Web Technology in The 21st Century: Bertram C. Bruce Library & Information Science Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Web Technology in the 21st Century
Bertram C. Bruce
Library & Information Science
Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Outline
1) The problem of knowledge in health care

2) New ICT's
3) Knowledge transfer
4) Inquiry model for knowledge
5) Community inquiry laboratories
1) Problem of knowledge in health care
• Globalization
• Environmental quality
• Working conditions
• Poverty
• Literacy
• New technologies for
– prevention, diagnosis, & treatment
– for information and communication
Research versus practice
• Knowledge vs. application

• Science vs. ordinary knowledge
• Producer vs. consumer
• Technology developer vs. user
• Knowledge as output vs. knowledge as input
2) New information and
communication technologies
Think of it [Mosaic] as a map to the buried treasures

of the Information Age. / A new software program
available free to companies and individuals is helping
even novice computer users find their way around
the global Internet / … an applications program so
different and so obviously useful that it can create a
new industry from scratch.
--Dec. 8, 1993, John Markoff, New York Times
Telesurgery
• doctors in NY remove a gall bladder in Strasbourg

• use joysticks & voice commands to direct robotic arms
holding an endoscopic camera & surgical instruments
• watch their work on monitors
• transoceanic, fiber-optic line connects the control console to
the robot
Bandwidth: The Matrix
• standard telephone
modem: 171 hours
• ISDN line: 74 hours
• cable modem or DSL:
25 hours
• T1: 6.5 hours
• Internet2: 30 seconds
In the future already
Science fiction itself has remained the same.

We have caught up to it...We are a science-
fiction generation.
– Ray Bradbury
We can’t think far enough ahead anymore.
– Ron Shusett
Internet bookmobile
• millions of books: Project Gutenberg, Liber

Liber. the Million Book Project
• satellite download
• print on demand
• high-speed binder
Access in India
• Hole-in-the-wall computer
• Simputer
• 1 million Internet kiosks
3) Knowledge transfer models
Repository =>
Dissemination =>
Inquiry (knowledge construction)

Inquiry model
• a cycle of asking, investigating, creating,

discussing, and reflecting; each question
leads to further questions
• dialogue (two-way communication)
• learning connected to life
• active learning based on the learner's
purpose
4) The Inquiry Page
• Resources for inquiry

teaching & learning
• Support for
communities
• Tools for everyday
problem-solving
(personal websites, to-
do lists, events
calendars, …)
5) Community inquiry laboratory
what happens when a community uses ICTs to engage

in collaborative inquiry and to interact with other
communities
a) Research and education on water

b) Community technology centers
c) Spiritual health plan
d) Paseo Boricua
e) Hull-House
a) Research and education on water
Saris and cholera
• Cholera kills tens of thousands

of people/year
• Rita Colwell: copepods harbor
the bacterium; 200-500x
larger
• a folded sari cloth can remove
the plankton
• 65 Bangladesh villages;
cholera reduced by half
• effective as nylon filters
• less diarrhea, cheap and
convenient, easily adopted
b) Community technology centers
c) Sisternet
• African-American women
• low-income community
• use of Prairienet
• workshops run by members of the
community
• identifying information & communication
needs
“Spiritual health plan”
For the Create section --
I would like to accomplish the following goals: Once

each week I would like to take at least four (4) hours
of the weekend for my own enjoyment. This will
include, but is not limited to, things like: going to the
beauty shop, going out to dinner or to the movies
with my husband, reading my Bible or some other
book, or just praying or meditating. … I also will let
my family know that I love and support them...
d) Paseo Boricua
Puerto Rican community, Chicago
• Pedro Albizu Campos alternative school

• Paseo Boricua Community Library
• Puerto Rican Cultural Center
• Batey Urbano– all-ages, no-alcohol club,
featuring theater, poetry, and live music
• SIDA, diabetes, hypertension
• park with polluted lake
e) Hull-House
Jane Addams
• kindergarten & day • a Labor Museum

care facilities
• the Jane Club for
• an employment bureau single working girls
• an art gallery • meeting places for
• libraries trade union groups
• English & citizenship • a wide array of
classes
cultural events
• theater, music, & art
classes
Questions
• How do people construct knowledge to

address their needs?
• How do forces of unity and diversity
operate in the development of
communitites?
• How do knowledge, technology, and
community co-evolve?
Active participation
No matter how ignorant a person is, there is one

thing he knows better than anybody else, and that is
where the shoes pinch on his own feet....every
individual must be consulted in such a way, actively
not passively, that he himself becomes part of the
process of authority…that his needs and wants have
a chance to …count in determining social policy. .
--Dewey, Democracy & Education
Participatory inquiry
aims to respond to human needs by

democratic processes. Through creation of
content, contributions to interactive
elements, and incorporation into practice,
users are not merely recipients of
technology, but participate actively in its
ongoing development.
Library
a collection organized for

use =>
a system to support
community inquiry
Conclusions
• provision of health information => active,
two-way, co-construction of knowledge
• citizens use technologies to develop
healthy communities
• new literacy skills develop along through
meaningful problem solving
• community inquiry provides a framework
for democratic change
Further information
• inquiry.uiuc.edu
• www.uiuc.edu/~chip
• chip@uiuc.edu
• Literacy in the Information Age: Inquiries
into Meaning Making with New
Technologies (International Reading
Association, March 2003)
El extremo
Malaria and mosquito nets
• 300 million malaria cases/year; 1 million

deaths
• Anopheles mosquito feeds at night
• treated mosquito nets can reduce infant
mortality by 27% and cut the number of
illnesses in half (Tanzania)
• $4.30
Online sources
• WebMD–web-based, news-style articles,

commercial
• PubMed (NLM)–12 million MEDLINE
citations and life science journals; links to
sites with full texts
• Blogs
• Email groups
3) Knowledge transfer
New digital tools
Computer-mediated work
Ubiquitous computing

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Web Technology in the 21st Century

1) The problem of knowledge in health care

• Knowledge vs. application

Think of it [Mosaic] as a map to the buried treasures

• doctors in NY remove a gall bladder in Strasbourg

Science fiction itself has remained the same.

• millions of books: Project Gutenberg, Liber

Inquiry (knowledge construction)

• a cycle of asking, investigating, creating,

• Resources for inquiry

what happens when a community uses ICTs to engage

a) Research and education on water

• Cholera kills tens of thousands

For the Create section --

I would like to accomplish the following goals: Once

• Pedro Albizu Campos alternative school

• kindergarten & day • a Labor Museum

• How do people construct knowledge to

No matter how ignorant a person is, there is one

aims to respond to human needs by

a collection organized for

• 300 million malaria cases/year; 1 million

• WebMD–web-based, news-style articles,

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