LIB 1201 | Research and Documentation for the Information Age
Section 9950
Monday & Wednesday 10-11:15 am
A543
Professor Anne Leonard
aleonard@citytech.cuny.edu
(718) 260-5487
New York City College of TechnologySearch site
Meta
-
Recent Posts
Recent Comments
T A G S
assignment assignments badke Blog blogging blogs brainstorming Copyrights databases digital age digital media discipline documentation ethics facebook Fair use Flickr Folksonomy information information_evaluation internet_searching Metadata music non-text_media Online Privacy online_documentation_project openlab pavlik Plagiarism presentation privacy process documentation process_documentation readings research research blog research strategies research_journal research_paper response search engine search engines video Videos Wikipedia
LIB 1201 | Fall 2011s e a r c h
Links
- Campus Computing Centers Computer labs in G600, AG18, and V216
- Campus Learning Centers Tutoring and writing support in 2 locations: AG18 and V217.
- City Tech Library Research help, access to books, articles, and multimedia, a computer lab, and more. Visit in person and on the web.
Author Archives: Lissette
How to clean vinyl records with wood glue
So this is a short how to video showing you the best way to clean your vinyl records. If you buy or collect record albums like me you know that they are very prone to dust and dirt and have to be cleaned regularly to maintain the sound quality and to keep them from damage. Using wood glue is trick that is used a lot by record store employees to really get dirt deep in the grooves. In the video he tells us the best type of glue that will work for this because you have to be able to peel off the glue later. He demonstrates how to apply the glue on the record and offers some tips on how to peel it off and to clean up any residue it might leave behind. It was a very insightful video for me because I have some dirty records that are starting to sound really bad, a lot of static and skipping, but I didn’t want to clean them with water and soap because I know tap water leaves a lot of minerals behind that can mess up the sound quality even more. He didn’t mention it in the video, and he should have, but usually people use water and soap, a cloth or a brush to clean their records that can lead to further damaging a record if you do it incorrectly.
Like A Bioré® Strip For Vinyl…
Just a bonus video. This one is really entertaining because he actually plays the wood glue that he peels off.
Advanced Searching
I’ve really liked using Google Scholar to search for articles. I never knew about it before and I’ve have been finding some good journal articles that are relevant to my subject. At first I was getting a lot of information that wasn’t so good and some that was okay. But using more narrow search terms and boolean searching led me to find some better information as opposed to using broad keywords. Like Badke mentions in Chapter 5 you have to narrow down your topic when searching so you get more of the information you want and not be drowned in information that is of no value to your research. I haven’t tried searching the catalogs yet but after reading Badke’s explanation and suggestions I feel more confident to use them in the future.
Posted in Uncategorized
Databases and Search Engines
Who knew so much goes into just searching a simple topic? I sure didn’t and it may be the reason why most of the time I end up with a ton of information and not quite sure how to decipher it all. Just recently I had to write a paper about symbolism and character development on a story for my literature class. The professor wanted use a database to find sources that backed up our ideas. If I had read Badke’s chapter on databases I could have saved a lot of time not having to sift through a lot of useless information. Badke has a way of putting things into simple context that anyone can understand. Since we usually search with keywords we get a lot of broad information and not quite the exact information we may be looking for because that keyword can come up in many sources that are irrelevant to what you’re looking for. That’s why we need to add commands like OR, AND, and NOT to narrow our results and get exactly what we’re searching for, which I did not know about. We could also use many keywords that need to be included in the search to narrow the number of results and get more relevant information. While search engines and databases are great tools to use we need to be specific in our keywords so we don’t spend hours going through results that are of no value.
Internet Privacy
Both of these reading about privacy on the internet really shed some light on how vulnerable we actually are when sharing information online. We sometimes tend to feel safe because we are hiding behind a keyboard. We can say whatever we want, do whatever we want. But the truth is that everything we do on the web becomes stored data. When we search for a product online or visit a website we’ll more often than not receive ads for that product or site tailored just for us. When you visit a website it creates a cookie that can be retrieved later if you visit the site again. It can also be used to store personal data and passwords so you won’t have to manually enter it again. Sites like Google can use this data to tell you how many times and the last date that you visited a website. And can be used to track searches you’ve made. On Facebook you can see who’s single and who’s in a relationship. Who’s dating who. What sites or groups a person liked. A lot of people find it to be an invasion of their privacy but at the same time we do have some control of what we choose to put on the internet, although not all. And because it’s participatory this makes it hard to enforce strict laws to effectively protect users online.
The Politics of Research
Though Martin’s “The Politics of Research” was quite a long read he really touched upon how research and information is heavily influenced by power and competition. Information has always been held by the elite, those who had power, knowledge, and money. Badke called them the “gatekeepers” and this still holds true today. Though everybody now has access to vast amounts on information we still don’t know everything, whether its the government or a corporation who don’t want certain information leaked to the public. Research that is government funded has to follow a set agenda and they only want to look for a certain outcome. If in the process the researchers discover something else that might be better or is not on the agenda it’s null and overlooked. That is a very narrow minded approach as they feel it would be controversial because of unpopular opinion. This is why Martin raises the question if research should only be held by the experts or by outsiders as well. Where research should benefit the majority of the public instead of just the experts funding it. Like the medical researchers who are more likely to research new drugs to treat a health issue rather than looking for alternative methods that don’t involve the use of drugs.
The Incredible Wikipedia
The guys who invented Wikipedia couldn’t possibly have fathom at the time how big it was going to be . But Wikipedia was so well received from the get go and it exploded with the public. It gave everybody a chance to share their knowledge and be heard. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to experience Wikipedia during it’s inception. The information was probably more trustworthy back then since it was mostly highly educated people who had extensive knowledge on a subject who were contributing. But then regular people also caught on to it’s charm. I use Wikipedia daily and it’s incredible how you can start searching for something and by the time you’ve finished reading you realize you’ve ended up on a completely different page reading about a completely different subject. One of the great things about it is that it’s kind of a big extensive network of information. You’re able to link up articles that are similar or that support the information on the article. It’s a great way to have more common knowledge on a subject but at the same time it shouldn’t be taken to heart although there seems to be a system in place to try to control the vandalism. Most Wikipedia entries have sources linked up with the article so we know where the information was found and one should consult those sources as well if they’re more interested in having an extensive knowledge on that subject. It’s always good to consult different sources and have different viewpoints to fully understand the content.
Distribution of Alternative Media
The reading in Pavlik touched on many points of how we use the internet today for distribution of alternative media. Due to sites like Youtube, Flickr and social media sites like Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter which give alternative media a platform to grow and expand. Pavlik discussed that before we had content available online there was only a small number of privately owned companies who we had to rely on for our information. Before the World Wide Web everything existed in either print publications or local TV news. Now, however, we are able to have more diversity in our sources for media. Today even the lay citizen, who was previously the audience, can have an active role in the distribution of media. How many times have we watched news coverage of an event that happened in another part of the world? Often times they use video footage or pictures provided by the individuals that were there as it was happening. Without that raw footage we wouldn’t be able to grasp the intensity of the situation in the same way if we were just shown the reporters aftermath coverage.
Independent artist also now have more opportunities available to them to distribute their media. Many independent musicians use Myspace to upload home recordings of their songs to reach a fan base and get discovered. Then use Facebook and Twitter to stay more connected to that fan base so it’s more personal, which fans love. Many bands have found success that way since they are able to have their content released much more quickly and it’s easier and more cost effective than trying to find a major record label that will be willing to produce and manufacture their album. In the past few years there has been a big surge of independent artist as more and more are opting to forego record labels and self-release their music. They feel they have more creative freedom to produce the music the way want to rather than what the label feels will sell more. In 2007 Radiohead decided to self-release their album “In Rainbows” as a free download and let people pay what they wanted to pay. They ended up making more money than they did on their previous album that was released through the label and making it their highest chart success in the U.S. So what does the future look like for the recording industry? Serona Elton feels that record companies are still vital since they take care of the distribution of the albums, booking live shows and marketing for the artists. I do agree with Elton on this because like she mentioned with all of these hopeful “DIY” musicians on Myspace wanting to get discovered, many are going under the radar. Radiohead’s success of self-releasing might have been by the fact that they were already well known and have been in the music industry for awhile but it will be much harder for a band that is just starting out to do the same and reach that level of success.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged alternative media, digital media, labels, music, pavlik, private companies, radiohead, serona elton
Blogs and Wikis
Almost everyone today has come across a blog or even has one themselves. It is used as an outlet to talk about things that interest you or to keep people in the know about something. Anybody can have a blog and there is no limit to what a blog can be. It can be used to share your favorite recipes or your photography with other people. You can follow other blogs that interest you or subscribe to them to get email updates when they make a new post. And everybody knows about Wikipedia. We’ve all used it before. You can find just about anything from famous people to plant species. The video on wikis was more informative for me than the video on blogs because even though I’ve visited wikis before I never quite did know exactly what they were and how they were different than any other kind of website. The video helped me understand a little better on what exactly a wiki is and what it does. It allows pretty much anyone to be able to edit a web page with information unlike a website where only the person who runs it is able to make changes. People can add updated information or edit information that was already there. Because of that it allows many users to add their own input instead of a sole person with a single view. This can be a good thing because if you see information that is not true it can easily be edited. On the other hand though since almost anyone can edit a wiki sometimes its validity has to be questioned on whether the information on there is true or false unless it is backed up with facts or a source. I know sometimes when reading something on a wiki page I read something that I know is definitely not true and sometimes people like to add things to be funny. In the example given in the video with the friends planning a camping trip you can see just how helpful a wiki can be.
Response to The Information Fog
While reading the two chapters in Research Strategies I couln’t help but relate to a lot of the points Badke made about how we use technology today to get information. I found myself saying “wow that’s so true” on more than one occasion, specifically relating to finding good reliable sources on the web. Like Badke said “not all information is equal.” Living in the information age it can seem overwhelming the amount of information we have at our disposal. All that is needed on our part is a simple Google search. Just google “egg” and you will get close to 300 million results as opposed to “omelette recipe” which yields just under 2 million results. Sometimes it’s hard to weed through the information to find a real credible source and even harder to find an unbiased one at that. I really liked how Badke described the primary and secondary sources of information. I know when I do research, whether for school papers or out of sheer curiosity to learn more about a subject, I never stopped to think if the information I was reading was the author’s own as opposed to someone’s assessment of the author’s information. I feel after reading these two chapters I have a better knowledge and understanding of how to effectively use different types of research sources, whether books or the web, to write better research papers or even just find a good omelette recipe. If anybody wants to get started on their search for information then Badke’s book will point you in the right direction.
