The Google Generation: Are Ict Innovations Changing Information-Seeking Behavior? Book

Acknowledgements ix

About the authors xi

1 Introduction 1

Search for the Google Generation 3

Understanding the diffusion of new technologies 3

Finding a new generation of information seekers 6

Before the Internet 7

The Internet era 8

The broadband effect 10

A distinctive 'Google Generation'? 11

The Internet as information source 12

Web 2.0 13

The Internet, learning and higher education 14

What does the future hold? 15

2 The rise of the information society 19

What does history teach us? 21

How to configure information and communication change 23

How important is information access? 27

Media landscape: pre-Google Generation era 28

Media landscape: Google Generation era 30

Use of different media by young people 33

Summary 38

3 The Internet era 41

Media profiles 43

Internet use by age 44

The broadband effect 49

Generations and Internet use 52

Online information searching 59

Concluding remarks 63

4 'Google Generation': What is the evidence? 65

Web 2.0 67

User literacy 71

Cognitive skills and interactive technologies 74

A generational perspective 80

Google Generation and learning scenarios 82

Concluding remarks 90

5 Emergence of new forms of knowledge production, search and acquisition 93

Changing contexts for scholarly output production and use 94

The digital transition 96

Subject domains and information use 106

Changing user behaviour 109

Supporting Google Generation users 118

Concluding remarks 120

Notes 122

6 The emergence of digital scholarship 123

Overview of studies reviewed 125

Methods used 126

The academic research evidence 127

Use of information technology 127

Searching expertise 129

Evaluating electronic resources 131

Use of library and information services 133

Opinion, assumption and anecdotal evidence 134

The claims 134

Concluding remarks 145

Notes 146

7 What next? 147

Convergence of technology, application and consumption 148

The social web 149

Finding the tipping point 151

Google Generation: e-learning and higher education 153

Formality of learning 163

Uptake of digital media and higher education 164

References 173

Index 203