the blog police...
many people criticize the internet in general and blogs specifically as having a greater potential of providing unreliable information than traditional media which goes thru *ahem* vigorous fact checking procedures. and that is true - the very ease of blogging makes it possible folks to speak authoritarily about topics they knbow nothing about. and publish it for the world (and our students) to read...
however, the opposite is also true. the blogging community can work as a force to keep the mdia honest. witness the recent cbs controversy. here is an article from the guardian which discusses the role blogging played in questioning the cbs story.
from the article:
CBS's admission that its story of George Bush's special treatment when with the Texas air national guard was deeply flawed is being seen as a key victory for the new "blogging" community of the internet against old media.
This is mainly true. Although papers such as the Washington Post were on the case, the retraction would not have happened when it did but for the efforts of an army of bloggers - writers of online journals - in exposing the documents as fraudulent, including some who authoritatively questioned the authenticity of the documents almost as they were released.
2 Comments:
hah - that's true chris - the thing about the internet is that there is a lot of everything - a lot of bad info - but a lot of good...
i posted this because one hears repeatedly about how the ease of publishing on the internet means there is a lot of unreliable info out there. i wanted to point out the reverse is true as well. blogging gives people a voice that can be heard who wouldn't have one otherwise - ultimately this can, as in this case, keep the media honest - an army of bloggers scrutinizing "news" reports
but you are right - this situation needs recognized and students need the tools to evaluate all resources - a student shouldn't believe everything they read on the internet - the info should be scrutinized and evaluated - but that's true of any resource - not just internet ones - as this incident with cbs proves...
finding and evaluating resources - two things i want my students to learn and i think blogging is a good way to practice them
so anyhow, to answer your question - we have traditionally taught in ciss121 the "efficiency" part - i.e. how to search the internet, - beyond the basics - we also need - and i do - focus on the evaluation part. ciss121 ought become a different class than it has been. many students already know the basics of the internet, searching, etc...we need to kick them up a level...
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