It's like the weather

After spending some time with my nine-year-old nephew, I realized teachers and librarians have a lot of work to do.

He basically revealed that he thinks everything on the Web is accurate. He has no reason not to trust what he sees there, so he assumes it is all legit. I attempted to explain that anyone can publish something on the Web and that it doesn't mean it is correct. He went off onto another tangent, but the point was clear: No one has adequately explained to him the dynamic of the Internet. As (hopefully) a school librarian someday, it will be a challenge to teach children how the Web can be both dangerous and helpful, especially with the promise of changes on the horizon.

The Web is such a valuable resource, but with it comes the great responsibility of users to be able to control and manage the content they see. With respect to children, the responsibility is even greater for parents and educators. We have all learned an important lesson as children in the news have made bombs and connected with sexual predators through the Web. How can we control the beast? Although term papers and book reports aren't as serious as bombs, children need to know what sources they use on the Web are credible. How can we teach them to know credible sources when it may be hard ourselves?

A little while later my nephew snapped back to what I was saying about inaccurate information on the Web, and he commented: "I guess it's sort of like when the weathermen tell you the weather but what they say isn't true."

Yes, it's sort of like that.