Future of Research

This study was commissioned by the British Library and JISC to identify how the specialist researchers of the future, currently in their school or pre-school years, are likely to access and interact with digital resources in five to ten years' time. This is to help library and information services to anticipate and react to any new or emerging behaviors in the most effective way. In this report the researchers define the "Google generation" as those born after 1993 and explore the world of a cohort of young people with little or no recollection of life before the web. The broad aims of the study are to gather and establish: whether or not, as a result of the digital transition and the vast range of information resources being digitally created, young people, the "Google generation", are searching for and researching content in new ways and whether this is likely to shape their future behavior as mature researchers?

University College, London (2008). Information behaviour of the researcher of the future. London, England: Centre for Information Behaviour and the Evaluation of Research, British Library, & Joint Information Systems Committee. http://www.worldcat.org/title/information-behaviour-of-the-researcher-of-the-future/oclc/191761345

Privacy on the Internet

This survey of Americans found that large percentages of young adults (those 18-24 years) are in harmony with older Americans regarding concerns about online privacy, norms, and policy suggestions. In several cases, there are no statistically significant differences between young adults and older age categories on these topics. Where there were differences, over half of the young adult-respondents did answer in the direction of older adults. There clearly is social significance in that large numbers of young adults agree with older Americans on issues of information privacy. A gap in privacy knowledge provides one explanation for the apparent license with which the young behave online. The problem is even more pronounced when presented with offline privacy issues – post hoc analysis showed that young Americans were more likely to answer no questions correctly than any other age group. The study concludes that that young-adult Americans have an aspiration for increased privacy even while they participate in an online reality that is optimized to increase their revelation of personal data.

Hoofnagle, C. J., King, J., Li, S., & Turow, J. (2010).

How different are young adults from older adults when it comes to information privacy attitudes and policies? Young Adults and Privacy. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1589864

 

Projections in Education

This report includes statistics on elementary and secondary schools and degree-granting institutions. Included are projections of enrollment, graduates, teachers, and expenditures to the year 2017. This is the first edition of the Projections of Education Statistics to include projections of new teacher hires in public and private elementary and secondary schools. In addition to projections at the national level, the report includes projections of public elementary and secondary school enrollment and public high school graduates to the year 2017 at the state level.

Between 2006 and 2018, continued increases are expected in the number of degrees awarded to women at all levels Between 2005 and 2018, the number of doctoral degrees is projected to increase 27 percent overall.

Hussar, W. J., & Bailey, T. M. (2008). Projections of education statistics to 2017.Washington, D.C.: National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, & U.S. Department of Education.

Student access to computers

In 2015, 94 percent of children ages 3 to 18 had a computer or smartphone at home, and 61 percent had Internet access at home. The percentages of children with computer and Internet access at home in 2015 were higher for children who were older, those whose parents had higher levels of educational attainment, and those whose families had higher incomes. In remote rural areas, the percentage of students who had either no Internet access or only dial-up access at home in 2015 were higher for Black (41 percent) and Hispanic students (26 percent) than for White (13 percent) and Asian students (11 percent).

Angelina KewalRamani, Jijun Zhang, Xiaolei Wang, Amy Rathbun, Lisa Corcoran, Melissa Diliberti, and Jizhi Zhang, Student Access to Digital Learning Resources Outside of the Classroom (NCES 2017-098), U.S. Department of Education, Washington, DC

(From C&RL News, May 2018, p. 276)