Dear group K,
now that we’ve become experts at exploiting technological advances, we should also learn to be a bit more selective and critical in the use of Internet. So far, our experience as “surfers” has taught us that there’s a little bit of everything on the Net.
Before clicking on the links that Sarah suggested us, I tried to make a list of the parameters I usually follow in order to identify RELIABLE Online Sources. Here you are what I’ve come up with (in order of importance):
1. Reliability of the author/company who published the website
2. Regular updating
3. Careful analysis of website’s home page
4. Presence of feeds/possibility to subscribe
5. Clear/user-friendly layout or website organization
Then, I had a look at the three websites suggested in our course blog. Some of the tips didn’t sound new to me but there were also lots of interesting pieces of advice I will definitely follow in the future.
My first impression was that English and American Universities seem to be extremely concerned with the need to teach students to evaluate and reference resources. Compared to Italian students, I think they’re generally much more accustomed to do research projects and therefore to browse the Net.
Here you are the most interesting things I noticed in each Website (in outline :-)):
Tips from the University of Essex:
I particularly appreciated the tip on META-SEARCH ENGINES, whose function is to search other search engines to filter all the various returns (sorry for the pun). I’d never heard about such tools before but I think I’ll definitely use them in order to be a bit more critical and to refine my future searches.
I had never heard about GOOGLE SCHOLAR either (a bit ignorant perhaps :-)). It could be really useful for academic research purposes.
Tips from OWL:
Here, they seemed more concerned with the process that comes immediately BEFORE any search. In other words, all the things you should ask yourself before clicking “search” in Google’s toolbar. As a matter of fact, it is more logical to start your search browsing subject specific or institutional websites.
Tips from San Diego University:
Here, the aim of the tips was to invite “searchers” to be a bit more sceptical about sources of information (not only on the Net), even when they perfectly meet their requirements. And, of course, the reason is that everybody can be potential publishers on the Net, there’s no need for editorial reviews (let’s think about Wikipedia and blogs)!
See you soon
Alessia
6 commenti:
Hi Alessia!
Well, first of all I must say I really like the pictures you usually put in your posts : ) They are simply great!
I agree with you, now that we have become a little bit more confident with these technologies we should also learn to be selective and critical about the material we find online.
I read the criteria you suggested and I noticed they are more or less the same I put on my own post, but I did not point out the layout of the page and the presence of feeds. However, these two are surely good things to consider in judging a website; the first impression is always very important and when you see that a page is well-organized and user-friendly you are more willing to surf through it.
I was happy to read that we both emphasized the fact that Italian universities seem to be less concerned about the Web as a source of information. I mean, you are perfectly right when you say that often foreign universities consider judging online sources fundamental; I also got this impression when I clicked on the links Sarah suggested to us. As I wrote on my post, maybe professors here are still a bit skeptical about these technologies ;-)
Ok, see you on Monday!
Have a nice weekend
Hi Eleonora!
Thank you for your comment. I like to put pictures because they make the post more colourful!
Reading your post I had the same impression: we focused on almost the same things!
As for the differences between Italian and American or even English universities, I noticed that students are also more accustomed to relate to new technologies!
See you soon
(by the way I can't come to class on Monday)
Love
Alessia
Hi Alessia!
I perfectly agree with you that now thatw e are more confident with technologies we should use them more and also more critically!
I've noticed too that foreign students use technology for educational purposes and they are vaery good at!I remember when I was in Spain,we were supposed to many researches and presentations and they did it very quickly and they knew where to search..but as you said,it ddpends also on the teachers..that's why I find it important that we can work with foreign and young teachres!
Have a good experience at the Motorshow!
Chiara
Hi Alessia
I guess I agree with you about how you judge online sources, by and large. Like Eleonora, I was surprised to see that you included the presence of feeds and the reader-friendly approach of a website among the important things to consider a page 'reliable'. I didn't ever even consider the feeds before we learned about them, but I guess it may be useful to be always updated via bloglines about new stuff on a good website.
About Wikipedia: I'm not quite sure that the people writing the articles are merely 'common' people. In fact, I think most of the pages are written by people who know what they're talking about, maybe not scholars but surely some sort of experts. For example, check a couple of medicine-related topics: you'll have to admit that if the guy who wrote those was not a real doctor (or medicine student) he/she was surely a gooood poser! ;)
See you in class
Hi Alessia,
I think you pointed out more or less the same things I wrote on my post except the layout. This is something I completely forgot to mention. You're right. Sometimes you can tell from the layout whether a website is "serious" or not. Surfing in the Internet I found so many strange websites and especially for us as university students it's getting more and more important to be critical and selective.
By the way, I agree with Enrico when he says that most of the Wikipedia articles are written by people that know what they're writing about. At least to me, they always seem to be very professional and therefore, reliable too.
See you
Hi Alessia!
Compliments for your posts: they are always very clear and the pictures you add are really nice! I like images a lot too, I believe they add some colors and fun to the reading.
I think you're absolutely right observing that American and English University are much more concerned about referencing information and considering carefully the authority of an Internet source. When I went to England for my Erasmus I was surprised of how much teachers are worried about plagiarism! Students have to be very careful in writing essays and have to give references for practically every single sentence! We even had to sign a sheet before handing an essay, claiming that we haven't plagiarized anything. You can really find yourself in bad trouble if you actually copy something!
Here in Italy (luckily or unluckily - matter of point of view) teachers are not so worried about plagiarism. I believe this happens because we are not used to write essays and do online researches. Also Italian teachers rely on good old books much more than abroad. I think we have an older way of studying and treat knowledge. This is just a consideration, not a critic! There is always the other face of the medal!
By the way, I didn't mean to end outside the main topic, but this is what strike me more about your post. Concerning the rest I see the others of the group already gave you come comments.
See you in class, then.
Bye bye!
Anna
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