Have you ever gotten advice from someone, that turned out to be wrong, perhaps bad advice or just not applicable to you? The internet is a powerful tool to provide information to the masses, but there isn’t anything in place that regulates whether that information is accurate, and it isn’t always immediately apparent when information is or is not applicable to what you’re experiencing. As developers you’ll rely on the internet a lot, but that doesn’t mean all the answers you find will be correct, the best solution, or helpful.
Information literacy is the ability to identify, find, evaluate, and use information effectively. In technology, this often translates not only to assessing the accuracy of answers but also how to find a solution that aligns with your project specifications (ex. Did you find an article with a solution to your problem, but the solution is for someone using a different version of Ruby or NPM?) The specs may not always be a perfect match, but could still shed light on a shared root cause.
Some helpful tools that equip you to have stronger information literacy are:
- Know your own specifications (what tools + versions you’re using) so you can be critical about the answers you read.
- Is this information “from the source” (official developer documentation) or second hand (a tutorial or blog post)? The latter may warrant some additional skepticism—when in doubt start with the source, and then look to secondary resources to supplement.
- Is this a site you trust and has helped you before reliably?
Navigating information sources takes time to get the hang of, so incorporate some of the tools we’ve covered earlier regarding asking for help, debugging, being curious and willing to try new things, and being ok with not knowing the answer at first!
This week consider…
Please answer the below prompts in your assignment submission:
- When was a time you got misinformation or bad advice? What happened?
- What are some ‘clues’ that you use to help you assess whether a resource is applicable/trustworthy or not?
- What are some ways you’ll build on your information literacy either in your personal life or as a developer?
When you’ve completed your Coding Assignment, and have read and thought about the mindset questions above, submit ALL of your assignments (coding and mindset) using: