Information Literacy: The Perils of Online Research 2006
Distributed by Films Media Group, PO Box 2053, Princeton, New Jersey 08543-2053; 800-257-5126
Produced by Ryan Demetrak
Directed by Amy S. Weber
DVD, color, 21 min.
Sr. High - Adult
Education, Information Literacy, Technology
Date Entered: 12/20/2006
Reviewed by Laura Blalock, Electronic Services & Reference Librarian, Tennessee Tech University, Cookeville, TNInformation literacy is an important part of today’s education as the resources within reach of students keep increasing. New information forms, particularly the Internet, give them access to a wide variety and overwhelming amount of information, not all of it reliable.
Information Literacy: The Perils of Online Research shows students in group discussions and in a series of scenes doing Internet research, accompanied by commentary from educators. It is divided into a series of “chapters” describing what information literacy is, how the Web fits in and how useful being literate can be. Overall, it has good information but the writing is overly formal and wordy. The professionals tend to sound stilted like they’re reading a professional journal article rather than chatting with students. In the interest of trying to fit all situations, it tends to be too ambiguous to really get many points across. More concrete examples would be very beneficial. Using students in the production keeps it from seeming like a series of lectures, and the list of information needed for citing online sources is useful.
The camera work is jumpy and the interface looks like it was designed in PowerPoint. Overall it seems a little amateurish.
Still, I do recommend this program as a jump-starter for an in-class discussion in a high school or freshman college course.