I had the pleasure of attending Internet Librarian for the first time in October, 2013. Cary and Tommy, who have both been to IL numerous times, assured me that it would be worthwhile, and it certainly was!
First, it was great to be able to speak directly with individuals we built LibrarySite to serve: librarians. It was an opportunity for me to hear what librarians were saying about the challenges of their current sites, what they wished they could do on the web, and what frustrated them about website limitations and demands. This kind of input helps us to create a better product and improve our support for existing clients.
But IL 2013 was also inspirational. In the wake of Michael Ridley's Wednesday Keynote,
Beyond Literacy, I was left asking myself two questions:
- Are we really heading into a post-literate future?
- What is a web developer's responsibility for providing access to knowledge in a post-literate world?
Are we really heading into a post-literate future?
I'm a highly educated woman -- Vassar for undergrad, USC for an MFA -- who worked in two libraries through and after college, and has taught undergrad, continuing education and special needs education. I believe strongly in literacy, and think
everyone should be given the opportunity to learn to read, no matter what their special circumstances. To make matters even more extreme: my outspoken father is an English Lit professor. Picture that equation trying to understand how a post-literate future could, in any way, be a good thing.
Ridley, however, has an intriguing point. When I was working in the Vassar College Library two years after graduating, a professor with whom I was working -- Michael Joyce -- insisted that the future of information was telephony. This was in 2001. I wasn't alone in hoping he was wrong. The idea of living on my telephone was anything but desirable. And yet... he was absolutely right. We now live in a mobile world where the majority of our information is sent, received and browsed on our
telephones. Even more unexpected: I love it (though, admittedly, I don't use my phone for actual calls very often).
At the same time, I discovered over Christmas that my 11 year old niece doesn't know how to write cursive. And unless her extremely busy mom finds some gem of time to teach her, or she decides to learn on her own, she never will, because the art of cursive is no longer taught in schools. I love my niece, but I don't love that she's not being taught the art of hand writing beautiful words.
These two things may well be the first steps in a post-literate future. We can speak our words into the computer, and the computer can speak words back out to us. Today, in March 2014, we do not actually need to know how to read and write to produce or consume
written information. Admittedly, it is still a lot easier for us if we can read and write, but we don't
need to be able to do so.
So, what's next? Perhaps Ridley's prediction is right. And, just perhaps, a post-literate future isn't a bad thing.
What is a web developer's responsibility for providing access to knowledge in a post-literate world?
The key value of literacy has long been access to information. Of course literacy serves other purposes, including as a tool for pleasure/entertainment and introspection, but the power is in information and knowledge.
If we are becoming post-literate, we need another mechanism for recording, sharing and retrieving information that goes beyond the written word.
As web developers, we are not only on the cusp of technology, but also at the forefront of a new way of exchanging knowledge. Our job, now, is to watch the technologies that are emerging and to identify and foster the ones that can enhance everyone's ability to access information.
When working with libraries, who have limited financial and time budgets, it is important that we tune into which tools can improve the library's ability to serve its patrons, and watch for the point at which those technologies become affordable or feasible for libraries to adopt.
This is all practical, and doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of what a post-literate world will actually look like. It is, however, where web developers need to focus at least some of our attention. One of our primary tasks is to future proof, as much as possible, the work we produce. This means ensuring that it is accessible beyond the written word.
Personally, I'm excited. Seeing, and being part of, what shapes up in the future will be an adventure. It may even change how we think.