Optional Post (#1)

I thought the library ethnography assignment was very useful. Not only did it involve us in doing homework, but it educated us on the simple things we can take for granted. Once I did the assignment, I realized how easy it was to look up books in the library. Now it won’t take me long at all to find books that I am looking for and books that relate and are helpful. Another thing that I learned from this assignment was the different ways of researching a book; not just putting in the search engine a book, but utilizing the tabs that narrow and refine your search. I think you should include this assignment next semester. It was something fun to do with our classmates and encouraged us to use the resources available to us at a great school.

All in all I think this class covered a good range of topics that we can definitely use in future classes. One topic that maybe could use a bit more time was the citations. APA and MLA were good, but some of the classes I took required a different style; maybe some practice on other popular styles. However, our practice on APA and MLA were good.

There is nothing else that I could think about in library research that I still want to know. Improving what I have learned so far is my goal from this class.

Facebookistan

The segment I will summarize is about Europe’s privacy laws and their effect on Facebook. The story talked about a man in Austria named Matt Shrims, who found over a thousand pages worth of data on himself. This launched an investigation on Facebook into what exactly they do with the data of each user. Under European law, each user should be in control of their data and know what is being done with it; therefore, Facebook is supposed to reveal exactly that. The reporter on the story, Christopher Worth, said that it shouldn’t be counted on that Facebook will do that.

This story is important to us because it shows exactly what is happening to our data as well. The U.S. doesn’t have as strict laws on Facebook as Europe does and that could be a very bad thing. So we should care about this because our data is being kept and could potentially lead to dangerous situations. Matt Shrims said that within the stacks of paper that he found on himself were coordinates of the computer he used. This is crazy! For our safety, our locations should not be kept. If there is no danger, we still have a right to our privacy of location and that should not be given to a worldwide social network

This relates to the first segment, in the sense of having information available in the good way. The segment talked about when people in Syria used Facebook to get any news about the troubles they faced. This was when the Syrian government and activists were clashing.

Another segment that relates is the third segment about Facebook China, where it is blocked. This was because the government was scared that their people would use Facebook to cause unrest. Still, there are other social websites that are much like Facebook that they use. This segment relates by the power that Facebook has in being a vessel of voice for people to get information out.

10/31 Sources and Uses

Book 

1. You will likely find more accurate and extensive information depending on the author. If it is a scholar, a professional, an expert in a certain field, or someone who experienced a certain event firsthand, then you can rely more on them. 
2. This is actually one of the best sources that you can use. It is a source that is actually printed in paper, instead of being circulated on the web, which is not a bad place to find a source, it's just that you can always count on books. 
3. Depending on what I'm researching for, I could use this source to support my argument and further my point. 

Blog post

1. This source really depends on who is the author of the blog post and what they are posting about. More likely with blog posts, you will find people who are more opinion oriented than fact oriented. 
2. Again, it depends on the author and what the post is about. I think this could be a very good source because, depending on when you get it, it could be something that is a really fresh topic and debate. So getting that most recent blog post can be a great positive for your paper. 
3. You could use this source to write about a certain person's view. In this case, opinion oriented blog posts wouldn't be bad, not that they really are. With that said, you could also use it to review what facts that person used, how they used them, and if they are even correct. 

Scholarly journal article

1. These can be as dependable as books because these are written by scholars, you know these are people who know their stuff and would give an expert review and good research for your topic. 
2. This is another great source to use because it is more reliable and carries a lot of credibility. 
3. You could use this source to quote what these experts say to, again, support your argument or facts. 

Wikipedia

1. You could find very detailed information, but you wouldn't be able to completely rely on it. Sometimes you can find a very broad description or summary too. 
2. Generally, this is not a reliable source, so it could be considered bad. Some of their info is taken from a more credible source, but most of it is stuff that anybody can edit. So, not good. 
3. I would not use this as a source in my paper, but one could use it to show how unreliable of a site it is. 

Podcast

1. All I remember from watching any podcast is that it was more about giving helpful information and statistics. 
2. It would be a good source to use, mostly depending on what you are writing about. ( I feel I am reiterating myself.) Especially if there are a lot of statistics. 
3. You could use this source like scholarly journals and books, to quote what a person has said.

10/29 Article Research Email Steps

The first thing that I did was look for the article under a medical journal. I did find it but it did not have the full text. So then I copied and pasted the title into the main search engine in Galileo. It was the first article that showed up. I clicked on it and made sure it had the full text. The next thing I did was click on the envelope icon to the right of the screen to email to Ms. Pashia.

10/24 Annotated Bibliography

An annotated bibliography is much like our citation pages for our papers, except they include summaries of what that citation is in reference to your paper. Annotated bibliographies, when published, help readers who are looking into a certain book, article, etc., know what that book is about, even what the pros and cons are too. Unpublished, they still help people, students like us so that we can know what that book or article is about so we don't have to read the book or article ourselves. Annotated bibliographies are also very important to our paper because they provide the citations for the books, articles, etc. that we have used.

I believe you are requiring us to do one in class because you are preparing us for our other classes. Much like our other assignments during this course, it's practice. Even if we are still not sure, these homework assignments are like trial and error, we learn from the mistakes and learn to perfect them. Not that an annotated bibliography is this masterful piece of work, but it is always good to have all these little things done well. In the end, it will reflect how we do our work and what is going to be seen in our papers.

10/24 Class Work Review

I feel like I have said this before in one of my posts, so here's to déjà vu and reiteration. You would not be able to do library research without dealing with plagiarism, paraphrasing correctly, copyright vs. plagiarism, and the different types of licenses. Research is about exploring a certain topic because you either want to find certain information to extend your knowledge or that and you need to for a research paper for a class. Research is also about finding facts, opinions, and related documents to your very topic. Those factors are key to research because they are the components of your paper that make up for your lack of knowledge and expertise in a certain area. Therefore, plagiarism becomes super important because you are quoting, paraphrasing, etc. someone else's work and you want your paper to be taken seriously. Sometimes you may do a slideshow or have a blog post where you need to research a image to post, knowing what the differences are between the types of licenses and copyright vs. plagiarism is the key roles for those components in library research.
Just as we have applied this knowledge in this class, we can do the same for our other classes. If I were to be doing a paper for my history class that required an extra source, whether it be newspaper, image, diary entry, etc., then I would be able to find those sources using my knowledge. I would be able to know how to cite so I do not plagiarize and know in what ways I can use it under the type of license. As for any questions, I do not have any at the moment.

License Research

http://pixabay.com/en/book-books-circle-curly-education-2869/
Image-Creative Commons
Petr Kratochvil. (Photographer). (2012). Book Tunnel.[Photograph], Retrieved October 22, 2012, from: http://pixabay.com/en/book-books-circle-curly-education-2869/