Reading#5 Web Hoaxes, Counterfeit Sites, and Other Spurious Information on the Internet

This article provides examples of situations where the internet is full of hoaxes and fake sites. Some people create websites that are fictitious in nature but set up like real sites to fool the public. Some of these sites have political slants or give false information about the way to do tasks. The sites are completely legal because of the freedom of speech that exists In the United States. Some sites are made to look exactly like real sites and even have an .org web address but provide false information about a cretin topic. Some of this information is obviously false but some can look real on the surface but be false. This is a big problem for people who do research and do not check the information they find on the web. A site can appear to be official but actually not have good information and can give you the wrong prospective on a topic. This could cause someone to quote false facts in a paper because the internet led them to a fake site. Some of the sites are humorous in nature and just make fun of actual site but some are made to purposely misinform the public. I think that the fake web sites are only an annoying part of the internet and do not actually pose a threat to anyone. Most people can figure out what is wrong and false but it can be hard at times. This is why people need to make sure that sites are credible before they site them in a paper.

Reading#4 Can WIKIPEDIA Ever Make the Grade?

Wikipedia is a free encyclopedia on the internet that is maintained and edited by the public. Anyone can go on the Wikipedia site and edit any information relating to a topic. The academic community is fighting to try to decide if the website is reliable and where its place in the university should be. Some think that the site is a great reference and should be used as a primary resource. Others think that the accuracy of information is in question and nothing found on the site should be thought of as reliable. One professor changed 10 facts on different pages throughout Wikipedia database to see if anyone would know to correct them. Within four hours all the facts were deleted and changed back to the correct information. This proved that Wikipedia did a relatively good job of editing itself and providing good information. Other examples, like a man who was said to be involved in the Kennedy assassination on Wikipedia show how the site can be false. Scalars on university campuses are split on the reliability of the site and can’t decide if students should use it for research. Experts want to be able to edit the information the public writes for accuracy but not have the public edit their information. Creators of Wikipedia say having everyone be able to add facts about a subject is what makes Wikipedia so great. I think that Wikipedia is a good resource to find out fun facts or general information on a topic but probably should not be used for research papers. The information for the most part is good but there are always some examples of how the site was wrong or provided misleading information. Traditional research methods like journals and scholarly work should be reserved for research papers.

News Article #5 Chris Woolley

"E-cards" may aid in STD notification

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE49M6IW20081023?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0


A company in San Francisco created an e-card in 2004 that people who have sexually transmitted diseases can send their partners to alert them that they might be at risk of having these diseases. The idea is that people who find out that they have a STD can e mail the people that they have slept with to inform them that they might have been exposed to the STD. The company thinks that for people who might not talk to old partners or have no way of contacting them this might be a good way to tell them. The company provides four different “greeting cards” that can be sent using e mail. Notifying partners as soon as it is discovered that you have a disease has long been seen as the most effective way to prevent the spread of disease. These greeting cards are intended to be used as one tool in the fight against the spread of STDs. The company that developed these cards says that face to face communication is by far the best way to inform partners about these diseases but in cases when that is not possible these greeting cards can be helpful. I think that these cards are good idea that can probable help to inform people that they might be at risk for a STD but a face to face talk is always the way to go. The cards might not be taken seriously by the recipients. Some people might think that the cards are a joke and not get tested for an STD.

News Article #4 Chris Woolley

Internet plays increasingly important role in American election

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ET_Cetera/Internet_plays_a_major_role_in_US_election/articleshow/3631387.cms

For the first time ever a very large amount of money has been collected using the internet for the campaign of a presidential candidate. Barack Obama has collected almost $150 million in the month of September using his internet site. This is a very large amount of money and most of this money has been given in small amounts by a lot of different donors. This will be the first election where this kind of money has been donated via the internet. Obama has already collected about three times the amount of money John Kerry collected for the last Presidential election. Obama has used the internet through his website and other online ads to try to gain votes form the youth of America. He has enlisted the creator of Facebook to help him advertise on the internets largest social networking site. Obama thinks that all the internet ads and money will be the edge for him to win the election. Obama’s opponent in the upcoming election is John McCain. McCain has only used the internet sparingly in his campaign and focused on more traditional medians for advertising. I think that this could provide Obama with a good amount of votes in the election because kids and other young adults use the internet all the time and are more likely to get their news from it than other sources. The only problem with this plan is that kids usually don’t vote so even if Obama gets the kids on his side he will have to get them to come out and vote to get any benefit from all this advertising.

Chris Woolley: Reading #3 The Infodiet

Many students have lost the ability to find good information. Today everyone wants to find information fast and easy. This is made possible by search engines like Google that give you a lot of results for your searches. Few students take the time to use databases that libraries are paying millions of dollars to subscribe to every year. Librarians are trying to find new ways to get students to use the databases to find good information not just a lot of bad information like a Google search gives. Students want searching a database to be easy like searching Google, but all the search interfaces on library databases are designed for users to have to work hard to find the good specific information that is needed for writing a well written paper. Some librarians say that research is not supposed to be easy and it is part of the process to search through these interfaces to find the information that is needed. Others think that maybe libraries should start listening to their customers and make it easier to search the databases. The draw back of making the databases like Google is that you will have to sift through a lot of irrelevant information to discover the info you are looking for. This is why library databases are set up how they are today, so experts can make a well developed search and find the exact relevant info they are looking for. I think that if the technology exists to make searching databases easier than libraries and database publishers should use these technologies. The point of technology is to make life easier and if it is possible to search the databases more effectively then we should definitely do this. This would be for the greater good of the libraries because more students would use the resources and that is why libraries exist in the first place.

Chris Woolley News Article #3

Father of the internet: 'web is running out of addresses'
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article4819803.ece?token=null&offset=0&page=1

The internet is running out of open internet protocols. Each computer or internet enabled device has an internet protocol that consists of 32 digits in binary code. That means there are about 4.2 billion addresses for computers to use. This is all part of the original internet system called IPv4 which was created in the early 1970’s. This limits the number of devices you can connect to the internet to 4.2 billion. As the number of internet devices has grown we are running out of vacant addresses. Today only 14% of addresses are open and experts say they will run out sometime in 2010. There is a new internet system that has been developed to help solve this problem called IPv6. This system involves 120 digits of binary code and that allows for 340 trillion, trillion different internet addresses. This system has been developed for about 10 years and needs to be implemented soon or some users will not be able to gain access to the internet. To transition to this new system consumers will have to get new routers that are compatible with IPv6 and some old computers will not be able to read the technology. The transition period should be smooth with little effects on consumers but it needs to start taking place now so it can be implemented slowly and properly. This is a very important issue because we use the internet everyday in so many different ways. If the internet was to disappear it would severely cripple society as we know it. We need to keep up to date on new technology and make sure that we have the hardware necessary for these changes to work properly.

Chris Woolley news Article

New York Times Revenue Falls 14% As Internet Migration Takes its Toll
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122175186687452599.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

The New York Times ad revenue fell for the month of August, this year alone its ad revenue has fallen 14%. This decline in revenue is blamed on the expansion of internet based news web sites that allow users to view news articles online for free. The media giant’s online sales have increased steadily over the past few years and have made substantial profits. Its online revenue has risen 10% since last August. Classified ads and help wanted ads have fallen the most in the written publication. This has been attributed to the sluggish economy along with the push for news on the internet. August was actually a rather good month for the Times, this increase in reader interest was attributed to the Olympics and financial shocks that have happened in the past month. This has made people more interested in the recent news and has increased sales. I think that the print news industry is a dying medium. The news companies need to find ways to make money on the internet or they will go out of business soon. Many people today do not bother reading the news paper and rely solely on internet sources for daily updates on the happenings throughout the world. Companies can do this by selling ads on web sites that will create revenue while people read the material for free. Another way to make money on the internet is to charge a subscription fee for news articles. This might seem like a better solution, but people will be reluctant to pay for online news when they can get it for free.