Ask Whatever and SeniorSurf, Finnish ways to spread media literacy / Ms. Tuula Haavisto, Senior Library Adviser, Helsinki, Finland

 Mass training in mediacy by libraries?!  Two ideas tested and used in Finland to reach larger groups in one time, though the individual service is the strong point of libraries

SeniorSurf, Find your way on Internet  In , yearly SeniorSurf campaigns were organised, to encourage elder citizens to use Internet and SMS (Short Message Sending via mobile phone). For 2003 and 2005, the campaign was refocused: it promoted ways to find the requested content from Internet.  Ideological discussions among professionals about the focus of mediacy training in libraries and provisions of sponsorship

’Ask whatever’ in radio  From Autumn 2003, a radio program Ask whatever is run in co-operation between Helsinki City Library and YLE, the Finnish public service broadcasting company. Library staff answers all kinds of questions, sent to radio by the listeners.  The radio program was based on a certain preceding development.

SeniorSurf  SeniorSurf was oganised by the Finnish Library Association, the idea was imported from Sweden, financing from the Ministry of Education  It concentrated on basic skills in using new media for an age group which at that time had less guidance in accessing new IT skills  The concrete target was to encourage citizens of the age 55+: - to get the first touch with Internet, - in the two first years, to learn to use the SMS (Short Message Sending) function of their mobile phones.

The working forms of the SeniorSurf  Lectures, personal guidance on how to use the web, Internet sources and the SMS, discussions, presentations of Internet-based services by e.g. banks and municipal officials etc.  A list of web resources for the libraries: web sites offering Internet study packages or other good starting points for new-beginners  A special material to learn to use the mouse  A special material presented the SMS use  An extremely popular basic guide Pleasure and learning with your computer

SeniorSurf in numbers  170 to 250 participating libraries / year - there are ca. 900 public library units in Finland  participating people per year  Individual guidance resulted less audience than programs based on lectures  No connection between e.g. the size of the community and the participant amount; but a clear connection between the motivation in the participating library = amount of work done in the library to advertise the event

Ideological discussions questioned SeniorSurf  Two sponsors: teleoperator Sonera & mobile phone producer Nokia  Paid the expensive press advertisements, test mobile phones & connection time to the participating libraries  hot ideological discussion among librarians: acceptable forms of sponsorship: ‘named mobile phones and operators should not be advertised in any form inside libraries, or the participating libraries should get a clear payment in cash on it.’

Ideological discussions questioned SeniorSurf 2  SMS training in libraries: ‘SMS is not at all a business of libraries, we should concentrate on deeper information and knowledge. If there is need to teach SMS, it is up to other institutions.’  For our partners, National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health, and organisations of senior citizens, SMS is first of all a potential safety equipment for elderly people - public institutions responsible to train seniors to use it - public libraries due to their easy access excellent venues to learn SMS skills - non-commercial context in public libraries; compare to a short training by a young salesman in a shop

Where did we end up? Sponsorship  Opinions of the participating libraries were collected in % (133) of the participants returned the form - Majority saw that the press campaign and availability of test phones on the campaign day was a balanced price for allowing visibility to commercial enterprises in libraries for one day. - Only one of the answerers gave negative feedback, and in her own name, not on behalf of the library

 The arguing also led the Min.of Education to produce a short guide for sponsorship in public libraries. The English version is available on Internet /library/english/information.html

Where did we end up? SMS  The result of the discussion remained partly open. - The participating libraries: ‘we took part in a mediacy enlargement project.’ The critics still remained: ‘no library resources should be used for such purposes. Literacy and reading campaings should be prioritized in public libraries.’  However, out of e.g. the 5-7 yearly campaigns of the Finnish Library Association, 3-4 concentrate on literacy and reading, one in mediacy (like SeniorSurf) and the rest on varying topics.

Find your way on Internet, 2003 and 2005  In 2003, the campaign day oriented towards a larger target audience: not-so-experienced-Internet-user adults  A narrower scope: concentrated on presenting guidance to existing Internet resources  Why the change: the SeniorSurf idea had fulfilled its purpose.  Many other actors offered possibilities to this group. Seniors and Internet had even become a very fashionable topic in journals, adult education institutions and TV programs

Working forms in 2003  Link libraries, search engines, other search possibilities and basic portals of public services were presented via lectures and individual guidance  A tabloid of 16 pages was disseminated, including articles, interviews and short infos on web resources  10 training days for 420 library staff members around the country: trends of the Internet development and web searching

Half-success…  Library programs from lectures for schoolchildrens' parents to e-book and local congregation web page presentations.  There were ca participants in 150 public libraries.  The feedback showed, that this time the target audience was too undefined  Feedback also suggested to create an Internet policy for Finnish public libraries. The idea is still under work.  In 2004 no Internet day in libraries  In 2005, Find your way on Internet again, strongly concentrating on public web information and training of librarians

Ask whatever, the radio program  Ask about nature - since the 70s a very popular radio programme in Finland  a simple structure: listeners send questions, biologists and other specialists answer  According to this model, an idea was developed: librarians can answer questions not only in libraries and virtually, but also via the radio

Background elements in libraries  The mobile service unit of Helsinki City Library: iGS, information Gas Station: the unit with its staff can be located to serve people on railway stations, shopping malls, fairs etc.  a banner on the roof: Ask whatever  questions can be asked and answered on- site, via phone, SMS, or  all the questions and answers are saved in an open databank, which can be used via the web

 From the point of view of the radio program, the iGS team is the important element. - ca. 10 professionals from different branches of the Helsinki City Library. - iGS is part of their job, not full-time - half are librarians (university education), - half library assistants (vocational or polytechnics level) - USED TO MEET PEOPLE IN NON-LIBRARY ENVIRONMENT