A May Basket of Media Messages

 Back in my elementary school days, on May 1, my mother would help me make May baskets to deliver to the neighbors.  When you live in farm country, "neighbors" are anyone within 2 or 3 miles of your house, or a half dozen homes or so.  I don't remember many details of how the baskets were made, or what they contained, I just remember the thrill of sneaking up, hanging the basket on the doorknob, knocking, (no one had doorbells) and then skittering away so you would not be seen.  

I've been constructing a May basket of sorts today, filled with information topics that I'd like to explore this month.  For as long as I've been alive, I've been collecting information, facts and ideas that I can put together to help me understand the world around me...a pretty typical human trait for sure, but I may be a little obsessive.  

I collected enough trivia over the years to earn a spot on the TV game show Jeopardy and I made a career as a teacher, librarian and professional development trainer in information technology.  Knowing things is really important to me, and helping people find the information they need is my life's mission.

Back in the days when I was climbing the shelves in the closet that served as our country school's library to find the "hard" books to read, I had a dream.  I dreamed that someday there would be a magical library where everything I wanted to read, everything I wanted to know, everything I wanted to understand would be available in one place that even short people would be able to reach.

I grew enough to reach the high shelves, eventually I had access to bigger and bigger libraries and I took college classes to help me manage a library on my own.  Still,  that dream was unrealized, but in the 1960s, quietly, the Internet was being developed and growing, finally emerging as the World Wide Web in the early 1990's and the possibility of my magical library at my fingertips seemed totally possible.

This could only be good, I thought at first and I became a websurfer, extraordinaire.  However if you find your way to Neverland, you are going to have to deal with Captain Hook; if you slip through the wardrobe door to Narnia, there is Jardis, the White Witch waiting to spoil your fun.  

The immense potential of the Internet opened the door to lots and lots of information accompanied by lots and lots of misinformation.  Something this powerful is bound to attract powerful forces.  The dream can also be a nightmare.

Without any big hopes of turning the tide of misinformation, I'm going to be one small voice in the wilderness, trying to make a difference and help people distinguish truth from lies and facts from fallacies.  

In my next post I'm going to share my list of potential topics to cover this month--to put in my "May Basket".  I wonder where my wonderings will take me...I hope you'll join me...I'm going to need your help!