling ads, but that's not the primary business of most libraries and librarians. We're more interested in looking at those sites that attract attention and users in the context of information, decision making, and learning. Sheesh--Yahoo! gets more hits than Google--more than twice as many. It just isn't as good at ad sales.

Sound bite No. 2 : I heard of a neat study recently that Google is the most powerful brand name in the world. No. 1! How powerful is it? Well, someone put the Google identity on top of the search results from the other search engines (such as MSN, Yahoo!, Ask.com, etc.), and focus groups always preferred the Google results, whether they were Google results or not! Hmmmm. So much for the informed end user!

I wonder what would happen if they saw better results displays such as those in exalead, Clusty, KartOO, etc., in a Google brand? Would they notice the improvement? Is the brand so strong that users have stopped thinking? Will we need Coke versus Pepsi blind taste tests to prove the differences?

Sound bite No. 3 : Google finally passed $1 billion in profit for 1Q 2007! Hmmm-libraries don't pay much of that, but some deliver up their users. Are we being clear enough on the power to manipulate Google search results? No one is paying billions to be on page 100. When the Pew research shows that a very small minority of users went past the first page of hits or could even identify an ad on the results page, I worry. The entire search engine optimization (SEO) industry is doing very well ensuring that their clients' stuff shows up on the first pages of links in the search engines and, in particular, in Google. So, how many librarians serve up their OPACs and database search results to special-interest groups, politicians, and advertisers to manipulate? Would we even be comfortable with white-hat (versus black-hat) SEO? Is everyone differentiating the library strategies from the adbased world of search? Are we teaching it to our users? What component is it in our marketing mix?

So, there you have it. It seems that every day there's a new way to attract our attention to some product, service, opinion, or idea. All of this requires lessons, updated regularly and really reinvigorated every couple of years to make it stick.

Now, if students could just learn one thing and one thing only, that would be that your library--school, public, college, or university--is your partner and an excellent source for nonpartisan advice and answers, biased toward quality and your personal needs. That would be Information Utopia.

We need to make sure that our students have the skills to make their surfing more effective with blockers and that they can make good choices of when to block and unblock.

When the Pew research shows that a very small minority of users went past the first page of hits or could even identify an ad on the results page, I worry.

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By Greg R. Notess 368 pp/softbound ISBN 978-1-57387-267-6 $29.50

"Greg Notess pulls together an impressive number of training tips, tapping not only into his own considerable knowledge base but also into the minds of the foremost Web search trainers on two continents. Teaching Web Search Skills is a wonderful learning experience!"

For more information or to order call: (800) 300-9868 or (609) 654-6266

Information Today, Inc. 143 Old Marlton Pike Medford, NJ 08055

www.infotoday.com

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By Stephen Abram

Stephen Abram, M.L.S., is vice president of innovation for Sirsi-Dynix, chief strategist of the Sirsi-Dynix Institute, and the president-elect of SLA. He is an SLA Fellow, past president of the Ontario Library Association, and the immediate past president of the Canadian Library Association. Stephen would love to hear from you at stephen.abram@ sirsidynix.com.