Wikipedia was created in 2001 by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger. The goal of Wikipedia was to give people a free-encyclopedia. Thousands of volunteers around the world help provide accurate information onto Wikipedia. One of the concerns people have with Wikipedia is that anybody is able to go on and edit information. The information will not always be correct with what they put on, but there is a committee who tries to correct the information to make sure it is accurate. In Andrew Keen's "The Noble Amateur" Keen talks about how these people that work for Wikipedia are amateurs and are not professionals so they should not be publishing information. Keen believes an amateur is, "A hobbyist, knowledgable or otherwise someone who does not make a living from his or her frield of interest"(Keen). Keen believes these people who are not professionals should not be providing information and pretending to be a encyclopedia. Wikipedia is a free enclycopedia and because it is free it is not always going to be the best quality. But most of Wikipedia is good enough so therefore Wikipedia is not junk and can be a realiable source.
Wikipedia has great tools that can be extremely helpful to an individual. Most teachers do not want students citing Wikipiedia as a source, but there are some great tools. On the bottom of every page there will be the work cited page. The information down there and where they received their facts are very reliable and from professionals. So maybe people should not cite Wikipedia, but the references they use are incredibly helpful and legit resources. Also, people need to remember that Wikipedia is a free enclyopedia. If somebody wants better quality then people are going to have to pay more. Which is what Britannica Enclyopedia is. But not everybody wants to pay more for such resources, so just because something is free it can still be very good information and be useful. Keen stated, "Democratic consequence of digital revolution is dictatorship of idiots"(Keen). The idiots Keen is talking about is the amateurs who post information on Wikipedia. What Keen does not realize is Wikipedia has been occuring for ten years now and they have improved in cleaning up the inaccuarate information. Another reading we read called "Wikipedia" by Clay Shirky, Shirky talks about how Wikipedia's content in not trash and people are not vandalizing Wikipedia like they did in the past. Wikipedia is cleaning up their information and trying to make their information accurate. People around the world are beginning to respect that and are not posting inaccurate information. Maybe because they do not want to go through all the trouble to get blocked or maybe because they use Wikipedia for research papers and want to use the accurate information for their paper. Wikipedia is becoming a more reliable tool for information.
Wikipedia is the 17th most tracked website on the internet, while Britannica is 5,128. (Keen) The committee that works for Wikipedia is realizing that their site is becoming extremely successful and they know it is their responsibility to make sure they have honest and accurate information. People are starting to respect how reliable Wikipedia is and not vandalizing the information. Wikipedia is a great website for people to find references for research. Even though most of our teachers do not want their students citing Wikipedia there are great sources on the bottom of the page that students can look at that are from professional sources. Wikipedia continues to grow and become more reliable with their information and soon teachers will realize that the information is accurate and will allow students to cite from there. Wikipedia has some flaws, but overall it is very reliable source and very beneficial for students, especially someone like me who is a college kid and does not want to pay to look up information!
Hope all enjoyed my blog and please feel free to post any comments you have. All are always welcomed to Max's World.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Monday, September 26, 2011
The Scary World of Social Networking
During this week we had a project, which was to create a made up AIM account and talk to a classmate. The point of this project was to be somebody opposite of what we truly are. I pretended to be a girl named Hannah Weinstein from UCLA. I enjoyed doing the project because this was an accurate picture of what occurs on social networking sites. But at the same time, while I was doing this project I was creeped out thinking people do all of this for a living. Knowing that the person I am developing a relationship with is somebody making up a fake identity. My argument is that all of this social networking where people are pretended to be somebody else is a bad thing for society. People get too caught up in these fantasy worlds and forget that they have a real life to live. In Sherry Turkle's "Aspect of the Self" she expressed opposite views when it comes to people making up identities. She said, "In its virutal reality, we self-fashion and self-create, WHat kind of personae do we make?"(Turkle) She values people using their imaginations and living in these fantasy worlds. There are more negatives than positives when people get addicted to living a different life. People who pretend to be somebody they are not on social networking sites need to get a life. This world is a very scary one with a lot of people who are messed up psychologically.
Sherry Turkle stated in "Aspects of the Self" "MUDs provide worlds for anonymous social interaction in which you can play a role as close to or as far away from your real self as you choose." (Turkle) My question is are people's lives really that miserable that they want to be somebody they are not? I am very big on social networking. I am an active Facebook and Twitter user, but at the same time I would never fake an account on one of these sites. Sherry Turkle discusses all the positives of being somebody your not such as getting away from society for a little and being able to use our imaginations. But what about the creepy adults who use it to talk to little children? Like this for example.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/52383/cybersex-victims-to-get-counseling
Children as young as 11 years old are now damaged for the rest of their lives because of creepy adults pretending to be somebody their not. But if you asked Sherry Turkle about this article she would probably say, "Creating screen personae is thus an oppurtunity for self-expression, leading to her feeling more like her true self when decked out in an array of virtual masks."(Turkle) Well these adults are sure expressing their true feelings and now they have ruined two innocent girls lives forever. This world is too scary now to be talking to somebody that you do not know because we have no evidence that the person we are talking too really is who they say they are. Social networking is a great thing because we are able to receive information before television news reports it and it is a great thing being able to connect with friends who we cannot see on a regular basis. But the problem with social networking that it is so easy to join and make an account that there is no proof that the individual is truly who they appear to be, especially on Facebook and AIM. We were taught at a young age to not talk to
strangers, well we are never to old to take this advice when it comes to social networking.
This AIM experience really taught me that it is so easy to pretend that you are somebody else. It is mind boggling to me hearing about people who have fallen in love through social networking. The other negative of computer chatting is people's social skills decrease because there is not enough interaction through human contact and too much through a computer. People are so comfortable talking online because they do not have to see a person's reaction in person. It disgusts me when people pretend to be somebody they are not online. There have been too many incidents of adults ruining childrens' lives. When somebody tries to be somebody they are not it shows they are not happy with their own lives and would rather be somebody else. With all the evil out there in this world it is not worth talking to somebody that you have not met personally. Social networking is an amazing tool if people use it in the right way, but it is those few individuals who make social networking a scary world.
Thanks for reading and I love to hear some feedback on my Blog. Hope you enjoyed and everybody is always welcomed to return to Max's World.
Sherry Turkle stated in "Aspects of the Self" "MUDs provide worlds for anonymous social interaction in which you can play a role as close to or as far away from your real self as you choose." (Turkle) My question is are people's lives really that miserable that they want to be somebody they are not? I am very big on social networking. I am an active Facebook and Twitter user, but at the same time I would never fake an account on one of these sites. Sherry Turkle discusses all the positives of being somebody your not such as getting away from society for a little and being able to use our imaginations. But what about the creepy adults who use it to talk to little children? Like this for example.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/52383/cybersex-victims-to-get-counseling
Children as young as 11 years old are now damaged for the rest of their lives because of creepy adults pretending to be somebody their not. But if you asked Sherry Turkle about this article she would probably say, "Creating screen personae is thus an oppurtunity for self-expression, leading to her feeling more like her true self when decked out in an array of virtual masks."(Turkle) Well these adults are sure expressing their true feelings and now they have ruined two innocent girls lives forever. This world is too scary now to be talking to somebody that you do not know because we have no evidence that the person we are talking too really is who they say they are. Social networking is a great thing because we are able to receive information before television news reports it and it is a great thing being able to connect with friends who we cannot see on a regular basis. But the problem with social networking that it is so easy to join and make an account that there is no proof that the individual is truly who they appear to be, especially on Facebook and AIM. We were taught at a young age to not talk to
strangers, well we are never to old to take this advice when it comes to social networking.
This AIM experience really taught me that it is so easy to pretend that you are somebody else. It is mind boggling to me hearing about people who have fallen in love through social networking. The other negative of computer chatting is people's social skills decrease because there is not enough interaction through human contact and too much through a computer. People are so comfortable talking online because they do not have to see a person's reaction in person. It disgusts me when people pretend to be somebody they are not online. There have been too many incidents of adults ruining childrens' lives. When somebody tries to be somebody they are not it shows they are not happy with their own lives and would rather be somebody else. With all the evil out there in this world it is not worth talking to somebody that you have not met personally. Social networking is an amazing tool if people use it in the right way, but it is those few individuals who make social networking a scary world.
Thanks for reading and I love to hear some feedback on my Blog. Hope you enjoyed and everybody is always welcomed to return to Max's World.
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