SUMMER 1999

Peace, the Creative Arts, and the Internet

Shocked and dismayed by the recent violence in North American schools, voices from all over are asking “What has gone wrong?” Some schools and parent groups are considering solutions involving video surveillance and metal detectors. Others are in the process of clearing their libraries of books with references to weapons or have forbidden students to wear black clothing to school. Many conversations have focused on the role of the Internet upon student violence, and it is now common to hear the conclusion that the Internet is a source of hate literature and a place to learn how to build a pipe bombs; in short, a place that should be off-limits to children.

It may seem ironic that I should have been asked to write an article about ‘Peace, the Creative Arts and the Internet’ against this negative context, but I welcome the opportunity to discuss the issues. I believe that the reactions described above are heartfelt attempts to rid ourselves of any possibility of further tragedy, but I will argue that these reactions miss critically important points. Our information-rich environment can become a source of creativity and harmony if we use it well. To stifle that prospect does us all a disservice. The other side of this coin is the fact that in a free society whether we are talking about the online world, or other types of information sources, there is no way to effectively restrict all potentially harmful materials (in fact there is little likelihood of any group of educators, librarians or others ever reaching an agreement on where to draw the line between dangerous and useful), so we must find ways of dealing with how children act, rather than overemphasizing our focus on what information they access.

In the current climate, many of those who make statements against censorship find themselves accused of actively promoting violence and pornography. This has been especially true in the past few weeks for the American Librarian’s Association (ALA), which has been under attack from the syndicated radio personality, “Dr. Laura”. Ann Symon (current president of the ALA) explains issues related to this dilemma in her recent keynote address to delegates at the ‘National Conference on the Internet and the Family, available online at:
http://www.ala.org/pio/speeches/annenberg.html

As a parent and librarian, Symon talks about the “dream and nightmare” of the Internet and concludes that a priority for teachers, parents and society in general, is to live responsibly and to create an environment where children will learn to live responsibly. With or without our guidance, young people find ways to gain access to information that is of interest to them. For this reason, we must do what we can to ensure that they will have the skills to evaluate the information they find, and use it in a meaningful way.

My personal situation is to be part of family that is very involved in the creative arts and in the Internet. I have described the creation of one of our works in a recent article available at
http://members.home.net/dhouston1/eliz_bctla.html
We have maintained webpages related to our work and have found that these facilitate contact with artists, writers and musicians from all over the world
http://coastnet.com/dhouston/
http://members.home.net/dhouston1/echoes.html

Our ability to share ideas has been enhanced profoundly by the recent advances in information technologies. After visiting our websites, people often send us questions and comments and when we want to reach out to others, a simple keyword search can lead us to a community of people who are interested in the topics we wish to explore. The Internet did not create our family in the arts, but it has definitely become a medium that we now enjoy and depend upon to communicate about what we are doing.

To make the most of this environment, a type of literacy is involved that goes beyond reading and writing, although these skills are of course still extremely important. But additional new skills are required for those who create information to be placed on the web and also for those who access online material. One of the biggest challenges when facing full access to the vast amount of information now available, is that we can become overloaded if we don’t have a sense of purpose and a good set of navigational abilities. Once information is found, it must be evaluated, its source considered, its biases analyzed and, perhaps most importantly, the information that is deemed relevant and worthy must be then used as part of a creative and constructive decision-making process. This concept of “information literacy” has been defined by many people inhttp://womenspace.ca/volved in educational fields, with a good overview available via the University of Calgary:
http://www.ucalgary.ca/library/ILG/workdef.html

Carl Sagan wrote a poignant chapter called ‘The Path to Freedom’ in his book “The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark”. The ‘path’ he described was literacy for all. Sagan compared the benefits of having a universally literate population to the American pre-emancipation days when laws forbade anyone to teach a slave how to read. It was clear in those days that illiteracy was a weapon that was deliberately used as part of a plan to keep an entire group of people dependent on another, more privileged group. It is clear now that we could easily create a group of ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ with respect to the Internet. If we ban the Internet as an educational tool, or teach the skills for its effective use to only an elite group of people, we will not move a step forward in producing the equitable type of society we desire. The ‘quick fixes’ of switching on the surveillance camera or shutting down the Internet would have some very counterproductive consequences.

But if we strive to have an educational culture that promotes equity, encourages creativity and treats students as people rather than consumers-in-training, the Internet will be a place where learners will all have the opportunity to express their ideas and evaluate the ideas of others.