Section 4: Libraries Matter, by Cassie Robinson.
An article from the IFLA website: Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC 3.0). creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/
“IFLA is the Global Voice of the Library and Information Profession.” www.ifla.org
Key Points:
- Around the world, the Internet is facing a crisis of confidence, due to a lack of understanding, a lack of trust, and, a general unease about the wieldy power held by the internet giants.
- Rather than falling victim to the web, libraries have the potential to make the Internet more useful, more accountable and more inclusive .
- Libraries should use this opportunity to redefine their offer, underline their values, their public interest mission, and take a central role in building the accountability of the Internet.
This is a critical moment in the public’s relationship with the internet. The web offers everyone access to information, but due to fake news, filter bubbles, polarised content and algorithmic timelines, there is no guarantee that the information is accurate or even true.
As distrust and unease grows, the ability of the Internet to deliver on its promise as a force for equality and justice weakens. We must therefore act now to shape a positive, responsible future for technology – and for all of us.
Getting this relationship back onto a sustainable course requires a shift in the institutional culture of government, new behaviours in the technology industry and greater awareness and voice from the public and civil society.
Based on research by my organisation – Doteveryone – into public attitudes to and understanding of technology37 over the past year, the potential for libraries to contribute to this has become clear. This essay identifies a number of key areas of opportunity.
Align with the Internet Backlash – Show the Technology Industry what a Moral Compass Looks Like.
Doteveryone’s research revealed a sense of public resignation about the ability to hold technology companies to account. 70% agreed with the statement “I don’t like it when I hear news about companies avoiding tax, but there’s nothing I can do to change it”.
When asked who, if anyone, should be responsible for enforcing rules that ensure service providers treat their customers, staff and society fairly, 66% of respondents believe government should play a role, 61% say industries should share this responsibility, and 60% would like to see the creation of an independent body.
THERE IS A NEED TO COME TOGETHER AND ADDRESS THIS GAP IN ACCOUNTABILITY. AS PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS, LIBRARIES CAN HELP BY SETTING A POSITIVE EXAMPLE
There is a need therefore for government, industry and society to come together and address this gap in accountability. But whilst this is being organised, as public institutions, libraries can take a lead and help set the agenda. They are one of the few places left where you are a resident — or a person — before you are a consumer. They can show the way in terms of how information should be used.
Libraries can be an equaliser, curating and publishing information that equalises power. With no corporate funders to please, they can focus on the interests of the public in deciding which information to protect and distribute through their newsletters, noticeboards, websites, etc.
They also show how information should be looked after. Librarians have a history of taking information security seriously. As we move into an increasingly digitised world, it seems logical that libraries could become the places where we hold our archives — the past versions of what politicians have promised or the media has reported, even if that information is inconvenient for some38 .
Importantly, they also provide safe and secure access by default. In its simplest form, this could mean computers that don’t track your personal details. We have mapped out lots of different ways39 libraries could offer open and secure tech.
Be a Centre for Public Engagement and Empowerment on Internet-related Issues.
Doteveryone’s research found the public has limited understanding about how technology companies operate – both in terms of their use of personal information and their funding models.
For example only 17% realised that information which other people share about them is collected. And while two-thirds could identify advertising as a revenue stream for many technology companies, less than a third recognised that businesses make money from selling data.
We found people wanted to know more – particularly about how their data is used – but also more broadly about companies’ values, governance and adherence to local laws – but can’t currently find this out.
This lack of understanding is helpful to companies who wish to evade accountability. They remain immune from consumer activism as long as those consumers remain in the dark. We must empower the public to understand this technology.
Librarians can help build digital understanding. Many libraries already offer basic digital skills classes, but as part of an expanded future role librarians could help people have greater digital understanding. The Library Freedom Project40 has done some brilliant work in this space, training librarians so that they can help people understand their digital rights and become skilled in how to protect their digital footprints.
Doteveryone has developed a Digital Understanding model that libraries could use as a guide for developing people’s digital understanding. Digital understanding is the ability both to use technology and to comprehend, in real terms, the impact that it has on our lives.
FOR EXAMPLE, PEOPLE WITH DIGITAL SKILLS CAN GO ON FACEBOOK; THOSE WITH DIGITAL UNDERSTANDING KNOW HOW FACEBOOK COLLECTS DATA ABOUT THEM
It’s not the same as digital skills. Digital skills mean we can perform a task. Digital understanding means we not only know the reason for a task and its potential consequences, but also appreciate the wider context of and around our actions.
For example, people with digital skills can go on Facebook; those with digital understanding know how Facebook collects data about them. People with digital skills can shop on Amazon; those with digital understanding know they can exercise their consumer rights on the internet. This is a great way in which libraries can engage and empower.
Look at the New Things That Need Protecting because of New Technologies
Our survey shows that the internet has had a strongly positive impact on our lives as individuals, but people are less convinced it has been beneficial for society as a whole. In everyday life it’s often hard to identify where trade-offs between individual benefit and potential societal harm take place. In the research we presented some clear choices.
We asked how people would feel if an online retailer offered free one-day delivery for lower income families, but this resulted in local shops closing down – 69% found this unacceptable. Or if their bank invested more in combating fraud and cyber crime, but closed their local branch – 61% said it was unacceptable. Or if their council made savings by putting services online and cut Council tax as a result, but some people found it hard to access these services – 56% found it unacceptable.
LIBRARIES FIGHT INEQUALITY BY GIVING US THE TOOLS WE NEED TO ACCESS THE INTERNET
Technology is changing the world at a pace never seen before but the public does not want digital technologies to create disruption at the expense of communities and social structures. Significantly, poorer people feel the least benefit to themselves from the internet with 43% saying it’s made life a lot better for them, compared to 57% for the wealthiest. And they are more likely to say that the internet has been negative for society overall (22%) than the wealthiest (17%).
On a basic level, libraries fight inequality by giving us the tools we need to access the internet. This goes back to basics — hardware, internet connections — and is arguably where libraries are furthest ahead on their tech journeys. Offering free wifi and phone chargers are simple ways libraries can do more to help people get online.
They also play a key role in developing key digital skills, as well as digital understanding mentioned above, as Doteveryone and Go ON UK’s experience shows. And in an era of concern about fake news, they can help separate fact from fiction. Librarians care about facts41, and the ability to separate what’s real from what’s not is an invaluable skill. Resources, reference points, and even real-life training could help us make better sense of the world we live in.
Importantly in a world where people seem ever more individualistic, libraries can strengthen communities by creating virtual hubs. Building on the work we did last summer, we experimented with “Library Live”. Tools like these can help libraries to be at the centre of distributing community information42. In our work on a single digital library presence, the importance of helping people set up new groups, find people to run those groups with, share the activity of existing groups more, find space and be able to book it more easily became clear.
We should not underestimate the importance of community. There are many types of information that communities want to share more, and that the library would be well placed to do. Not just what’s on, but also about highlighting needs in the community, sharing vital information, as well as facts about the mundane everyday that ultimately show what people have in common (what the community is reading, what sandwiches people eating etc.). We looked at how libraries could be curators and distributors of this data.
And we came up with (or were inspired by) different ways that library spaces could be used: a space for digital skills and understanding, journalists-in- residence, telehealth, Maker Nurse43, repair clinics44, publishing live community data, safe-guarding local data, and community convening.
The Opportunity for Libraries Now
Without getting too nostalgic about libraries, it feels libraries are a vital public institution, providing a vital social infrastructure that is worth saving. They are at the heart of our social infrastructure and now, more than ever, they need to show how they are connecting up and strengthening communities.
It is important to highlight that when things are closed down and taken away, it is a lot harder to bring them back. At Doteveryone we truly believe that libraries do have a unique role to play in building a better, fairer internet for us all.
But libraries need to talk more about themselves45. They need to talk about their perfect position as a public or community institution to provide services and space that reflect the changing needs of the public. And as vital social infrastructure that connects people to one another.
LIBRARIES HAVE A UNIQUE ROLE TO PLAY IN BUILDING A BETTER, FAIRER INTERNET FOR US ALL
When libraries do talk about themselves, they should emphasise the activity they are doing or could do that reflects the public mood, how people are feeling, thinking and talking about the internet. And when they start talking more about those things, the things that libraries stand for, they can also newly design or more clearly state the ways they’re doing that.
Notes
37 http://attitudes.doteveryone.org.uk/
38 http://i.imgur.com/EJQtuv9.png
39 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8yudfP-G2opNnVtSGlva1FmQW8/view?usp=sharing
40 https://libraryfreedomproject.org/
41 http://www.programminglibrarian.org/articles/fake-news-library-round
42 https://www.dropbox.com/sh/wsnksb82jm0cswn/AABaL703xss88MfqN1p-w6Aya?dl=0
43 http://makernurse.com/
44 https://therestartproject.org/
45 https://www.dropbox.com/sh/cjkbbe3nif1dm93/AAAP3OmZMR1y6l2oFaEKJN8la?dl=0
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