Last modified: Friday, April 3, 2009
IU Libraries hosts student digital literacy contest
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 3, 2009
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Undergraduate students will show off their reference and Internet literacy skills during the Digital Literacy Contest on April 7 at Indiana University Bloomington's Herman B Wells Library.
The Indiana University Libraries, which is hosting the competition, is offering more than $200 in cash prizes. Afterward, the library will provide food and lead a discussion about digital information literacy.
The Wells Library will once again play host to the Digital Literacy Contest where students will vie for cash prize money while trying to answer 30 questions in 30 minutes using just the Internet.
The Digital Literacy Contest was created in 2007 by former Purdue University student Daniel Poynter. Current participants include Purdue, IU Bloomington, Brown University, Cornell University, University of Michigan and the University of Florida.
"This is our second competition at IU in which people wield the Internet as a cognitive prosthetic," Poynter said. "It's a high-speed battle of Internet-enabled intelligence. The contest has three main objectives: to identify people who thrive in information overload, to disseminate their insights and to create a discussion about what it means to be digitally literate."
Carrie Donovan at IU Libraries said she expected the contest to once again be a success at the Bloomington campus.
"It connects the libraries to information-seeking in the minds of students, and it's a great way to insert libraries' instructional agenda into a fun and lively event in a way that it does not alienate students," she said. "I had so much fun at the event last fall."
Contestants will be given 30 questions, 30 minutes and Internet access. Correct answers earn points and incorrect answers are penalized. The highest score wins.
The contest will run from 4:30 to 6 p.m. on Tuesday, April 7, in room E174, Herman B Wells Library. Those interested in competing must register online at: https://www.digitalliteracycontest.org/students/iub. Early registration is encouraged as space is limited. For more information, please e-mail libnlrn@indiana.edu.
To speak with Poynter, please call 765-425-6033 or e-mail daniel.poynter@gnic.org.
