As I was watching the video Wikipedia Debate, I couldn't stop thinking about one ID test question from Dr. Smith's LBST course last semester. I think this real life example shows how Wikipedia is misused by students who are unwilling to take additional steps to get accurate information from more reliable sources. While I agree with the video that Wikipedia is a good place to start when researching, it should never be your only source of information.
Dr. Smith's LBST course looked at Slavery, Citizenship, and Manhood up to the Civil War. His tests were ID tests, where students are given a list of terms to choose to answer. On one such test, one of the terms was "Loyal Slave States." I read several answers to this ID. I was stunned by how many students said (roughly) the following: "There were eight loyal slave states. Four of them became loyal slave states after the battle of Fort Sumter."
After reading about ten incorrect answers (like above) to this ID, all making the exact same claim, I decided to check the internet to see where these students were getting this answer. 'Cause Dr. Smith certainly never said that!
I found myself at Wikipedia. The term "Loyal Slave States" has since been taken down (which, on a different note, shows how quickly this site can be changed and updated!). This is the entry that I found instead: Boarder States. Yet, if you read the first paragraph, you can still see where some of these students got their wrong answer. The original entry had faulty punctuation. And that's putting it lightly. This entry is more clear than the entry that lead these students to an incorrect answer.
My point with posting about this experience is to show how unreliable Wikipedia can be. It also illustrates how often undergraduate students go to Wikipedia and treat it as a credible source.
This is not to say that Wikipedia doesn't have value. It is a very valuable resource. As the "Wikipedia Debate" video points out, it's breadth of terms makes it a perfect starting point for nearly any research topic.
The lesson to take away from this is: check your sources and don't believe everything you read on the internet.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Creating a Group Contract: Plaza-Midwood Neighborhood Group
Before working with my three group members (Jennifer, Susan, and Sean), I felt a little apprehensive about how the project would come together. What I mean is, who would make sure I was scanning and uploading my exhibit pieces correctly? How were we all going to coordinate our written descriptions of our exhibit pieces to create a coherent story?
These two questions were answered once our group worked on creating a contract. We split the four components amongst our group members to ease the burden of meeting together. Susan created "chairs" for each of us, which emphasized our individual strengths. This answered the questions that I mentioned form above.
It turns out that I- with my experience in exhibits- will help pull the exhibits together to create a coherent story. And Susan- who has scanned many images her GA position in the library last year- will help scanning and uploading the images for consistency. Jennifer is our top-dog in a way, she will be holding the group together to make sure that everyone finds the sources and information that they need for the exhibit. Last (but certainly not least) is Sean, who has a lot of experience in computers, marketing, and site-building, will help us create our website, check our links, and make navigation as simple as possible.
All of the things that I was apprehensive about seemed to have been cleared up by the simple task of creating a contract. We four make a great team. And I'm excited to work with them. It'll be work, but my teammates will make it fun and easy.
I look forward to hearing about the strategies, tasks, fears, and excitements of my classmates.
Until then- GO TEAM PLAZA-MIDWOOD!!
These two questions were answered once our group worked on creating a contract. We split the four components amongst our group members to ease the burden of meeting together. Susan created "chairs" for each of us, which emphasized our individual strengths. This answered the questions that I mentioned form above.
It turns out that I- with my experience in exhibits- will help pull the exhibits together to create a coherent story. And Susan- who has scanned many images her GA position in the library last year- will help scanning and uploading the images for consistency. Jennifer is our top-dog in a way, she will be holding the group together to make sure that everyone finds the sources and information that they need for the exhibit. Last (but certainly not least) is Sean, who has a lot of experience in computers, marketing, and site-building, will help us create our website, check our links, and make navigation as simple as possible.
All of the things that I was apprehensive about seemed to have been cleared up by the simple task of creating a contract. We four make a great team. And I'm excited to work with them. It'll be work, but my teammates will make it fun and easy.
I look forward to hearing about the strategies, tasks, fears, and excitements of my classmates.
Until then- GO TEAM PLAZA-MIDWOOD!!
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Reflections and Comments on The September 11 Digital Archive
It was easy for my to choose which of the multiple online collections that Dr. Cox suggested we look at to complete this blog post. The September 11 Digital Archive jumped out at me for a really simple reason: it's one of many emotionally-charged museums that I would like to explore for my thesis project. Now, I realize that this is not a museum's website. This is an online database/collection/archive. The point stands that it may well make it into my thesis project for it's emotional influence on visitors.
This site is very well organized. On the home page (see above link) it has a very clear statement defining what the site offers and what the purpose is. It includes clear links that are not misleading. Items like "Browse," "Contribute," and "Special Collections" are very easy to understand and the pages that they lead you to are not surprising. What I mean is, these links to further pages make sense and are easily navigated.
My interest in this website for my thesis prompted me to explore further than, perhaps, my classmates would have. For instance, I poked around in "Browse" for a few minutes. The links within this new page are very well organized into specific categories, such as interview, documents, and much more. I enjoyed this page because of its ease of use, but also because this would be a phenomenal resource for a historian, sociologist, or any research interested in 9/11.
Let's skip ahead to the link that relates to our class assignment: Collections. I followed "Special Collections" and was surprised to see screen shots and links to exhibits and other resources as opposed to important or selected items of value. What I discovered was that the links went to various collections. The one I chose to explore was September 11: Bearing Witness to History, which was built and run by the Smithsonian. This link sent me to a collection of oral histories from people all across the country- short and long accounts of their experiences on September 11, 2001. It allowed you to browse through these accounts and even invited you to add your own.
Overall, I think this website offers a diverse, plentiful, organized, and easy-to-use collection of 9/11 oral histories, documents, recordings, e-mails and videos. One important feature of this website was the "9/11 FAQs." This offers visitors the chance to put these primary sources into context- if they do not already understand the context. Especially for younger visitors to the site, this is an important addition for clarification, chronology, understanding, and context.
This site is very well organized. On the home page (see above link) it has a very clear statement defining what the site offers and what the purpose is. It includes clear links that are not misleading. Items like "Browse," "Contribute," and "Special Collections" are very easy to understand and the pages that they lead you to are not surprising. What I mean is, these links to further pages make sense and are easily navigated.
My interest in this website for my thesis prompted me to explore further than, perhaps, my classmates would have. For instance, I poked around in "Browse" for a few minutes. The links within this new page are very well organized into specific categories, such as interview, documents, and much more. I enjoyed this page because of its ease of use, but also because this would be a phenomenal resource for a historian, sociologist, or any research interested in 9/11.
Let's skip ahead to the link that relates to our class assignment: Collections. I followed "Special Collections" and was surprised to see screen shots and links to exhibits and other resources as opposed to important or selected items of value. What I discovered was that the links went to various collections. The one I chose to explore was September 11: Bearing Witness to History, which was built and run by the Smithsonian. This link sent me to a collection of oral histories from people all across the country- short and long accounts of their experiences on September 11, 2001. It allowed you to browse through these accounts and even invited you to add your own.
Overall, I think this website offers a diverse, plentiful, organized, and easy-to-use collection of 9/11 oral histories, documents, recordings, e-mails and videos. One important feature of this website was the "9/11 FAQs." This offers visitors the chance to put these primary sources into context- if they do not already understand the context. Especially for younger visitors to the site, this is an important addition for clarification, chronology, understanding, and context.
Omeka.net Plugins
My group (Susan, Jennifer, Sean, and myself) are doing our online exhibit on the Plaza-Midwood Neighborhood. So far is appears that we will focus on structures and activities. Our online exhibit will be geared towards the neighborhood, people interested in the neighborhood, researchers, and the class (of course!).
So I looked on Omeka for some useful plugins. I lack the vocabulary to understand many of these plugins' internet-speak. Given that handicap, I was relieved that there were a select few that made some sense to me. The one that I felt was most useful (albeit very basic) was Google Analytics, site stats.
It allows the owner/builder of a website to track the number of people who visit the site. I admit that this seems almost too minor to note as an important plugin for our online exhibit. Despite that, I would argue that keeping track of how many people visit the online exhibit summarizes the very purpose of building a website! There would be no purpose to building an online exhibit if there is no interest in making sure that it had reached your desired audience.
So I looked on Omeka for some useful plugins. I lack the vocabulary to understand many of these plugins' internet-speak. Given that handicap, I was relieved that there were a select few that made some sense to me. The one that I felt was most useful (albeit very basic) was Google Analytics, site stats.
It allows the owner/builder of a website to track the number of people who visit the site. I admit that this seems almost too minor to note as an important plugin for our online exhibit. Despite that, I would argue that keeping track of how many people visit the online exhibit summarizes the very purpose of building a website! There would be no purpose to building an online exhibit if there is no interest in making sure that it had reached your desired audience.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)