Author Archives: Nathalie Severino

I agree with Vaidhyanathan. We do generally go straight to Google and tend to believe whatever is thrown at us after we hit enter. Especially when it comes to quick access of information or seemingly trivial matters. The reason why is because we might subconsciously think that because someone dedicated the time to make a website compiling a lot of information on one subject, we can believe in them. The truth is that anyone can write anything and make a website and put it up. Google is only a tool to find those sites based on the words being typed into the search bar and how they match up in each site. That can provide some highly unreliable info.

I do tend to trust Google but not entirely.

The concept of questioning authority according to Meszaros is that just because a person of a higher level in an institution tells their underlings or students to think a certain way and believe in their teachings, it may not be correct. If  one gathers the right information for themselves, that is the best way to learn something.

There are a lot of misinformation being spread  because of biases and lack of credible sources due to lack of interest to search for legitimate information. People in general also tend to believe too heavily on someone who is considered an authority on a subject without doing any independent research and finding their own conclusions. Meszaros studied undergraduates and was able to make these conclusions based on their attention or lack there of and linked it to problems such as these.

The Freedom of Information Act or FOIA is the liberty for citizens on the United States to access information about the United States Government. This was created in order for the citizens to be informed about any policies or general information about what is going on with the government.

The U.S. Department of Justice is the administrative power behind the FOIA. This policy is supposed to benefit citizens because it is supposed to allow them to access information that will keep them informed and up to date with happenings in the government. There are, however, some information that is not made public, such as things that claim to compromise national security or personal privacy. To me, this means that whatever they deem to be a “threat to national security” can be kept hidden from public view. That doesn’t sound very convincing about its “open access” claims.

The chapter of Brian Martin’s book is available online as a PDF because he believes that having access to information is important. He frowns on the idea of making knowledge a commodity that is hard to get.

The availability of this chapter online does exemplify the belief of having free scholarship to an extent. Martin explained that while it is great to have free access to knowledge because that means that virtually anyone can obtain information, he also explains that the writers and researchers must be compensated for their hard work and that is why access to knowledge costs money. Martin only put this chapter online for free, but the rest of his book must be bought in order for him to be properly compensated for his work.

Classification is important because it helps organize things in the world around us into easily discernable groups. It helps researchers find specific information using these classifications and controlled vocabularies. As Badke explained, when searching for information related to senior citizens, there are some organizations, such as the Library of Congress or LC, that use the word AGED to classify them under. Using these terms within the classification systems of the information being searched can help ensure that the researcher is getting the exact information they need. Also, putting things into groups help us know general information about the things in each group. Wright explains that remote countries with little contact with outsiders create their own classification system in order to survive. They know what plants are safe to eat and what animals are hardest to hunt because through experience and teachings they were able to put the information from their surroundings into an organized and well-understood system that can be passed down through generations.