Myhrvold comments that we live in an age where food is abundant and that a lack of access is caused by systems and mechanisms that create barriers. This is equally true of information. We often hear that we live in the Information Age due to the increase in access to technology that can improve access to information. New means of sharing, obtaining, and packaging information are available every day...but not to everyone. Rather than refined cuisine, he could be referring to the high cost of technology that causes information to "stay(s) in this funny place where the elite practitioners of the very highest forms remain really expensive".
Although "we" live in an Information Age, there are huge disparities in many communities that cause barriers: small library and community budgets and staffs, limited access to the internet and computers or other devices, and a lack of both information literacy and technology proficiency, to name a few. This isn't an earth shatteringly profound concept, of course, but it does have a profound effect on those who experience information inequality. Those of us in the various library and information science professions are constantly trying to improve that situation.
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Sarah CarnesA third year MLIS student conducting fieldwork with NLM, NN/LM NER, and Massachusetts Libraries. ArchivesCategories
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