Web Technology in the 21st Century
Bertram C. Bruce
Library & Information Science
Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Outline
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The problem of knowledge in health care
New ICT's
Knowledge transfer
Inquiry model for knowledge
Community inquiry laboratories
1) Problem of knowledge in health care
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Globalization
Environmental quality
Working conditions
Poverty
Literacy
New technologies for
– prevention, diagnosis, & treatment
– for information and communication
Research versus practice
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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 sciencefiction 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)
Inquiry model
• 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
4) The Inquiry Page
• Resources for inquiry
teaching & learning
• Support for
communities
• Tools for everyday
problem-solving
(personal websites, todo lists, events
calendars, …)
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 water
b) Community technology centers
c) Spiritual health plan
d) Paseo Boricua
e) Hull-House
a) Research and education on water
Saris and cholera
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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
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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
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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
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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