Author Archives: Samantha R

The article “Climate Change and Future Fire Regimes: Examples from California” is simply self-explanatory, referring to a somewhat imagined future.  Throughout the article Keeley explains how important it is to be aware of our climate changing and the impact it has had. She discusses different ways those who are knowledgeable can prevent future wildfire from occurring on land due to global warming issues.  Everyone around the world has been feeling the effects of global warming and many are very concerned.  As years go by it gets worse and continues to impact our climate which hasn’t been the same for some time now.  I remember when winter used to be decent and not so frigid cold.  I also remember when summer would be warm and not so scorching hot. Hot enough to cause fire activity on land, especially areas that have a more elevated landscape and larger trees.

This is why this particular article sheds light on the urgency to prepare for the possibility of future fires.   Keeley explained, “Climate models that predict future seasonal temperature changes are needed to improve fire regime projections” (page 1, para 1). There has been many studies regarding global warming and the dangers that come with it. Scientists have been keeping a close eye on it for years.  In regards to global warming and future fire regimes Keeley mentioned, “Modeling results generally predict increase fire frequency and fire severity for much of the globe; however, these projections need to be viewed with caution as they are based on rather uncertain and spatially variable relationships between temperature and fire activity, and compromise ecosystems with very different fuel structures” (page 3, para 4).  Unfortunately, no matter how much research those who are studying about global warming may do, there is no way to completely predict the future impacts it may cause. Due to the many variables that may appear along the way.

In the journal entry “Who’s in Charge here? Authority, Authoritativeness, and the Undergraduate Researcher”, Meszaros describes different factors involving Authority between teachers, librarians, and their students.  One factor she speaks of is what a majority of students think of their faculty members within their school. Meszaros said, “Administrative Authority is what undergraduates typically ascribe to faculty as. When students “listen”, they do so largely because they believe they must in order to receive a satisfactory grade” (pg.6, para.4). This description of Authority between a student and their teacher/elders within the school system is similar to a parent and their toddler.  Small children have this concept in their mind that when mommy and daddy say no they make sure not to do it in front of them so that they can be rewarded in a good way for listening.  But, when mommy and daddy are around they fall back into their same bad habit of doing what their parents said not to do.  Although, it is not completely the same, I do believe we all have bad habits and just like we don’t want to work but we have to survive.

It is the same thing when it comes to students having to study and do what they have been told by teachers to receive a (reward) good grade.  Not because they want to but they have to in order to pass and excel to the next level in life. Meszaros also mentions this in her journal entry, “Their adherence to faculty instructions is not necessarily based on a recognition of their professor’s “cognitive authority,” defined by Wilson (1991, p. 259), as an authority based on expertise” (pg. 6, para.4).  Students only adhere to their teachers directions not because they care of their background and skillfulness or who they are in general but, because at the end of the day they are just trying to pass.  This also ties into how many students do not go to librarians for help.  Even though they are experts at what they do and may have information on certain topics that may be of great use to an individual.  Students tend to go to their peers or other faculty members instead, who may not be as knowledgeable when it comes to finding multiple sources as librarians can. Overall, when it comes to he aspect of “questioning authority” and “who’s in charge?”, I believe it is not the faculty or librarians who have the authority 100%.  The students are partially or some may say equally in charge and in control of their own lives and it is up to them to listen in order to excel in whatever they do.

The FOIA also known as “Freedom of Information Act” is a system that was set up for scholars and students in different areas who wished to have access on certain declassified data.  In the article “Unredacted” it is mentioned, “The Archive also serves as a repository of government records on a wide range of topics pertaining to the national security, foreign, intelligence, and economic policies of the United States” (para.1).  Before this act came about many people did not have admittance to such information.  Throughout this article the author explains how important it is for people around the world to be informed about what is going on, whether if it is just for personal knowledge or for a research paper.

The Archive staff members are in charge of locating certain information regarding the U.S. government and their agencies as stated in the article, ”             Archive staff members systematically track U.S. government agencies and federal records repositories for documents that either have never been released before, or that help to shed light on the decision-making process of the U.S. government and provide the historical context underlying those decisions” (para.2).  The American agency that administers the work that is proposed in the FOIA is a non-governmental research institute and library located at The George Washington University.  Another way of accessing information from this Archive collection is through the web on nsa.org. I believe it does benefit citizens all over because it helps us justify certain situations and as it said in the article it also assists on decision making as well. Everyone has the right to know what is going on around the world whether its good or bad.  We deserve to be informed at all times.

I believe Martin made his book available as a PDF to further show his support for the freedom of knowledge.  Throughout his chapter he does raise fairly intriguing insight on the fact that the majority of knowledge around the world is controlled by hierarchies and organized by certain disciplinarians. The sad truth about it all is that it is all for the gain of money.  In “The politics of research” Martin explains this, “The important point, though, is that members of each discipline jealously guard their own little patch of knowledge.  They attempt to control teaching of students in their discipline, appointments in the field and the type of research that is published in the field’s central journals” (p.128).  By doing this certain places such as universities are only given access to these databases and knowledge by funding them in a large way.

Another unfortunate fact is that many academics apparently look down on schools and universities that seem to be popular. As Martin says, “The latter are a threat because they have a power base not controlled by the discipline itself”(p.131).  Even though these particular universities may be filled with highly skilled scholars they are still perceived as suspicious and they are not guaranteed access to the wide sources of information that is provided to others.  I presume that scholarship should be liberated and we all should be given access to the many different scholarly data out there to add on to our own knowledge.

Throughout Weinberger’s chapter “Too Big To Know” he explicates infrastructure of knowledge with high importance.  We are constantly overloaded with so much information/data that this structure that has been created overtime seems to work. Weinberger states that, “The same way you justified your investment in data. You’ve refined the data to produce information, and you’ve refined the information to generate something of greater value”.  All of our searches and keywords are strained through the system on a daily basis,  when we are looking to gain knowledge on a particular topic that we search. On the other hand, it does have its negative and positive aspects about it.  Weinberger explains this, “But we’ve paid a hidden price: We have raised the bar so high that we have sometimes excluded ideas that were nevertheless worth considering…”. When our searches are refined we are being given the top sources of information from different databases, but at the same time we are also be limited to other data out there that may be useful to our research.  Although, having an infrastructure of knowledge may have a slight downside about it, it is proven to be very helpful as well.  It in fact helps researches find particular information faster being that everyone is able find what they are looking for by just typing in certain keywords.

The importance of classification in today’s society is very high.  Everyone tends to rely on it when searching for different material.  Dye explains in her article “Folksonomy: A Game of High-tech (and Highstakes) Tag” that classification also known as folksonomy is very beneficial; it is generated metadata taken from multiple sources, tagging digital information with their own searchable keywords.  This idea of organizing information in this particular way has been sought out early on in life.  Wright states in his article “Family trees and the tree of life” that, “Even the most seemingly divergent cultures seem to employ almost identical strategies for organizing information, following a pattern that Berlin dubbed ‘ethnobiological rank,’ or the use of hierarchical categories to describe the characteristics of plants and animals”.  See classification has been around for a long time and continues to increasingly become broader.

Without classification it will be much harder to do any research on certain topics when only given a short period of time to complete it.  Imagine life without folksonomy or classification, it would take many hours to finish a simple search on the internet.  This is why some believe that classification is needed in today’s society.  Dye said that, “The richness and participation of the communities around these folksonomies are, in large part, what fuel interest in them”.  Not only are we sharing insight on the same interests but we are building our knowledge from each others thoughts and facts that is put out for the world to see.

I believe people do have the “right to be forgotten”.  If you don’t want your information to be exposed on the web you should have the right to request any personal data to be taken off immediately. Regardless of the 1st amendment “free speech”, people have the “right to be forgotten” if the information that is being displayed is too personal for the world to know.  Unfortunately, although you may demand for your information to be taken off certain sites, it does not mean you are completely non-existent from the internet. For example, Gary Kovac’s demonstration of the “collusion” also known now as “lightbeam” explains how your data can travel through so many various third party sources throughout the web, with just one single post or like on any site out there.  Digital identity in fact plays a huge part in this aspect.

Digital identity is a collection of data from each individual that is available throughout the internet.  When we use any website whether it is Facebook or even Google, we are being recorded or some might say tracked each time.  It is almost as if someone is jotting down notes about us in their own personal notepads and then sharing that information with others.  I do not believe there is any way to tell who is in control over our digital identity.  What I do suppose is that the government plays a big role when it comes to the collection of our data and daily lives whether it is recording what we do or say on the web, phone calls, text messages, and even listening in on what we talk about through online video games. On the other hand, I do not feel they have complete control over all digital information being that with certain major technical companies they need permission to access their private data systems and may run the chances of being denied during their first initial attempt.

Newman:

1. What is the contrast between the U.S. and European privacy policy?
2. How does the U.S. differentiate between Europe regarding the way peoples credit scores are displayed when accessed?
3. What kind of impact has “the Right to be Forgotten” had on consumers?

Seamen:

1. Do you believe it was right for Gawker.com’s CEO Nick Denton to remove the story?
2. Do you think writing an “addendum” to the archived story was the best thing to do? Why?
3. When people request for their information to be taken off of search sites such as Google, are they really non-existent from the internet thereafter?

Both Jabr and Badke’s perspective on printed books versus the progression of digital books also known as e-books are very similar. Referring back to Chapter 1 in the book Research Strategies Badke explains, “While some readers will allow you to do note-taking and highlighting, etc., the e-paper book readers lack the ability to function easily within the world of the Web the way an Ipad or Android device can”.  For example, when I read the article “From papyrus to pixels; the future of the book” I began reading it on my android device while riding on the train.  Like any other day I would look around and see others on their Kindles or Nooks and think to myself, how do they read their books with the screen being as dark as it is and not being able to use any features such as highlighting, note-taking, etc., as Badke plainly put it.

Although I do find it handy to highlight and add any additional notes while using my play books application on my phone to read. I constantly think to myself everyday how can people read all their books and article selections on these technical devices? The reason I say this is because I find it easier to read something in front of me such as the printed book rather than try to focus and grasp information from any other device or computer. Jabr clearly explains this in his article, “As far as our brains are concerned, however, text is a tangible part of the physical world we inhibit”. As part of human nature we all tend to gravitate and absorb information a lot more efficiently when we can physically get our hands on it, rather than what we can see (or in this case read) at any given moment. At the end of the day, after the first paragraph or so I chose to print the article “From papyrus to pixels; the future of the book” and read it that way. I found it so much easier to just jot down any notes anywhere on the page and simply breeze through the reading without any straining to my eyes or taking on a major migraine from trying to navigate through an app. or internet source on a computer.