Tag Archives: gatekeeping

google boogle

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The Google Dilemma was actually entertaining to read. My favorite part was “Search Jew”. What made me enjoy reading it was the honesty of it. It gave both sides to the story: although Google didn’t necessarily say those things, the algorithms are created by the programmers. It reminds me of most things in life how they cover things by “going around it”. Then, it explains how google in fact is sort if like a gatekeeper. They may not specifically pick what shoes up but their algorithms look for specific criteria which suggests which results pop up. This does not necessarily mean that the best or most accurate information pops up. In fact, that is where my aggravation comes from when googling something. The most common websites appear with the most searched results, leaving me with no scholarly, accurate information.

Copy write laws and a monkey’s selfie.

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This story about the Macaque monkey really threw me of , my very first thought was, the photographer is English, the selfie was taken in Indonesia and yet there are law suits about United States Copy write laws. Or! Is it because Wikimedia is under U.S Jurisdiction? Either way this article is evidence that most things are dictated by individuals or well, gatekeepers in my opinion.
Additionally, it was very interesting to see how this article reports he claims the photo was a selfie by the Macaque monkey. Another article I read, where I quite support him, was one which claimed he had framed and set up that particular shot, prior to giving the macaque the remote shutter release.
I am also aware that they are only saying that he cannot copyright the picture, and therefore has no monopoly. He cannot prevent anybody from using the photos and cannot require those who do to compensate him. Maybe, if he had done some minor photoshop on this picture that could off worked; but then again no, because the copy write laws also states that photoshopping an image does not make it a completely new work eligible for copyright. I would also think that any image on my camera belongs to me if no other human was involved in it’s making. But, also then again who is to say since we are being kept behind the gates with some of those laws regarding self expressions and creativity.

Chapter 1 (Badke) & New York Times Article

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Dated June 1982, this article in the New York Times by Robert Reinhold goes into details about technology and how it could transform society. Today in 2015; in my opinion we as a society have already reached a conclusion with respect to technology and how societies transformations by modern technology are in full force and we are all being affected daily.
But does modern technology really change the true meaning of family time and life; as suggested in the article; the author mentioned the “profound effect commercial television and automobile had on society in earlier centuries,” In my opinion, I believe anyone living in this century will not want to be stagnant and live where there are not changes and exciting innovations made available daily to them.
I can say from experience, that electronic information made life easier for me in general. In my opinion, the effects on society will be sometimes overwhelming but if you look at he bigger picture recent, modern and emerging technologies can be very beneficial to society as a whole.
William Badke, in Research Strategies wrote about several issues and notions to take into consideration with dissecting “WWW” and its gatekeepers. Electronic information having gatekeepers can hurting the quest for information especially for scholars. I use WWW several times daily and Mr. Badke’s detailed information about accessing and sharing information using technology uncovered information that I was not aware of. I truly believe as stated before that all information related in both articles can be either good or bad and one must educate themself in order to make right choices when it comes to using modern and emerging technologies.

Reading & blogging assignments for Wednesday, February 4

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Hi everyone,

Today we discussed the information cycle [video], reviewed a timeline of information innovations, and discussed concepts from chapter one of Research Strategies by William Badke, especially peer review, open access, and gatekeeping. On Wednesday, we’ll discuss digital text, especially the differences between information that is “born digital” and online versions of print media (are these differences important?)

For Wednesday, please read the following:

Jabr, “The Reading Brain in the Digital Age” and Lepore, “The Cobweb.” Both are somewhat longer than the typical readings I’ll assign, so be sure to give yourself enough time to get through both articles in their entirety.

Your blogging assignment is one reading response blog post. Don’t forget to tag your posts with 2-3 relevant and descriptive keywords.

See you Wednesday!

~Prof. Leonard