Wikipedia’s popularity has become increasingly popular, and as the number one source to go to for information, the question of its accuracy and quality still raises doubts. Wikipedia, with its abundance of articles in more than 200 different languages, most people go to to Wikipedia because of its convenience and the sites wide variety of non- fiction topics (Ashman “Students Debate Value of Wikipedia as Reliable Source”). Also, Wikipedia gives tutorials to aid in the process of editing and the way the article should be structured, formatted, and the style of how it is written (Crovitz and Smoot 92). On the contrary, the accuracy and the amount of people who deliberately follow the guidelines can be questioned. Wikipedia is not an appropriate …show more content…
Wikipedia follows a simple maxim -by the people, for the people- meaning that anyone can freely write, expert or not (Achieve3000 "Age of Revolution: Wikipedia: OK To Use?"). Due to this idea, freely edited articles, not written by experts, can be factually incorrect. While some say that since Wikipedia includes guidelines for the writers to use, and these guidelines encourage writers to use reliable sources and have trustworthy people edit them, Wikipedia can be helpful for finding and sourcing the information found (Achieve3000 "Age of Revolution: Wikipedia: OK To Use?"). These guidelines acknowledge that perfection is not needed, but encourage the writers to fact check their sources and make sure that the information is not false (Achieve3000 "Age of Revolution: Wikipedia: OK To Use?"). Hypertext, links given for related sources, are often found in the articles for more information on a broadly known topics and a starting …show more content…
People believe that the quality of the work is standard and acceptable. Reference links are given for the reader to use and check if the facts and quality of the work meets standard expectation (Baird “Using Wikipedia for Academic Research”). The idea that books in the library are always going to be accurate and objective, is not always true. For Wikipedia articles, the same idea can be said for them as well. However, some believe that this idea does not make Wikipedia useless; readers should just be reading with a different manner than the way usual resources would be seen (Crovitz and Smoot 92). On the other side, Don Wyatt objects that Wikipedia is being seen as a lazy and convenient way to get information although it is not quality work. He states that students should not go for the convenience of it, but rather go to the quality filled sources (Jaschik “A Stand Against Wikipedia”). Although Wikipedia is a great site for background knowledge and other basic information, the information used is incorrect and many times, as Don Wyatt claims, the information turned in for a grade, is generally incorrect and inaccurate (Jaschik “A Stand Against Wikipedia”). Also, Wikipedia, although seen as accurate, “These inaccuracies
Sean Kamperman the author of “The Wikipedia Game: Boring, Pointless, or Neither” believes that wikipedia can be helpful with educational learning purposes. Wikipedia is known for plagiarism and fake information. People make Wikipedia have a bad reputation in schools especially in english classes. Wikipedia can be a source of entertainment and self improvement for some people. Some people might just research stuff on Wikipedia to find interesting articles. In “Wikihunt” many Wikipedia users have “discovered” a game of their own, this involves creativity so it brings out the creative qualities of people. Wikipedia is a educational game and it's also free it's convenient for people. The game “Wikihunt” involves two people in separate computers
The internet is a hub of information. It is easy to access this information and resources by simple looking up a simple topic. How much of this information is actually true? In The New Yorker article “The Things People Say” author Elizabeth Kolbert explains the dangers of believing wholeheartedly the information given to us online. She uses logos to prove that the internet can be biased with information through “group polarization” and a site’s inability to upload contradictory information. She fails however with ethos in her paper because she is hypocritical.
Like Gladwell, Nicholas Carr believes the internet has negative effects. In his article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid”, Carr attempts to show as the internet becomes our primary source of information, it diminishes the ability to read books and extensive research. Carr goes on to give a very well researched account of how text on the internet is designed make browsing fast and profitable. He describes how the design for skimming affects our thinking skills and attention spans. He wraps up his argument by describing what we are losing in the shift toward using the internet as our main information source. Carr suggests the learning process that occurs in extensive research and through reading is lost. While the learning process can be beneficial to scholars and intellectuals, not everyone has the capability to follow through with it. The internet offers an education that anyone can have access to and understand. Also if Carr believes the learning process is better, this option is always available for people who want to learn according to this scholarly principal. However, for the rest of the population the quick and easy access has allowed the average population to become more educated, and to expose themselves to aspects of academia that previously is reserved for
I think the main idea from the article “How Google, Wikipedia Have Changed Our Lives – For Better and Worse” who was written by Jennifer Woodard is how this generation of people rely entirely too much on the internet to find their answers for school and everyday life. When people used to research for information they were looking for they could spend hours in the library, reading countless books to find their answers and even find more then what they were looking for. Now when researching people are so used to finding out what they want to know it only takes seconds to type in in your phone and find on Google your answer. Learning before there was computers or google, you had to listen to the whole lecture to get an understanding of everything
“As educators, we are in the business of reducing the dissemination of misinformation,” said Don Wyatt, chair of the department. “Even though Wikipedia may have some value, particularly from the value of leading students to citable sources, it is not itself an appropriate source for citation,” he said.
...ie, 31 (1) 27-49.Fallis, D. (2008). Toward an epistemology of Wikipedia. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 59(10), 1662–1674. doi:10.1002/asi.20870
The best thing about Wikipedia is that it concisely provides topic wise systematic information on every topic for ‘short and quick reference’ of the summary on our search topic, a distinguishable and easy to note introduction. We also credit it for providing information in a very systematic and orderly manner and is quite too detailed in providing information and pictures on an article. Wikipedia is a good source for starting with basic information as it gives a summary in the beginning that almost gives the reader an approximate knowledge of what he is reading.
Carr notes information from the research in his argument. nGenera came to the conclusion the section were vulnerable to "Digital immersion", this gave rise to the developed habit of glossing over information (p.351). Therefore, Carr uses this data to backups his previously stated assertion of the web altering the mind. Supply evidence he cites college student Joe O'Shea, who believes books are inefficient to provide information (p.350). Instead relies solely on the web to gather online documents in order to learn. Carr's intention is to advance his message that students such as O'Shea with an "old-fashioned" mentality has lead many to believe that the internet is the best option
In the articles, “How Facts Backfire” and “Is Google Making Us Stupid”, Keohane and Carr explain the cognitive blocks we are faced with in society. Keohane explains how we can be misinformed because of our beliefs. These beliefs can cloud our judgement of what is true and what isn’t true. Carr focuses on how the internet has changed the way we think. Carr includes how the internet can distract us, making tasks harder to complete. Both Keohane and Carr show us the negatives side effects of cognition.
Steven Pinker states that “search engines lower our intelligence, encouraging us to skim on the surface of knowledge …” (1). Many students are not reading their assigned books anymore. Sparknotes and other web sites such as Shmoop have provided students with resources which are not useful. Students’ skim through these sites to read books. Most of the websites gives students’ plot summaries which are from another person’s take on that book .This damages the student 's’ chances of actually reading and understanding a book and having their own opinion .The more we run to search engines for answers the less we shall learn . Technology has taken the place of many students’ brains which causes them to think they are dumb. This leads to the need of searching for answers online at all
In the first paragraph, Jaron appeals to the pathos of the reader; he assumes that the reader is of the generation that has grown up in the digital age, thus they would agree that the most important aspect of the internet is the people who contribute to it. However, there is no reason to ever assume that. Some people may actually believe that user contribution detracts from what makes the internet a viable source of information. For example, if the internet were controlled by academia, it would most likely be a peer reviewed source of information. However, as it is, anyone can contribute information to the internet, which makes the internet not a reliable source for knowledge. We can see this in academia, which typically does not support the use of Wikipedia as an academic source, and Wikipedia is an encyclopedia that relies entirely on user contribution.
I want my students to have the full benefits of me as a teacher and I believe learning about different educational theories will help me be a better teacher. In particular from this article I will take away that teachers are needed to help rear students to the right information and help them focus on what information is reliable. I also will take in consideration my own techniques as a student. I am guilty of multitasking during assignments and even “googlification”. I think the internet has benefited my generation in many ways but has also done a disservice on real research. I hope as a future teacher to really teach my students to research and find valid, reliable, and understanding information of the internet. A teacher in this new generation must adapt to the technology available to students and realize they will be using these resources. I hope to find a balance in my classroom between technology, self-educating, and learning
Now that we are living in an ever changing world, technology is viewed as the most resourceful tool in keeping up with the pace. Without the use of technology, communication would be limited to using mail for delivery and encyclopedias for research. Although technology has improved the way we communicate and find information for research, the information is not always valid. Unfortunately, for those of us who use the internet for shopping, research, or reading articles of personal interest the information is not treated the same as a your magazine or book. While such literature is reviewed by an editorial staff, internet literature or information can be published by anyone. In order to reap the full benefit of having the use of technology for any purpose, there are five basic criteria’s one must keep in mind as an evaluating tool for deciding whether or not the particular website is a reliable source for information.
New books and research studies are posted on the Internet daily for the world to read. In the past, if you were from a poor school or a sheltered community that banded books from school libraries, you may not be able to read some important information. Making the student that had the opportunity to read and learn this new information better educated than a person who did not have the same books on their school library shelves. The author of the article The internet as a classroom explains this fact when she says, "We have arrived at a new moment in history: a moment in which such terms as class, race, gender, sexuality, nationality and ideology are no longer useful" (Hendricks). This statement applies to education because information can be found on any subject on the web.
Firstly, most people today get all their information from the internet instead of books . While the internet is great there are some problem with getting information online. One of those things is sources anyone can create a website with information. The problem is that anyone can write information on the subject and the information could be wrong. Today everyone has the option to