Kimberly and Siobhan,
Authority is very important, but so is sniffing out point of view.
There are plenty of published books by recognized authorities that
have a strong point of view or bias which should not be mistaken for
neutrality or objectivity. And of course this is true on the
Internet, as well.
There are grammar and accuracy police on the Internet now, at least
in the Wikipedia (the world's largest encyclopedia) and also on other
"reputable" web sites. I cite some web sites with confidence, and am
skeptical of others.. I have no trouble telling the difference
between these on the web, just as I have no trouble telling the
difference between the New York Times and The Daily Inquirer at the
newstand. (Incidentally, I have more confidence in the NYTimes but
not complete confidence. I always look for writers' credentials and
point of view and try to keep my "crap detector," as we used to call
it, finely tuned.) Those who have skills in finding and evaluating
information should be generous in teaching, informally and formally,
others who need them. I agree with Siobhan that we need to teach
people how to evaluate what they find -- on the Internet and
everywhere. If the wild and wooly places on the Internet have raised
consciousness about the need for these skills, then great.
An observation about librarians: the Boston Public Library, among
others, has an important free online reference librarian service that
not only helps people get answers to their questions, but uses
technology well to show patrons _how_ the reference librarian is
doing the search, revealing strategies and specialized resources that
are available but not always known to patrons. The online reference
service is available to anyone -- child or adult -- for free. It
makes me wonder if the library has consciously expanded the role of
reference librarian to include informal instruction on searching
skills. Maybe some librarians are also informally teaching people
critical thinking and media literacy skills.
David J. Rosen
On Feb 15, 2006, at 2:15 PM, Jayne, Kimberly wrote:
David,
The main difference is to check Authority - who wrote the
information and
what are their qualifications. Of course, with a book, this does
not have
to be done. We tell students that book publishers have a whole
team of
expert editors verifying the information for accuracy and grammatical
errors. There are no grammar and accuracy police on the Internet.
This
always surprises the students.
Kimberly Jayne, Staff Developer
Eastern Suffolk BOCES
Holbrook, NY
-----Original Message-----
From: David Rosen
Sent: Wednesday, February 15, 2006 1:22 PM
To: The Digital Divide Network discussion group
Subject: Re: [DDN] Should Students be Premitted to Use the Internet
as a
Resource for Research Assignments?
Jayne and others,
Is there anything significantly and inherently different in the set
of critical skills needed to evaluate information one gets from
Internet from the information one gets from print and other visual
media such as film and video. Shouldn't we be teaching -- in
Research Skills courses -- and in others, a range of skills for
judging the quality of information which includes text, charts and
graphs, images, audio and video in any medium?
If there are an additional set of critical thinking skills which
apply only to information from the Internet, could someone tell me
what those are?
Thanks,
David J. Rosen
On Feb 15, 2006, at 10:19 AM, Jayne, Kimberly wrote:
While the Internet is an invaluable resource for today's research
assignments, it does have its downfalls. David mentioned the
network going
down as one problem. A more serious problem is that students believe
everything on the Internet is true. They do not realize that
ANYONE can put
ANYTHING on a web page and claim that it is true, accurate
information.
They need to be taught, perhaps in a Research Skills course, the
specific
skills necessary to finding accurate information on the Internet.
Many
educators require students to use both print and electronic
resources,
thereby providing a print/accurate verification of the electronic
information.
Kimberly Jayne, Staff Developer
Eastern Suffolk BOCES
15 Andrea Road
Holbrook, NY 11741
-----Original Message-----
From: David P. Dillard
Sent: Wednesday, February 15, 2006 6:26 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; The Digital Divide Network
discussion
group; Digital Divide Diversity MLS
Subject: [DDN] Should Students be Premitted to Use the Internet as a
Resource for Research Assignments?
Of possible interest to the members of this group.
From: "David P. Dillard" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Wed Feb 15, 2006 5:46 am
Subject: OPINION : EDUCATION: INTERNET: ISSUES: Should Students be
Premitted to Use the Internet as a Resource for Research Assignments?
<">">http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Net-Gold/message/11111>
Sincerely,
David Dillard
Temple University
(215) 204 - 4584
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Net-Gold
<">">http://groups.yahoo.com/group/net-gold>
<">">http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/ringleaders/davidd.html>
Temple University Listserv Net-Gold Archives
<">">http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/net-gold.html>
</">/">http://www.lifeofflorida.org>/
Digital Divide Network
<">">http://www.digitaldivide.net/profile/jwne>
Educator-Gold
<">">http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Educator-Gold/>
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