What does it mean…
August 24th, 2006 by Christopher HarrisWhat does it mean for school libraries when something as basic to our collective knowledge as our solar system having nine planets suddenly ceases to be accurate? With the recent decision to strip Pluto of planetary status and relegate it to being a “dwarf planet” we are seeing yet another example of why memoriziation of information can no longer be the desired outcome from education. So what exactly will My Very Educated Mother Justly Serve Us Now?
How quickly can/should schools and school libraries move to correct their materials to reflect this new definition? Do we throw out all of the astronomy books that talk about our solar system having nine planets? I was still in school (but I won’t say which level!) when the Soviet Bloc dissolved, but I still encounter books, maps, globes, and atlases that have multiple Germanies and the USSR. I imagine that changeover was a huge undertaking, so how do we cope when information becomes more fluid?
The flippant answer is to have e-books that use a computer variable for the statement “Our solar system has NUMPLANETS planets. They are [PRINT ARRAY 'PlanetNames'].”
August 24th, 2006 at 5:16 pm
This is why we have Wikipedia. Check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planets “Ownership” of information and materials is something we need to redefine, I think.
August 24th, 2006 at 5:28 pm
Wikipedia users did a great job adapting quickly to this changed knowledge. Right now, I am sitting in a training for a commercial digital video product. I asked them when their video selections would be modified to reflect this new standard of information. Let’s just say that it might be a while.
Ownership is a huge issue that libraries are working to understand. Some of the problems come from it being so intertwined with reliability, bias, accuracy, and other concerns.