Opinion - Information Matters

Health information no longer moves in a neat, straight line from the researcher’s bench to the clinician’s desk to the patient. Today, it ricochets. It travels through search engine auto-completes, TikTok feeds, private WhatsApp groups, and AI-generated summaries long before a patient ever sits down with a doctor or a medical librarian. For cancer patients and survivors exploring Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM), this networked reality creates both real possibility and serious risk. In digital spaces, the challenge isn’t just finding information. It is untangling how certain health claims become highly visible, endlessly repeated, and ultimately trusted.

Featured Opinion

May 22, 2026 Elaine Kong

Beyond “Check the Source”: Information Literacy for Health Decisions in the Age of AI

For decades, the golden rule of information literacy was simple: check the source. Who wrote the article? When was it published? Does the URL end in .gov or .edu? Those questions still matter, but in today’s digital ecosystem, they are no longer enough. Modern users don’t just read static webpages; they navigate a chaotic blend of search engine snippets, algorithmic social feeds, influencer testimonials, and AI-generated summaries. In high-stakes arenas like personal health, evaluating a single “source” is no longer the primary task. The real challenge is making sense of an entire information environment.

Opinion

April 17, 2026 Elaine Kong

When Search Starts Answering: What Libraries Need to Explain About AI

Library search tools aren’t just returning results anymore. They now summarize, suggest, and sometimes even interpret information for us. Search tools once helped users find materials. Now they are beginning to offer answer-like interpretations of what a collection appears to mean. Sure, it feels helpful. But it also quietly changes how people decide what is credible, what is complete, and what feels neutral. Before libraries ask people to trust AI-mediated discovery, they need to explain what the system is doing on the user’s behalf.

Education Opinion

March 21, 2026 Azeez Adeoye

Digital Cocaine: The Business Model of AI Addiction, When the Savior Becomes the Dictator

When artificial intelligence systems were first introduced to the public around 2022, they were celebrated as revolutionary assistants, tools designed to augment human productivity, creativity, and efficiency. The early versions were freely accessible or offered generous trial capabilities. Students used them to summarize readings; professionals used them to draft emails; programmers relied on them to debug code. The public welcomed these tools with enthusiasm, regarding them as the next great step in technological progress. Yet by 2026, the situation has evolved in ways that invite deeper reflection.

Education Featured Opinion

February 19, 2026 Patrick Jerry

Speaking the Language of AI

This is the conclusion I’ve come to after witnessing the growing popularity of AI tools. AI is everywhere, despite its propensity to produce misleading or incorrect information, and the moral objections of workers who fear losing their livelihoods. Why do patrons choose AI tools while more reliable (and less controversial) options sit on the shelf?

Opinion

February 12, 2026 Elaine Kong

The Double Silence: When Scholarly Publishing Can’t Hear Immigrant Survivors

In my previous career as a systems librarian, I saw information privilege as a technical problem: who has the password to the database, and who has the funding for the subscription? But as I transitioned into research with Chinese immigrant cancer survivors, I realized that privilege runs deeper than a personal login. Even if we made every medical journal in the world “Open Access” tomorrow, many of the survivors I work with would still be excluded from the conversation. Removing a paywall doesn’t help if the person behind it can’t read the language or can’t find their cultural realities reflected in what counts as evidence.

Education Opinion

February 3, 2026 Elisa Tattersall Wallin

How Will You Respond to the Unacceptable Costs of GenAI?

We must remember that those who profit the most from our growing reliance of GenAI are the tech companies themselves. Meanwhile, the people who are the most excited about AI are the ones who understand it the least. While machine learning can be useful, I argue that GenAI comes at an unacceptable cost. Taking in to consideration GenAI’s role in the spread of disinformation, the complex damages caused to people and the planet along with the proven negative effect to cognitive skills among users, this text advocates for critical perspectives, and ideally, critical refusal of GenAI.

Opinion

December 12, 2025 Ponego Letswalo

The Human Stack: Why Soft Skills Are the Ultimate Competitive Advantage In Tech

In an era defined by rapid technological advancement, the most durable competitive advantage may be fundamentally human. This article introduces the concept of the “Human Stack” the layered suite of soft skills like communication, empathy, and adaptability that employees bring to an organization. While technical skills are essential for entry, it is these uniquely human capabilities that drive true differentiation and success. As automation encroaches on routine tasks, soft skills become critical differentiators that machines cannot replicate.

Opinion

December 4, 2025 Pathum B Rathnayake

Co-Pilot, Not Autopilot: Navigating the Future of Qualitative Research

Recently, a group of 3 published an open letter signed by over 400 qualitative researchers. Their message was clear: “Keep AI away from our work.” They argue that using AI to find themes in data kills the “reflexive” process, the deeply human act of interpreting nuance, emotion, and meaning. I have spent my career championing the human touch in the EdTech works and research. I understand their fear. However, I believe this total rejection is a mistake. We should not be banning Gen AI; we should be teaching researchers how to master it.

Opinion

August 22, 2025 Ponego Letswalo

Can AI Have a Conscience? A Look at Ethics in Machine Learning

Can AI have a conscience? Of course, today’s AI isn’t a sentient being with feelings or guilt. It won’t lose sleep over a tough decision. But as artificial intelligence plays a bigger role in our lives, we do expect it to act responsibly. In essence, we want AI to follow ethical principles, a sort of programmed “conscience” so that it helps society without harming it. This is the crux of AI ethics, an increasingly important topic now that machine learning systems are making decisions that matter.