Information Literacy UNL 205x

I've just put the last batch of citations and annotations at the reference desk. There were multitudinous problems with citation style. Some of the annotations need to be more evaluative. If you have any questions about things I've written on yours, let me know.

If you would like to have me read and comment on your glossary or thesis page, please make sure I have it by 9:00am on Monday, November 30. Sending them as e-mail attachments is fine.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Posted by Trudi Jacobson at 03:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There was a fascinating article that appeared last fall in the New York Times that discusses Google's ability to track the outbreak of flu based on where people are who are searching on terms such as "flu symptoms." This data anticipates that provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by a week to ten days, because of the collection method. The article also discusses other trend-spotting that is possible using Google, Yahoo, and several websites, based on collective intelligence and patterns of behavior by the general public.

Google Flu Trends is a part of Google.org. To comment on this blog posting, please read the article, and then explore Google Flu Trends, other parts of Google.org, or one of the other sites mentioned in the New York Times article and report what you find. You may also address whether you think this innovative use of collective intelligence is beneficial or not (explain why!).

Posted by Trudi Jacobson at 03:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Hi everyone,

I just finished going over your citations and annotations for the articles. In just a few moments, you will be able to find them at the reference desk. There is a lot you will want to revise. Some of the major problems that occurred over and over were:

1. Articles found online must include this information in the citation! Please see pages 7-8 of the electronic APA guide, which you can find at: http://libproxy.albany.edu/limited/default/apa/apa_style_reference.pdf It is easiest if there is a doi, but if there isn't, you need a "retrieved" statement such as they show.

2. I noticed that a fair number of the annotations are simply descriptive, not critical or evaluative. Please review the 7 criteria on the sheet on writing annotations if yours are not correct.

3. Just a heads up: for next week's website citations, do not just use a url alone as your citation. The electronic APA guide I mention above isn't too good with providing an example of a simple, plain website citation. There are many examples of specialized types of information found on websites. I would say that the example given in item #14 (on page 13) is fairly generic. They point out that is the content of the website is unlikely to change, you don't need to include the date that you viewed the site as part of your retrieval statement. Think carefully about whether the sites you have chosen are likely to be static or not over time. \

4. Another heads up: a date is never the first element in the citation. You usually have a personal or organizational author first. If you can't identify one of those, the title of the item (jn this case, the website) would be first. Date is always second.

If you have any questions about the material you are picking up, or what you are working on for next week, feel free to contact me.

Posted by Trudi Jacobson at 03:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Go to the LexisNexis Academic database from the Libraries' homepage (using Databases & Indexes), then select the news tab, and leave the default at US Newspapers & Wires. Do a search on "old sites rest in cyber cemetery" as a natural language search. You should get an article from the LA Times from Sept 20. Read the article, and perhaps check on a few of the items available. Do you think this might be a good site for doing research? Do you think that it is worth the effort of keeping this information available?

The article mentions that this site only saves the work of defunct commissions and panels. Can you imagine that other government information might disappear? Might a change in presidents affect the information that is provided to the public?

Posted by Trudi Jacobson at 03:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have finished reviewing your citations and annotations, if you submitted them to me on a separate sheet (a couple came in on the back of the blue sheet, I've not looked at those yet). I strongly encourage you to pick up yours from the envelope at the reference desk--they will be there as of 9:00 this morning. I had lots and lots of comments on almost everyone's, and you will want to incorporate my suggestions into the citations and annotations you will be submitting next Wed.

Please make sure that you use the APA formatting for the citations for your articles. These articles should be ones that you find using a database, and not items that you discover through news sites on the Web. You will want to consult the online APA Style Guide to Electronic References for any articles you find online. The little blue APA guide I passed out in class only includes the correct style for articles that you find in the print version.

If you have any questions about your assignments, including finding your sources, please let me know.

Posted by Trudi Jacobson at 08:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Should the US military control what soldiers are posting on the Web? According to an article by James Dao in the New York Times (Sept 9), there is some debate about this. On the one hand, "at the highest echelons of the Pentagon, civilian officials and four-star generals are newly hailing the power of social networking to make members of the American military more empathetic, entice recruits and shape public opinion on the war." On the other hand, because some of the troops who blog, use Twitter, etc. do not agree with the Pentagon's stand, there are some efforts to police what is being written.

If you would like to respond to this item, read the full article, and then post your opinion. Is it possible for the military to stop this flow of information? Should they try? What might the consequences be of the stand that you favor?

Posted by Trudi Jacobson at 09:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Google is developing a news site that "it hopes will make it easier for readers to read newspaper and magazine articles." It allows readers to quickly flip through news articles from quite a few publishers. Read Miguel Helft's article about Fast Flip, take a look at the site, and then post your experiences after you have tried it out. Do you think it is useful? Would you tend to use it? How did your impressions match what the article in the New York Times said about it?

Posted by Trudi Jacobson at 09:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)