Information Fluency

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Accessibility Checking: Creating an accessible website requires a degree of technical knowledge, and a willingness to learn new ways of creating web-based information. There are a number of free and commercial products that help automate accessibility compliance. Some products are built into web page editing systems. Other products offer free web-based accessibility checkers that will give you an automated assessment based on a web address. These tools are valuable aids for the web designer.

Accessible Website: In terms of Section 508, an accessible website is one that meets the standards specified in the law. These standards assure that disabled people using assistive technology can navigate the site. Because technology is constantly evolving, accessibility standards must evolve as well. In order to coordinate the effort to create accessibility standards, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has created the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). These guidelines are more extensive and complete than the standards established by Section 508. Another important aspect of accessibility is the general usability of a site. 508 and W3C standards promote all coherent navigation, legible presentation, complimentary colors, and consistent layout. These are traits that benefit all users.

Active Reading Strategies or Active Comprehension Strategies: Reading strategies that help students engage with their reading and better understand what they read. Strategies include scanning texts reading only the titles, subtitles, paragraph headings and captions. Active methods include prediction, asking questions, highlighting keywords, and keeping notes. Applying Bloom's Taxonomy to reading provides a roadmap for active comprehension.

Accuracy: The accuracy of factual information can tell you something about the care the author took in preparing the document and can provide clues to possible bias in the perspective represented in the document. Most web pages are not reviewed or edited. Anyone can post just about anything they want on the Internet. A second grader can claim to be a nobel prize winner. A Russian professor can be mistaken for an American child due to lack of familiarity with the English language. It is important to check the facts and not rely on first impressions.

Artificial Intelligence (AI): The advance of 'smarter' search engines is made possible with AI chatbot programming that can make meaning out of what is typed in a searchbox. Sites such as Bing and Google that use AI-back search are not bound by literal matching, but go deeper into the possible meaning of a query. This doesn't mean AI searching is better than manual searching (the old way). AI bots may look for something other than what you typed. If a query has problems to start with, AI can't fix that. AI is also not (yet) adept at filtering out inaccurate results. That is still a manual task.

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Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): The ADA established the concept of a civil right to effective communication. This underlies the idea that access to information is a civil right. This means that the ADA does apply to cyberspace. Since web based presentation of information is often the very best means of communication, ADA legislation guarantees accessibility to websites under the effective communication guarantees of the law. Section 508 creates an incentive for private and public organizations to create accessible websites by requiring anyone doing business with the government to comply with the Section 508 accessibility standards. The ADA and Section 508 compliment and reinforce each other.

Annotated Lists: An annotation reminds you what you found important about that web site. It keeps information about the web site with the address. The best annotated list contains a citation with at least the author’s name, the original copyright date, the title of the web page, and the uniform resource locator followed by a concisely written description of the contents of the site and why you found them important. Here is an annotated list of examples of annotated lists.

Assistive Technology: Assistive technology enables those with disabilities to use the Internet. Powerful tools built into specialized web browsers can automatically read text and describe the content of images for the blind. Other tools will greatly expand the size of text or control screen color contrasts for those with impaired vision. Using assistive technology, deaf users can receive a simultaneous translation of an audio transmission. These tools require certain web page software configurations to be effective. For a page to be accessible, it must be created following either Section 508 or W3C standards. If the web designer follows these standards, assistive technology will function, and the disabled user will be able to use the site. Otherwise the site remains beyond the reach of the disabled.

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AUP: (Acceptable Use Policy). These policies attempt to spell out legitimate uses for an institution's computer network. This includes use of the Internet. Most AUPs define responsibilities and expectations as well as consequences for misuse of technology.

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