{"id":2276,"date":"2018-06-20T12:40:18","date_gmt":"2018-06-20T12:40:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.oclc.org\/next\/?p=2276"},"modified":"2019-05-29T17:09:53","modified_gmt":"2019-05-29T17:09:53","slug":"what-is-container-collapse-and-why-should-librarians-and-teachers-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.oclc.org\/next\/what-is-container-collapse-and-why-should-librarians-and-teachers-care\/","title":{"rendered":"What is \u201ccontainer collapse\u201d and why should librarians and teachers care?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"container_collapse\"<\/p>\n

In 2004, OCLC\u00a0published\u00a0Information Format Trends: Content, Not Containers<\/a><\/em>. In the context of this study, \u201ccontainer\u201d meant physical media:<\/p>\n

More than ever, content consumers are \u201cformat agnostic\u201d in that they do not care much what sort of container\u2014such as a book, journal, blog, or a Web page\u2014the content comes from\u2026 For libraries and content sellers, this means the processes of acquisition, organization, and delivery of content need to change to accommodate the expectations of our communities.<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s smartphone world, when all of our media can be scrunched down into one device, we face what the research team calls container collapse<\/em> (#containercollapse). The visual context\u00a0and cues that print containers provide used to help individuals identify a document\u2019s origins and measure its value. These cues\u00a0are now obscured or more difficult\u00a0to discern. In digital format, a document is decanted from its original container and must be carefully examined to determine the journey\u00a0it took to reach the individual. As knowledge professionals, we care deeply about the origin and authority of the content our users and communities consume.<\/p>\n

And guess what? Students care, too!<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Digital residents without borders<\/h2>\n

Almost all media today are available online, and most people have ubiquitous mobile access. How do users identify and evaluate online \u201cresource containers\u201d of information?<\/p>\n

To answer this question, colleagues and I are involved in an ongoing study: Researching Students\u2019 Information Choices (RSIC): Determining Identity and Judging Credibility in Digital Spaces<\/a><\/em>. Launched in December 2015 with partners from OCLC<\/a>, the University of Florida<\/a>, and Rutgers University<\/a>, our three-year, IMLS-funded project focuses on students in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Six cohorts (a total of 176 participants) include students from grades 4\u20135, grades 6\u20138, grades 9\u201312, community college, undergraduate, and graduate programs.<\/p>\n

As is always the case in these studies, we are making interesting observations and seeing even more challenging questions emerge.<\/p>\n

Lost in familiar territory<\/h2>\n

Ask students if it is important to know the container from which online information comes and they pretty much all say, \u201cYes,\u201d (though the number decreases with younger students). Students also believe in their own abilities to discern sources, with only 2% of the participants expressing limited confidence in their ability to select online resources for research projects.<\/p>\n

So, students say it\u2019s important and that they\u2019re good at it. Are you familiar with the Dunning-Kruger effect<\/a>? Basically, it means two things:<\/p>\n

The less you know about something, the more likely you are to overestimate your abilities.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what students are doing. But it also means that:<\/p>\n

The more you know about something, the more likely you are to think tasks that are easy for you also are easy for other people.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where we, librarians, can make a difference in the life of the user<\/a>.<\/p>\nWe need better ways to enable students to identify and evaluate information online. <\/a><\/span>Share on X<\/a><\/span>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cI can just tell.\u201d<\/h2>\n

After completing our simulated search for a research project, it turns out that student participants were not as good as they thought they were at identifying the value or the identity of the containers they encountered. We asked them to tell us what they were thinking as they selected helpful resources.<\/p>\n

Here are some of their qualitative responses:<\/p>\n