Presented at LILAC 2009

1. Information Literacy meets the
Mobile Web
Peter Godwin
University of Bedfordshire
April 2009

2. /
http://www.flickr.com/photos/plentyofants/203275559

3. Information Literacy meets the
Mobile Web
 The world goes mobile
 But what does this mean for us?
 Meeting them where they are
 What is Information Literacy?
 How Information Literacy could become
mobile
 Future challenges

4. http://www.flickr.com/photos/17731548@N00/2051756510
4.1 billion mobile subscriptions in the world by end of 2008
That’s 61.1% of the global population.

5. By end of 2008 335m mobile broadband subscribers.
14% in developed world, and 1% in developing world.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulobrandao/2733141192/sizes/m/
23% of 6.7 billion use the internet

6. http://www.flickr.com/photos/gaetanlee/118885444/sizes/m/

7. “I remember when the Internet first arrived in schools
how sceptical some of my teachers were. I dare
some of them said: "It'll never catch on". Well, it did.
Big time. It's about time schools sharpened their
focus on how they can help students power up their
learning with their mobile devices, rather than have
them power down at the school door.”
(Ewan MacIntosh National Adviser: Learning and
Technology Futures,Learning and Teaching,
Scotland)

8. http://www.flickr.com/photos/neven/1244191249/sizes/m/

9. But what does this mean for us?

10. Mobile web
 Access to the web via a mobile device
which is not dependent on a desktop
computer nor fixed landline connection.
 Limited by incompatibility of much
internet content and small size of
mobile screens.

11. http://www.flickr.com/photos/pforret/152500052/sizes/m/

12. Mobile Web challenges
 Special mobile pages?
 Lack of additional
windows
 Poor navigation
 No Javascript or
cookies
 Some sites inaccessible
eg video sites, pdfs
 Slow speed to load
 Pages broken up
 Compressed pages
 Cost of access

Overcome by iPhone?
www.flickr.com/photos/71865026@N00/2948985814

13. Mobile devices
www.flickr.com/photos/80018218@N00/217877008
www.flickr.com/photos/28902292@N00/272713766
www.flickr.com/photos/11018968@N00/48288735
www.flickr.com/photos/44124466908@N01/1398846596
Blackberry
Cellphone
iPodTouch iPhone
Pda

14. WiFi hotspots

15. Bluetooth
www.flickr.com/photos/37451309@N00/1985209745
Bluetooth is an open wireless protocol
for exchanging data over short distances
from fixed and mobile devices, creating
Personal area networks (PANs).
www.flickr.com/photos/62722321@N00/241311538
www.flickr.com/photos/99496537@N00/57872153

16. iphone
 iPhone users search Google with their mobiles 50
times more often than other kinds of phones. (Wired
magazine 15 Feb 2008)
 Applications – latest model - the 3G allows extra
applications to be added.
 Could be a huge leapfrogging technology
 ”It will herald a whole generation of advanced Web-
capable mobile devices…it’s the Web but not as we
know it! “(Dan Appelquist)

19. E-books
Amazon and Kindle
www.flickr.com/photos/51035734412@N01/2446924513

20. E-books
Stanza

21. E-books
“While these books were already available on Google Book Search,
these new mobile editions are optimized to be read on a small screen. To
try it out and start reading, open up your web browser in your
iphone or Android phone and go to http://books.google.com/m.”

22. OPAC access
 Can be used to communicate holds,
fines etc
 Mobile applications to search OPAC
and federated search

23. Library Web site
 Make the site viewable on a cell phone
or other device

24. Mobilib at NCSU Library

25. Database access
 Special mobile
version or access
 Standard version?

28. Ways of communication are changing
twitter
www.flickr.com/photos/94837708@N00/2201600532

30. What this means to us
 Join up your social networking
 Improving communication without
barriers
 Twitter stream for a conference

31. CIBER report(2008)
Information behaviour of the researcher of the future.
London: University College London.
CIBER Briefing paper; 9.
Shavar flickr

32. What is Information Literacy?
“Information literacy is the adoption of
appropriate information behaviour to
identify through whatever channel or
medium, information well fitted to
information needs, leading to wise and
ethical use of information in society.”
(Sheila Webber and Bill Johnston)

33. SCONUL Seven Pillars framework

34. SCONUL 7 Pillars
 Recognising need for information
 Distinguishing sources and access
 Constructing search strategies
 Locating and accessing
 Comparing & evaluating
 Organising, applying and communicating
 Synthesising and adding new knowledge

36. The MEGO effect!
“Most instructors have stood in
front of a class only to wonder
if their only purpose on that
day was to serve as a
sedative for the majority of the
class.”
Payne, et al (2006)
My eyes glaze over
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27261720@N00/91147636

37. Peter Godwin and Jo Parker,
editors
Information Literacy Meets Library
2.0

38. What’s next? But…..
http://www.flickr.com/photos/45082883@N00/447138479

39. http://www.flickr.com/photos/sylvieszafranski/119923336/sizes/m/

40. Count the iPhones
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36521984920@N01/857038592

41. Where do we start?
“Forget the whole bit about one laptop per child. It
hasn’t worked …. By the time concerned
administrations are done locking down the machines,
they’re little more than electric pencils… So I say we
turn from this idea and go for a plan that can really
work—an iPhone, or at least an iPod Touch, for every
student.”
(Christopher Harris, School Library Journal ,11/1/2008)

42. Ubiquitous information
 A report by Toni Twiss, eFellow
programme, New Zealand
Ministry of Education, 2009
 1 Primary and 2 Secondary
school classes surveyed using
Vodafone 3G phones
“The potential for mobile phone
use in classrooms is
exciting”

43. Screencasting, podcasting
and vodcasting
Shows process
Convenience
Creative
Auditory
Visual
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jakebouma/109039319/

46. Tours

47. iTunes U
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dietpoison/76086767/sizes/m/

48. Database guides

49. Polls
 Different instruments for separate skill
levels

50. SMS Reference desk

51. For evaluation
 Project in school used Palm
handhelds loaded with
evaluation criteria that
students could apply and
add to when looking at
material and then data was
uploaded to a database.
www.flickr.com/photos/8913755@N07/
2594018979

52. QR codes
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ptshello/2964569224/sizes/m/

53. But cell phones are hard
http://www.flickr.com/photos/70267096@N00/326120994

54. http://www.flickr.com/photos/zoomar/196629576/sizes/m/

55. Limitations
 Variations and capabilities of types of devices
 Speed
 Costs
 Need for Bluetooth and more joined up Wi-Fi access
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zoomar/196629576/sizes/m/

56. Mobile devices
www.flickr.com/photos/80018218@N00/217877008
www.flickr.com/photos/28902292@N00/272713766
www.flickr.com/photos/11018968@N00/48288735
www.flickr.com/photos/44124466908@N01/1398846596
OPAC (M)
Dbases (M)
Podcasts
SMS
Basic guides
E-books, Tours
SMS, OPAC
Dbases, Podcasts
Guides, QR codes
OPAC
Podcasts
Basic guides
Text documents

57.  “The nature of search in this new world
of mobile Internet devices will shift. This
is because the journey that Generation
Y is taking on the Internet is more
concerned with social expression than
finding information”
(Taptu White paper Feb 2008 “Making search social for the mobile
generation”)

58. Be ready for growth in WiFi access
Never underestimate the speed of
change!
Be among the trend setters and
experiment!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9679326@N
04/2586526191/sizes/m/

59. Librarians go wild
http://flickr.com/photos/driek/514714536/