Reading Report

Reading Report #5
By: Paul S. Piper
“Web Hoaxes, Counterfeit Sites, and Other Spurious Information on the Internet.”

This article was all about misinformation on the web and the various forms this misinformation comes in, such as, counterfeit websites, suspicious websites, fictitious websites, spoofs/parodies and even news and media reports. Mr. Piper cites many examples of counterfeit websites including the well known “martinlutherking.org” as examples of misinformation. This site may look harmless to the untrained eye, but if evaluated, you notice that the site’s sponsor is a white nationalist group and the information claims all types of things about Dr. King, including his link to communism, and abuse. Piper goes on to explain about a number of other sites though in appearance look professional, sophisticated and reliable are really completely false or claiming to be something they are not. The World Trade Organization’s website was falsified to a point in which, an Austrian trade group invited one of the false members to speak at a conference. This counterfeiting websites is a serious hoax, that believe it or not many people fall for. There is not only counterfeit websites but just plain misleading websites that steer people in the wrong direction regarding, their health and business matters. Some of the most susceptible to this misinformation are elderly and young people.

This whole reading just confirms to me and hopefully everyone that knowing how to evaluate and confirm information found online is a skill that is a must nowadays. There is so much misinformation, disinformation, and false information out there on the World Wide Web, being able to critically evaluate what you find is essential to success in school and in life. I also think that this issue of misinformation is why most professors strictly limit what resources students use in papers. I know that I was required to use only peer reviewed and scholarly articles found in a database on most of my papers and such. I guess I know why now!

News Report #5

News Report #5
EAST LONGMEADOW, Mass., Nov 13, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE)
By: Rebecca Woelfel, Hunter Public Relations
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Hasbro-Donates-300000-Games-Public/story.aspx?guid=%7BED778EB3-D2BD-4D7A-BF29-39961CC5EDF7%7D
This article was about the Hasbro Company, who is a worldwide leader in producing family, and children’s entertainment products. Some of their most recognizable products include “GI Joe”, “Mr. Potato Head” and “transformers” to name a few, though Hasbro does not just stick to toys, but family games are a leading product. Their newest being PICTUREKA! which is a game of picture hunt. Hasbro is a supporter of local communities and libraries alike and has donated $300,000 in games to local libraries in honor of the First Annual National Gaming Day hosted by the American Library Association. By inviting communities to play PICTUREKA! and other games on National Gaming Day, Hasbro and the American Library Association are helping to raise awareness about the benefits of playing games to learn in libraries and incorporating games into educational programs with the philosophy that everyone should have access to learning and fun.
I think that the American Library Associations, National Gaming Day is a wonderful idea for children and families alike to get together, learn, play, and have fun. Hasbro’s donation of so many of their new and popular games is just a show, of not just a company but of people’s dedication to learning. Supporting public libraries is so important because some just do not have the funds for things like this. Hasbro really made this day possible at many community libraries due to their donation and caring. This news story should be emphasized to show that some people in this world still do care about others, and it’s not even Christmas yet. Ha/ha! 

Reading #4

Reading #4
“Can Wikipedia Ever Make the Grade?”
By: Brock Read
This article examines the reliability of Wikipedia (the online encyclopedia) and ways to make the encyclopedia more reliable and accurate. Alexander M.C. Halavais a professor of communications at Quinnipiac College, preformed a little self test on this encyclopedia which everyone and anyone can contribute to by placing incorrect information in a number of different articles online. Expecting these inaccurate facts to go unnoticed, he was surprised to find that of all 13 inaccuracies placed throughout the online articles every single one was found and corrected within three hours of publication. The editors of Wikipedia also sought Mr. Halavais out to ask him to refrain from writing inaccurate material. The debate within academia is whether or not Wikipedia could ever be a truly reliable resource due to the fact that anyone can contribute and professors and experts are not given priority in publishing accurate material. The answer for some is yes while others are still skeptics. A number of research studies have been conducted comparing well established encyclopedias such as Britannica with Wikipedia and the results were favorable to the online publication. While Britannica averaged about three mistakes per article Wikipedia averaged only four per article on the same topic. Supporters of Wikipedia admit that some areas such as humanities are not as extensive and detailed as others but that is why wikipedians are pushing for professors and scholars to publish and help right some wrongs.

I believe that Wikipedia can be a valuable resource if used correctly. I personally would not take everything in Wikipedia at face value due to the fact that anyone can publish. Someone with no more expertise than I can add and edit information on Wikipedia with no checkpoint before its put out into internet space. Even if the information is wrong and will be corrected in a few hours, what about the people that look up that information and find if during that time… Wikipedia can be a good starting place for research but I have to say always verify, verify, verify with other sources before you believe.

News Report #4

The News Report # 4
Schools, Libraries see hundreds of request to ban books
USA Today< http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2008-10-22-challengedbooks_N.htm?csp=34>
By: Ledyard King

American Library Association, school, public, and academic libraries receive request from parents public officials, and activists regularly about banning certain books they deem inappropriate. Inappropriate books range from books with vulgar language, sexual content or other themes which are viewed as unsuitable for reading lists. Many books have been banned from high school reading list due to complaints from parents and such and these books are not just current works but classic novels, such as John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. There has been thousands of requests to ban books from library selves, reading lists, and classrooms and numerous books have been banned due to such request. Times have changed recently, and communities have been rising up against the banning of material.

I think it is about time that there is some rising up over the banning of books. Individuals have the right to choose what they want to read and what they want their children to read. If individual parents, officials or activists deem something inappropriate for their own children then by all means the child in question should be excused from the assigned reading and given another option. But to deny all students the right to classic and important literature, that educational experts found important enough to include on a high school reading list is an unfair and unjust decision. That would be like banning Shakespeare from library shelves, there is death, violence, sexual content and more in the classic Romeo and Juliet and I know I was required to read the play in high school. Banning any form of literature is wrong, next angry parents will be burning books.

Reading #3

Reading #3
“The Infodiet: How Libraries can Offer an Appetizing Alternative to Google”
By: Steve Bell
This article touched on the fact that students are depending on search engines like Google for their research instead of the high quality material available in databases through academic libraries. The author mentioned the term “infobesity” as the average student’s research ability which entails low-quality information in large amounts. He says that infodieting is the way to solve the problem of low quality papers, get students to use aggregator databases which have tons of “nutritious” information. The question is how to get students who rely so heavily on the ease of Google type search engines to use these semi-complicated databases. Some have suggested why these databases aren’t more user friendly, why not give the people what they want, why not “google-ize” databases. Some are all for it and others are against it, why dumb down databases when research is suppose to be challenging. College in general is suppose to be challenging teach students how to be net-savvy and to evaluate and use the databases and the problem is solved, but how do you do that? That is the challenge facing the academic community and as suggested it’s the responsibility of not only librarians but professors and database developers to make navigating the quality information easier for students.

This article brings up many valid points especially why databases aren’t more Google-like. I think if they were more students would take advantage of peer reviewed and scholarly resources and therefore have higher quality papers. I was lucky enough to have teachers who were very active and involved with the library staff to make us as students aware of the online databases. Not only did we spend an entire class period in the library learning about how to navigate the resources available we were required on all of our papers in English and communication to use scholarly journals and nothing else. You know how they say “it takes a village to raise a child” well I think that it really “takes a campus community to raise a good student”. Infodieting is a system that must be learned and continuously stuck with to work just like any good diet.

News Report #3

News Report #3
Gender Change and the Federal Hiring Process
By: Susan Smith
http://www.fedsmith.com/article/1718/

The Library of Congress was found guilty of discrimination based on the sex or change of sex of an applicant, by the U.S. District court. Testimony has concluded that the applicant David Schroer was indeed discriminated against after applying for a job at the Library of Congress. Mr. Schroer applied for the terrorism specialist position with the Congressional Research Service and due to his extensive military experience and expertise was practically guaranteed the job. However when Mr. Schroer explained that he would be undergoing gender transition to become “Diane Schroer” the position was recanted and another applicant who was less qualified was selected. The District court judge stated that direct evidence made this a clear case of sex stereotyping and discrimination because of it.

I was a little shocked by this story. I actually read some more information about this case and this is pretty compelling stuff. Federal law states that you can not discriminate due to sex, gender, religion, age or race. When I think of discrimination due to sex I think maybe sexual orientation, being homosexual, or bisexual but I have never heard of a case were gender transition was the factor. I think this struck me because it is so unusual. This man who was is a retired Army Special Forces Colonel is being discriminated against. His/her credibility as a person is coming into jeopardy, her security clearance held as David Schroer is being called into question. I mean should your security clearance really change because your cloths do. I think that the Library of Congress should be an example to the rest of the libraries in the United States, this is just bad publicity. Hello! Library of Congress- democracy kind of goes hand in hand.

News Report #2

New Mozart piece of music found in French library
By: JOHN LEICESTER
Associated Press

A French library in Nantes found a peice of music written by Mozart while digging through their archives. The single sheet was hand written and being authenticated by the International Mozarteum Foundation in Salzburg Austraia. They are however absolutly sure that this sheet was written by Mozart himself due to the distinct handwriting and have confirmed that this sheet is a new discovery and a very important find. The peice of music they assumed was a draft and missing the harmony and the instumentation but clearly defined as a work in progress. The library received this sheet back in the 19th century and it was catalogued into the librarys collection and then forgotten for more than a century. As the library updated and re-catalogued its collection was the sheet rediscovered. This is an amazing and rare find.


I think that it is an absolutly jaw dropping event when something like this is discovered. I mean to find something from the 17th century hidden away in the stacks of a library. I guess library's really were the keepers of important information and art. I argued that museums and the internet have taken over the job of storing important information but this is a clear example of the importance and extensive collections that libraries were once responsible for. Libraries are the keepers of our history and this discovery remindes us of that fact. This single sheet of unfinished work by Mozart is worth unthinkable amounts of money plus the historical worth of such a find. I think we should take this find as a reminder of the past and maybe as some direction in the future. Libraries are important to society and they should be treated as such.

Reading Assignment #2

Reading Assignment #2
Information Navigation 101
Information literacy, do we have it? That’s what’s asked in this article. Does our gaming, texting, iPod listening generation have what it takes to be really net savvy? Some think not. With tools such as Google and Wikipedia at our unlimited disposal many believe that the quality of our research is getting worse not better even though there is more information at our fingertips. Programs and standardized test have even been put into place to evaluate and help students learn how to evaluate electronic data. Many libraries are enacting information literacy programs led by librarians to combine the conveyance of the internet with finding quality information. Today nearly every college has at least one staff member in charge of teaching students the skills they need to successfully gather useful information.

I really have to say that I think librarians and college professors working together are the key to this “information navigation” and students being “net savvy”. When I went to community college my English professor took our whole class to the campus library and had a librarian walk us through the available online databases, and how to evaluate the .orgs, .coms, and .nets to be of use to us. I personally learned how to take advantage of scholarly journals and databases and not just Wikipedia, even though I feel Wikipedia is a great starting point on information gathering if you go beyond and confirm the information you find there. I am not exactly sure if standardized tests to determine information literacy is the best policy but for most incoming college freshman I do think some sort of class or library orientation course would be beneficial. I know that freshman to a University have to take a freshman class, I having gone to community college would assume that this class would include some sort of information literacy section. I for one am very fortunate to have had great teachers and librarians who made sure I was aware of what information is appropriate to use for papers and such. This issue of information literacy or savvy is one that I think will be a growing concern and a battle for students and instructors.

Reading Assignment #1

Future of Libraries Beginning the Great Transformation.


By: Thomas Frey


The DaVinci Institute



This article dictates the ten key trends that will change libraries as we know them and what has changed in the past. The list of top trends affecting libraries are communication systems, technology life spans, small storage for technology, search technology, time compression, transformation into a verbal society, demand for global information, new global systems, product based economy to experience based economy, and the transition from a center of information to a center of culture. Libraries up until this point have served as a storehouse for information, in the form of books, manuscripts, art, and generally important information. Leonardo da Vinci's own collection of works were preserved in a number of libraries and without this storehouse we call the library, many of the great works we know of today would be lost, but that is the past, the role of the library is in uncharted waters and trying to stay afloat.


The trend of libraries is changing in a number of ways. I don’t necessarily agree with all of the above trends that were mentioned but I will touch on some that I found controversial or agreeable to me.
At one point information was stored for safe keeping in a library, now however I would place that role in the hands of our many worldwide museums and more recently computers. As the article stated people who once visited a library to look for specific information now just type in whatever their looking for in Google and find numerous results. This transition is very apparent to me being a student and having used online resources more so than print books at a library. But also being a person that reads for pleasure I can confirm the articles statement that those of us who do read for pleasure will still visit our local libraries. As for the trend “Communication systems" and how they are changing how people access information I think that we have found the "ultimate form" of communication long ago and that came about with the caveman. Language is the ultimate form of communication, being able to express your needs verbally may be a basic form and one we learn as early as one year old but it still is, in my opinion the most valuable to society. Today there are many different languages but there are also many translators both human and machine. You can verbally communicate with anyone on earth essentially, with the right tools.

We all know that technology ends, changes, enhances, gets faster, smaller... it’s a never ending uphill battle to keep up with all the technology today and it is advancing all the time. Just look from the 70's until today and your mind is blown by all the amazing new technologies we have, these trends are right on target. This also leads into the role of future librarians and their importance. Having someone who is keeping up with all the new technology and can assist library patrons competently will be invaluable. I found it very interesting that the future trend will have libraries as a cultural center and less as an information center. I mean think about our school, the library is the place for information on campus; there are computers, books, librarians, magazines, videos and more. I guess the shift will be more community involvement and I think that’s a wonderful idea. Getting people into a library in general is hard; making them come back and often is really impossible. If the future libraries were on the same level as theaters, parks, and museums then I could see a bright future. This last trend leads into the recommendations for libraries to "reinvent themselves" and some of the suggestions will be essential to library growth.

News Report #1

“Digital Bookmobile”
By: Hiawatha Bray, The Boston Globe, August 28, 2008.
url: http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2008/08/28/check_out_the_librarys_high_tech_tools/

Accessing information, for most of us, is easier than ever and a company based out of Cleveland Ohio “Over drive” along with the Boston Public Library are making access even simpler. These two have teamed up and set up shop outside in Boston’s City Hall Plaza to bring digital information to the masses. The Bookmobile with shockingly, no books is offering the Boson area library goers another alternative to paper and ink. The bookmobile is informing people of the other resources now available to them 24 hours a day, seven days a week with an impressive display of the digital catalog, audio book alley, e-book experience, video lounge, and a gadget gallery where patrons can become equated with digital devices.

Is this online digital library really the wave of the future? Being able to download entire books to your iPod or blackberry, never having to leave your home computer to get a resource for a paper? Don’t get me wrong technology has given us numerous opportunities and having these online resources is instant gratification at its finest but it all seems so impersonal to me. Whatever happened to people as resources? Librarians who may be able to recommend the perfect book for your English paper will be lost in this sea of information streaming from your computer.
They say that the library of the future will be simply a computer screen of infinite information. The question I have is, is the computer going to recommend a book to me based on what it thought of it, like my local library staff would? Or who is going to do the children’s corner readings every Wednesday night, Is a digital voice and online material going to replace everything I hold dear about libraries? I love to just find a quiet spot in a library and get a book that someone has recommended and read for awhile, will I be sitting in a computer lab in the near future? I for one, hope that real people not virtual people and real books not e books, still remain imperative in our libraries.

Hola!

Welcome to the fantastic blog of Melinda! Enjoy the festivities!