Melinda previews the Trailmeme web 2.0 tool and the way it promotes the 21st century literacy skill of navigation.
The internet is a vast frontier of information and experiences. Navigating this complex digital world requires skill and critical thinking. The 'Trailmeme' web 2.0 tool encourages users to be critical and purposeful when navigating the internet. It maps the user's journey across websites and creates relationships between selected websites. Information on the internet comes from multiple directions and can be unreliable so any tool which improves the user's ability to consider the credibility of sources and meaningfulness of content is worthwhile. The YouTube clip below introduces Trailmeme to new users.
Henry Jenkins' description of contemporary learners as 'hunters' can be applied to the experience of navigating the internet. 'Hunters' must scan a complex online landscape in search of signs and cues in the pursuit of particular knowledge. Jenkins states that students require the literacy skill of being able to "identify the relationship between seemingly unrelated developments within a complex visual field". A curriculum which fosters the skill of navigating the net will encourage the ability to identify relationships between like ideas and make valid connections.
Teacher librarians have the ability to teach information literacy skills that are useful for navigating the world wide web. This tool allows teacher librarians to demonstrate that the research process involves reflection and connections. Teachers could use Trailmeme to check students' research journey and synthesising of sources. John Seely-Brown states that "the real literacy of tomorrow entails the ability to be your own personal reference librarian—to know how to navigate through confusing, complex information spaces and feel comfortable doing so." Trailmeme enables students to put information literacy skills in action in a productive and meaningful way.
Trailmeme documents a student's judgements about what they view and read on the web. However, this site also gives them an opportunity to not only share their journey but to assess other people's web journeys. Other established trails, such as this one on the topic social networking, can be built upon to strengthen the network of sites on the particular chosen topic. The use of this web 2.0 tool requires one of the most important 21st century literacy skills, that being navigation. Students can navigate through the vast pool of information on the web and arrive at a meaningful destination.
References
Jenkins, H. (2006). Confronting the challenge of participatory culture: Media education for the 21st century. Chicago, Illinois: The MacArthur Foundation. Retrieved July 19, 2010, from Queensland University of Technology Course Materials Database.
Seely-Brown, J. (2000). Growing up digital: how the web changes work, education and the ways people work. Change, March/April, pp.10-20. Retrieved September 30, 2010, from http://www.johnseelybrown.com/Growing_up_digital.pdf
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