[Sigiii-l] Global Information Village Plaza

[Charles Lam]

I am interested in learning more about relevant concrete plans (who? where?
when? how? etc.)

Best regards,
Charles Lam

----- Original Message -----
From: "yin zhang" <yzhang4 at kent.edu>
To: <sigiii-l at asis.org>
Sent: Monday, October 14, 2002 9:50 PM
Subject: [Sigiii-l] Global Information Village Plaza


> 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
>
> _______________________________________________
> Sigiii-l mailing list
> Sigiii-l at asis.org
> http://mail.asis.org/mailman/listinfo/sigiii-l
>