In his video, Brett Solomon of Acces, touches on some interesting points of literacy freedom. Before looking at those points it is interesting to look at the mission of Access.
"Access defends and extends the digital rights of users at risk around the world. By combining innovative policy, user engagement, and direct technical support, we fight for open and secure communications for all."
Wow! To think of digital access as a right! People have long opposed censorship in literary works so it is easy to make that transition to digital rights. I have never considered access to digital media a right before though. Wow!
The intriguing part part of their mission statement is "open and secure communications," is it a basic human right? As access to technology increases the trend appears to be that the answer to this question will become "yes, sort of..."
We do not need technology to survive, so therefore it can never truly be a basic human right, but if technology is available it should not be denied for religious or political reasons.
Technology is only as useful as the ability of one to use it and process the information. Information literacy like many other literacies is not a natural skill for all. Some individuals process and analyze information more easily than others, but many people (both young and old) need training in how to access and process information. I'm reminded of the ease at which elderly are targeted and taken advantage of my telemarketers and door to door salesman. So too are the young and uninformed susceptable to misinformation in technology. Training in computer literacy is vital.
Solomon, B. (2011). Abut us. Retrieved from https://www.accessnow.org/about
Yes! Yes! and Yes! I love the "yes, sort of..." answer to "is access to technology a basic human right?" I think I love it because it's not a simple black or white answer... it lives in the grey area that most of the "real world" lives in. How appropriate for information literacy... which, I'm starting to think of as "learning how to wade through the grey matter and paint a picture that makes sense!"
ReplyDeleteI also love your post about Wikipedia. I couldn't agree more. Wikipedia is a great example of why information literacy is critical.
I'm excited that you went to the Access website and read up on it!I think the idea that access to information as a basic human right is worth debating. Do we think that access to health care and education should be a basic human right? Is access to Information similar?
ReplyDeleteAnother thought....During slavery it was considered to crime punishable by death to teach a slave to read. Why???? Perhaps slave master's knew that reading meant access to information....if information is power then......
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