The Challenging Triad of Access to Technology: Resources, Strategies…and Acceptance :: Technological Essays

The Challenging Triad of Access to Technology: Resources, Strategies†¦and Acceptance Access is the breeze through the window of interest. --Richard Saul Wurman (21) In his extremely provocative book, Information Anxiety 2, Richard Saul Wurman provides the definition of access as â€Å"the breeze through the window of interest†. (21). I really like this definition in a number of ways, particularly since it evokes a more dynamic approach toward understanding the role of access in the cosmos of technology. While his other thoughts in that book are not comprehensive in terms of our interest in pedagogy and technology, he does manage to put his finger on the spot that hurts: that â€Å"access signifies the ability to do what everybody else can do and to make use of what everybody else can use; access means the liberty to take advantage of resources.† (21) Yes, there it is: the point that has caused so much angst and pain in the supposedly glittery world of modern technocracy. At a time when we have the need for the widest, most open public access to experience and information that might, as Wurman says, â€Å"giv[e] people new ways to look at their environment and their lives,† scholars like Bertram Bruce, Charles Moran, and Lester Faigley are also warning us about a number of obstacles that can restrict access. (Bruce, Moran, Faigley) Since I had major roles (writer, editor, Interim Media Services Coordinator) in preparing the first action plan for technology at Washtenaw Community College, I was again astonished, in this discussion, by just how complex the issue of adequate access remains. To my mind, the kind of access that Wurman and the others have in mind depends on a triad of resources, strategies, and, what shall we call it, acceptance. Wurman is able to point toward the complexity of understanding what access represents when he also provides a graphic designed by Nathan Shedroff called â€Å"An Overview of Understanding† (see Figure 1). (27) This graphic captures the dynamics of how information can move, as it is shaped by producers and consumers, from being data to wisdom—or, to put it in other terms, from research creation/gathering/discovery to contemplation/evaluation/interpretation/retrospection. (27) What might make all this possible? You guessed it: adequate access. Perhaps the easiest portion of the triad to define is the scope of the resources. The Challenging Triad of Access to Technology: Resources, Strategies†¦and Acceptance :: Technological Essays The Challenging Triad of Access to Technology: Resources, Strategies†¦and Acceptance Access is the breeze through the window of interest. --Richard Saul Wurman (21) In his extremely provocative book, Information Anxiety 2, Richard Saul Wurman provides the definition of access as â€Å"the breeze through the window of interest†. (21). I really like this definition in a number of ways, particularly since it evokes a more dynamic approach toward understanding the role of access in the cosmos of technology. While his other thoughts in that book are not comprehensive in terms of our interest in pedagogy and technology, he does manage to put his finger on the spot that hurts: that â€Å"access signifies the ability to do what everybody else can do and to make use of what everybody else can use; access means the liberty to take advantage of resources.† (21) Yes, there it is: the point that has caused so much angst and pain in the supposedly glittery world of modern technocracy. At a time when we have the need for the widest, most open public access to experience and information that might, as Wurman says, â€Å"giv[e] people new ways to look at their environment and their lives,† scholars like Bertram Bruce, Charles Moran, and Lester Faigley are also warning us about a number of obstacles that can restrict access. (Bruce, Moran, Faigley) Since I had major roles (writer, editor, Interim Media Services Coordinator) in preparing the first action plan for technology at Washtenaw Community College, I was again astonished, in this discussion, by just how complex the issue of adequate access remains. To my mind, the kind of access that Wurman and the others have in mind depends on a triad of resources, strategies, and, what shall we call it, acceptance. Wurman is able to point toward the complexity of understanding what access represents when he also provides a graphic designed by Nathan Shedroff called â€Å"An Overview of Understanding† (see Figure 1). (27) This graphic captures the dynamics of how information can move, as it is shaped by producers and consumers, from being data to wisdom—or, to put it in other terms, from research creation/gathering/discovery to contemplation/evaluation/interpretation/retrospection. (27) What might make all this possible? You guessed it: adequate access. Perhaps the easiest portion of the triad to define is the scope of the resources.