Reading #5
“Information Navigation 101”
Andrea Foster
The “Information Navigation Article” is about the history of information literacy. The term “information literate” was coined by Paul Zurkowski. This was in the 70’s before universities and such even thought about this topic! It was not until about 15 years later when the term “information literate” became a well know subject across the country. Information literacy is not just about knowing how to browse the Internet, but more specifically how to maneuver your way through and find useful information and analyze websites for precise information. The cult following section of this article discusses the ways their fellow colleagues in the library are responding to this “information literacy” topic. Some say they are treating it like criminal code, while a dean of libraries at a university is pretty much saying it’s not as important as people are making it out to be because finding information is become easier. Even with the skeptics, professors are going to the libraries more to get help for their students because more and more are becoming reliant on everyday search engines or some are in a situation where they are the first ones from their families to go to college. They usually have not had the exposure to finding proper information prior to arriving at a college. Some schools are requiring students to now take an information literacy test to determine their literacy levels! I believe this is an eye opening article because even though “information literacy” has been around for a long time, the term is rather new. With more and more school officials realizing that being “information literate” is important to a students learning, I think it is great to see universities take the initiative to promote programs to help students be able to really learn how to do research. However, I think they should start this earlier in a student’s career like their freshman year in high school! After all, the earlier this is imprinted in their brain, the more they realize it’s actually easier to find “scholarly info” in a database then searching some website. Like the saying goes, “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks!” So, hopefully this “information literacy” effect will start to trickle down to younger generations of students!
Thursday, April 16, 2009
News Report #5
"All in the Facebook Family: Older Generations Join Social Networks"
John D. Sutter
04/13/2009
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/04/13/social.network.older/index.html
Once again this is an article about Facebook. However, it isn’t about privacy issues or sexual predators like my previous news reports. This article focuses on the uprising of the “mature” crowd, which could be anyone from your parents to grandparents. Yes, according to this article, many parents and grandparents are signing up to keep up with their families that are in different locations throughout the United States or World for that matter. According to “Insider Facebook,” females are the gender of the older generation that is predominately signing up. I think this was bound to happen because a lot of older people started off on MySpace, however, they have more issues in terms of spam than Facebook. It seems that Facebook put a lot more emphasis on security before taking in such a large following. This in turn reflects a better image. I agree with the interface issues. Especially over the last few months Facebook has changed theirs twice. This can get confusing for people who aren’t familiar with computers. My sister, who is 28, has a Facebook and MySpace account, but would rarely go on Facebook because according to her “it’s confusing.” I agreed with her, but told her she would like it a lot better because it’s just a lot cleaner in terms of styling and page load speed is faster (most PHP sites are faster than ASP.Net (MySpace)). Once she got the hang of it, she logged on more and we communicate more frequently. I still talk to my parents on the phone, so they have yet to create a social networking account. While there are increasing numbers of the older crowd accessing these sites, I do not think there will be a day when every person over 40 has a page. It is good to keep up with your family, but you lose that certain form of interpersonal communication that you get when talking on the phone and some conservatives will probably not break the trend.
John D. Sutter
04/13/2009
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/04/13/social.network.older/index.html
Once again this is an article about Facebook. However, it isn’t about privacy issues or sexual predators like my previous news reports. This article focuses on the uprising of the “mature” crowd, which could be anyone from your parents to grandparents. Yes, according to this article, many parents and grandparents are signing up to keep up with their families that are in different locations throughout the United States or World for that matter. According to “Insider Facebook,” females are the gender of the older generation that is predominately signing up. I think this was bound to happen because a lot of older people started off on MySpace, however, they have more issues in terms of spam than Facebook. It seems that Facebook put a lot more emphasis on security before taking in such a large following. This in turn reflects a better image. I agree with the interface issues. Especially over the last few months Facebook has changed theirs twice. This can get confusing for people who aren’t familiar with computers. My sister, who is 28, has a Facebook and MySpace account, but would rarely go on Facebook because according to her “it’s confusing.” I agreed with her, but told her she would like it a lot better because it’s just a lot cleaner in terms of styling and page load speed is faster (most PHP sites are faster than ASP.Net (MySpace)). Once she got the hang of it, she logged on more and we communicate more frequently. I still talk to my parents on the phone, so they have yet to create a social networking account. While there are increasing numbers of the older crowd accessing these sites, I do not think there will be a day when every person over 40 has a page. It is good to keep up with your family, but you lose that certain form of interpersonal communication that you get when talking on the phone and some conservatives will probably not break the trend.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
News Report #4
"Conficker: What Happens After April 1?"
Stephanie Hoffman
4/2/2009
http://www.crn.com/security/216402353
This article about the Conficker worm, talks about a brief overview of the worm that until a few weeks ago, was not even known. Many of the people interviewed in this article say the Conficker worm is something to worry about, but it is not likely to be as harmful as some bugs we have seen in the past. While nothing happened today as many experts believe, experts believe it will strike again once the publicity decreases.
I first heard about this worm about the middle of March when it was first talked about on the news. I recently saw an interview on 60 minutes about the worm and many corporations have been hit even though they have much better security than the typical user! UNCW sent out a mass email the other day about this. You would figure with the elaborate network on-campus, the University would have notified students and faculty when it first came about! After looking on Google for some additional information about the Conficker worm, it appears it is not a worm that just suddenly appeared within the past few weeks. A few articles were written in January of this year. One in specific from the BBC (1/20/09) says this worm was first discovered in October of 2008. If security experts would have publicized this worm earlier then I believe there would be way fewer infected computers! One statement I do not necessarily agree with is the last quote in the article that says, “If you're worrying about how to prevent all those other threats that are out there, then you've already taken care of Conficker.” I do not agree with this because another version is supposed to be released in the near future. You may be safe now, but for how long? That’s always been a problem with the Internet; so many ways to exploit someone’s personal information and it seems your computer can never be secure enough!
Stephanie Hoffman
4/2/2009
http://www.crn.com/security/216402353
This article about the Conficker worm, talks about a brief overview of the worm that until a few weeks ago, was not even known. Many of the people interviewed in this article say the Conficker worm is something to worry about, but it is not likely to be as harmful as some bugs we have seen in the past. While nothing happened today as many experts believe, experts believe it will strike again once the publicity decreases.
I first heard about this worm about the middle of March when it was first talked about on the news. I recently saw an interview on 60 minutes about the worm and many corporations have been hit even though they have much better security than the typical user! UNCW sent out a mass email the other day about this. You would figure with the elaborate network on-campus, the University would have notified students and faculty when it first came about! After looking on Google for some additional information about the Conficker worm, it appears it is not a worm that just suddenly appeared within the past few weeks. A few articles were written in January of this year. One in specific from the BBC (1/20/09) says this worm was first discovered in October of 2008. If security experts would have publicized this worm earlier then I believe there would be way fewer infected computers! One statement I do not necessarily agree with is the last quote in the article that says, “If you're worrying about how to prevent all those other threats that are out there, then you've already taken care of Conficker.” I do not agree with this because another version is supposed to be released in the near future. You may be safe now, but for how long? That’s always been a problem with the Internet; so many ways to exploit someone’s personal information and it seems your computer can never be secure enough!
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Reading #4
Reading #4
“The Infodiet: How Libraries Can Offer an Appetizing Alternative to Google”
Steven Bell
This article is about an ongoing feud between libraries and Google. It is understandable that librarians are upset in the decrease of people visiting and utilizing libraries because what is the point of a library if no one is going to use it?
I am not going to lie, I would rather search Google to find information because it is more convenient than driving to campus and paying a parking meter/worrying about a parking ticket. Another factor in determining if I am going to the library or using Google is the information I am searching. Finding information on technology is much easier to find on the Internet than go look for a book in the library because a lot of technology is “newer” and there might not be a book about it! However, you will find great information in the libraries databases, which you can access from home.
I think in order for libraries to increase student’s use of the library databases, the companies who create them should look to a more user-friendly search mechanism as the article mentions. Yes, the current search methods are confusing to the user who does not access the databases often and as the author mentions, most of the interfaces are different. The “RedLightGreen” project sounds like a great idea because if all databases had the same/similar search bars, then I think more students would try to utilize them. If it was not for LIB103 then I would not use the libraries databases because I did not know the right way to search with them. One way I think we could get students to use the databases more frequently is require a LIB103 class!
“The Infodiet: How Libraries Can Offer an Appetizing Alternative to Google”
Steven Bell
This article is about an ongoing feud between libraries and Google. It is understandable that librarians are upset in the decrease of people visiting and utilizing libraries because what is the point of a library if no one is going to use it?
I am not going to lie, I would rather search Google to find information because it is more convenient than driving to campus and paying a parking meter/worrying about a parking ticket. Another factor in determining if I am going to the library or using Google is the information I am searching. Finding information on technology is much easier to find on the Internet than go look for a book in the library because a lot of technology is “newer” and there might not be a book about it! However, you will find great information in the libraries databases, which you can access from home.
I think in order for libraries to increase student’s use of the library databases, the companies who create them should look to a more user-friendly search mechanism as the article mentions. Yes, the current search methods are confusing to the user who does not access the databases often and as the author mentions, most of the interfaces are different. The “RedLightGreen” project sounds like a great idea because if all databases had the same/similar search bars, then I think more students would try to utilize them. If it was not for LIB103 then I would not use the libraries databases because I did not know the right way to search with them. One way I think we could get students to use the databases more frequently is require a LIB103 class!
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Reading #3
“The Future of Libraries- Beginning the Great Transformation”
Thomas Frey
I think this is a very informative article on how libraries originated and the possible future of them. The history of DaVinci and the journeys of his work are one of my favorite parts of the article. I figured art dating back hundreds of years ago had a rough journey to make it to the present, but why would someone try to alter/organize another artist’s work?! I definitely believe the printing press is in the top three inventions of all-time. Without the printing press, I believe over 75% of the world would be illiterate.
I agree with all of the trends that are described in the article except for: trend #2 because technology does not just end, it evolves/advances. The reason I say this is because the cassette tape is essentially a mini 8-track(yes, they are visually different), but they work on the same principle. The only reason I can think of for a piece of technology to end is either it’s broken or new advancements have came along and they stopped producing that piece of “technology.” Even then, it really has not ended because someone that still has the equipment to run it can still do so, but may not be able to purchase additional items for it.
I believe Randall Library does a pretty good job at the recommendations the author makes for libraries to move into the future. I have taken a few surveys about the library and I know Ms. Pemberton asks the class their opinions on the library periodically. I think they do a great job in embracing information technology because they have numerous computers, numerous database subscriptions, Second Life, etc. Overall this was an excellent article to read; not only for the history, but also to get experts viewpoint on how technology is going to affect the future of the libraries.
“The Future of Libraries- Beginning the Great Transformation”
Thomas Frey
I think this is a very informative article on how libraries originated and the possible future of them. The history of DaVinci and the journeys of his work are one of my favorite parts of the article. I figured art dating back hundreds of years ago had a rough journey to make it to the present, but why would someone try to alter/organize another artist’s work?! I definitely believe the printing press is in the top three inventions of all-time. Without the printing press, I believe over 75% of the world would be illiterate.
I agree with all of the trends that are described in the article except for: trend #2 because technology does not just end, it evolves/advances. The reason I say this is because the cassette tape is essentially a mini 8-track(yes, they are visually different), but they work on the same principle. The only reason I can think of for a piece of technology to end is either it’s broken or new advancements have came along and they stopped producing that piece of “technology.” Even then, it really has not ended because someone that still has the equipment to run it can still do so, but may not be able to purchase additional items for it.
I believe Randall Library does a pretty good job at the recommendations the author makes for libraries to move into the future. I have taken a few surveys about the library and I know Ms. Pemberton asks the class their opinions on the library periodically. I think they do a great job in embracing information technology because they have numerous computers, numerous database subscriptions, Second Life, etc. Overall this was an excellent article to read; not only for the history, but also to get experts viewpoint on how technology is going to affect the future of the libraries.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
"Status update: Facebook Users Are Irate"
Sarah Schmidt, Canwest News Service
2/17/09
http://www.vancouversun.com/Technology/Status+update+Facebook+users+irate/1295796/story.html
In news report 2, I talked about MySpace and their sexual predators. Today, I am continuing with the social networking theme. Facebook is probably the more widely used social networking tool for college students because it began strictly as a “college site.” Over the past few years of use, I have seen my share of questionable photos posted on the site. Before students decide exploit themselves or friends they should look at the new terms of service that Facebook has recently amended.
The change came February 4th, according to Sarah Schmidt, the author of “Status update: Facebook Users are Irate.” In this article Schmidt describes the old terms of service as “Facebook's worldwide license to any uploaded material automatically expired if a user removed it and closed the account, according to the old terms of service (TOS).” Now, users are subject to Facebook being able to keep your information and things that were uploaded to the site even long after you have deleted your account.
I first saw news of this when I was browsing Facebook and saw a friend had joined a group calling for a Facebook boycott because of the new terms of service. At the time the article was published, the author had found three anti-Facebook groups regarding Facebook’s new policy. At 8:53 on February 17, 2009, I found at least ten groups and I know there are more! According to Facebook, the materials are not deleted by Facebook after your cancellation of your account, but can be deleted by your friends (i.e. wall posts, etc). I do not agree with Facebook’s stance on this because it is not that difficult to add a few lines of code that will clear the deleted user’s “belongings.”
With that in mind Facebook is now facing scrutiny from Canada, yes the Canucks are crying out about privacy issues! Most of the issues deal with the same that many young Americans are facing.
I am kind of undecided on the issue because I agree that Facebook should delete information once an account is gone. On the other hand, Facebook makes money on advertising. So, if you want to continue a free Facebook then this is the way to go. After all, you do not have to put any specific information such as a phone number. Facebook pretty much leaves it up to the user to determine what they want to put on their page.
Sarah Schmidt, Canwest News Service
2/17/09
http://www.vancouversun.com/Technology/Status+update+Facebook+users+irate/1295796/story.html
In news report 2, I talked about MySpace and their sexual predators. Today, I am continuing with the social networking theme. Facebook is probably the more widely used social networking tool for college students because it began strictly as a “college site.” Over the past few years of use, I have seen my share of questionable photos posted on the site. Before students decide exploit themselves or friends they should look at the new terms of service that Facebook has recently amended.
The change came February 4th, according to Sarah Schmidt, the author of “Status update: Facebook Users are Irate.” In this article Schmidt describes the old terms of service as “Facebook's worldwide license to any uploaded material automatically expired if a user removed it and closed the account, according to the old terms of service (TOS).” Now, users are subject to Facebook being able to keep your information and things that were uploaded to the site even long after you have deleted your account.
I first saw news of this when I was browsing Facebook and saw a friend had joined a group calling for a Facebook boycott because of the new terms of service. At the time the article was published, the author had found three anti-Facebook groups regarding Facebook’s new policy. At 8:53 on February 17, 2009, I found at least ten groups and I know there are more! According to Facebook, the materials are not deleted by Facebook after your cancellation of your account, but can be deleted by your friends (i.e. wall posts, etc). I do not agree with Facebook’s stance on this because it is not that difficult to add a few lines of code that will clear the deleted user’s “belongings.”
With that in mind Facebook is now facing scrutiny from Canada, yes the Canucks are crying out about privacy issues! Most of the issues deal with the same that many young Americans are facing.
I am kind of undecided on the issue because I agree that Facebook should delete information once an account is gone. On the other hand, Facebook makes money on advertising. So, if you want to continue a free Facebook then this is the way to go. After all, you do not have to put any specific information such as a phone number. Facebook pretty much leaves it up to the user to determine what they want to put on their page.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
"MySpace Harbored Nearly 100,000 Sex Offenders"
K.C. Jones InformationWeek
2/05/09
http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/social_network/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=213001685&subSection=All+Stories
Social networking sites have drawn slue of mixed reactions since becoming popular. I, along with many others, enjoy using these sites as a way to stay in touch with friends who live far away. As with many things on the Internet, you are not safe! People who use these sites are always warned to protect their privacy from unwanted visitors.
A recent article by K.C. Jones is about Myspace recently turning up approximately 90,000 registered sex offenders! It’s a great thing these idiots are not smart enough to use a false name and information. On the other hand, according to a Myspace representative, their site is the “first and only social networking site to use state of the art technology to ID and remove registered sex offenders from its site.”
As social networking sites continue to expand in popularity and younger and younger children start creating accounts, it is no wonder why these sites are a playground for sexual predators. Personally, I think these sites should enact an age restriction because if a sex offender wants too, they will succeed at registering for Myspace, Facebook, etc. Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who is co-chair on a social networking safety and risks task force, has said that he plans to ID all Connecticut offenders with Myspace profiles and investigate if they can be pursued with charges. This is a great idea, but what if these predators actually have a few brain cells and use alternative information? There is software out there called Sentinel Safe that is used to search and match the criminals. The software sounds like it is a start, but I think the biggest step will be when software can match photos on social networking sites with those in a criminal database!
K.C. Jones InformationWeek
2/05/09
http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/social_network/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=213001685&subSection=All+Stories
Social networking sites have drawn slue of mixed reactions since becoming popular. I, along with many others, enjoy using these sites as a way to stay in touch with friends who live far away. As with many things on the Internet, you are not safe! People who use these sites are always warned to protect their privacy from unwanted visitors.
A recent article by K.C. Jones is about Myspace recently turning up approximately 90,000 registered sex offenders! It’s a great thing these idiots are not smart enough to use a false name and information. On the other hand, according to a Myspace representative, their site is the “first and only social networking site to use state of the art technology to ID and remove registered sex offenders from its site.”
As social networking sites continue to expand in popularity and younger and younger children start creating accounts, it is no wonder why these sites are a playground for sexual predators. Personally, I think these sites should enact an age restriction because if a sex offender wants too, they will succeed at registering for Myspace, Facebook, etc. Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who is co-chair on a social networking safety and risks task force, has said that he plans to ID all Connecticut offenders with Myspace profiles and investigate if they can be pursued with charges. This is a great idea, but what if these predators actually have a few brain cells and use alternative information? There is software out there called Sentinel Safe that is used to search and match the criminals. The software sounds like it is a start, but I think the biggest step will be when software can match photos on social networking sites with those in a criminal database!
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