[Sigiii-l] Global Information Village Plaza

[yin zhang]

Written by J. Frank McMahon
mcmahon at fis.utoronto.ca


             INFORMATION REOURCES IN A GLOBAL COMMUNITY

We live in a world that is bombarded with various types of information from
a huge number of sources, which is truly astounding.

Secondly, at least in Canada we live in a multi-ethnic society and thus people
from all over the world have an interest and desire to obtain information and
material on their country and culture.
Because they are living away from home they often want to maintain ties
with their homeland and information professionals are asked to help them
gain access to pertinent material that is of interest to them. As well, many
others wish to learn about other lands.

Thirdly, the passing on of information has become more complex when we
are dealing with materials from other lands. Almost all material that we 
locate
is influenced by the cultural and society that the material comes from. The
wording of documents the very nature of the material
Is very much a product of the society that has ‘ownership’ of this material.
The Information
Professionals find themselves in a challenging position as searchers and
conveyors of information. In order to find material and to understand the
needs of their users requires at times a keen nuance of each countries
approach to gathering and supplying of information and data. When we talk
about diversity, we mean among other things that people are not clones of
each other and thus approach and relate to information each in a unique
manner. Certainly, there are some similarities in how people collect and
maintain material but there are variations based on culture, economic factors,
politics, etc.

The Internet provides us with information that would not otherwise be
available and at a rapid speed but we are aware some of this information can
be undependable and misleading. It is quite a task in our culture to sift
through Internet and print sources for quality and reliability especially when
relating to material from countries whose material we lack a good knowledge
and experience with.  Information professionals are not all knowing and we
should not expect them to be this is where collaboration is useful.
Globalization brings information sources closer to our door thus providers of
information can and should work as a team to furnish and decipher data.
Cultural and ideological differences can be reduced greatly when librarians,
media figures, politicians and others who have influence over information
work together to better appreciate and grasp our similarities and our 
diversity.
This is not to recommend a ‘melting pot’ approach but rather to enjoy each
other's differences and the contribution we make to our global community.

In summary, certainly for myself and information professionals in general
today we encounter and relate to information that is of a global nature. In
diverse communities, the public has a thirst for information on people and
lands all over the planet. Information professionals and others must
understand this information and be able to locate relevant material and serve
as good gatekeepers.

Written by J. Frank McMahon
mcmahon at fis.utoronto.ca