Form
It's been said by a very important person (actually a fictional news anchor played by Jeff Daniels) that the essential feature of a functioning republic is a well informed electorate. Problematically, in this globalized and hyperactive world, the information needed to make informed decisions and, sometimes, to take decisive and effectual action, is monumental and sometimes incomprehensibly complicated. All the while, the leisure time of the average member of the electorate is dwindling. It is into this world that networked knowledge, and along with it more intuitive knowledge delivery mechanisms have been introduced, and with great potential, and still greater necessity. Those mechanisms include infographics, data visualizations, and other multimedia and hypertextual forms.
Content
Just as we need more efficient truth-procedures and delivery mechanisms if we are to remain politically, socially, and culturally informed, so too do we need functioning library and public education systems. While the United States' post-secondary education system is stellar, bafflingly, our primary and secondary education systems are struggling to survive and are repeatedly dismembered and gutted by the governmental administrations that are supposed to support them. To compensate for this abject neglect, we allow for the increasing privatization and commodification of the most formative experience of our children -- their education. Likewise, our public library system is in shambles, also shamefully underfunded and understaffed, despite the ardent efforts of our librarians.
It's been said by a very important person (actually a fictional news anchor played by Jeff Daniels) that the essential feature of a functioning republic is a well informed electorate. Problematically, in this globalized and hyperactive world, the information needed to make informed decisions and, sometimes, to take decisive and effectual action, is monumental and sometimes incomprehensibly complicated. All the while, the leisure time of the average member of the electorate is dwindling. It is into this world that networked knowledge, and along with it more intuitive knowledge delivery mechanisms have been introduced, and with great potential, and still greater necessity. Those mechanisms include infographics, data visualizations, and other multimedia and hypertextual forms.
Content
Just as we need more efficient truth-procedures and delivery mechanisms if we are to remain politically, socially, and culturally informed, so too do we need functioning library and public education systems. While the United States' post-secondary education system is stellar, bafflingly, our primary and secondary education systems are struggling to survive and are repeatedly dismembered and gutted by the governmental administrations that are supposed to support them. To compensate for this abject neglect, we allow for the increasing privatization and commodification of the most formative experience of our children -- their education. Likewise, our public library system is in shambles, also shamefully underfunded and understaffed, despite the ardent efforts of our librarians.