Archive for the ‘Information Literacy’ Category
Wednesday, February 11th, 2009
As Mainstream Exits D.C., Niche Media Tide Rises
The growing exodus of mainstream reporters from the nation’s capital has ceded much of the turf to a new, more specialized kind of journalism.
Just as newspaper, magazine and television bureaus here are shrinking or shutting down at the dawn of the Obama administration, high-priced newsletters and trade publications are filling the breach. Climate Wire, an online newsletter launched last year, now has more Washington staffers — 10 — than Hearst Newspapers.
“This dramatically changes what gets covered and how,” says Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, which surveys the new landscape in a report released yesterday. “As the government is getting bigger and playing a larger role in our lives in an activist era, there are fewer reporters monitoring that on behalf of the general public.
“The niche media cover trees, not forests. . . . They’re generally not involved in watchdog, exposé journalism that by its very existence is a check on malfeasance.”
Source: Washington Post
See also: As Mainstream Media Decline, Niche and Foreign Outlets Grow (Project for Excellence in Journalism)
Posted in Access to Information, Information Literacy, Search News | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 27th, 2009
Wikipedia: The Missing Manual Posted on Wikipedia
The Missing Manuals series, published by O’Reilly Media, today announced the migration of its book about Wikipedia to Wikipedia. As of today, the entire contents of Wikipedia: The Missing Manual (O’Reilly, $29.99) by John Broughton is available for free online for editing and updating just like any other Wikipedia entry.
“What makes this project different than any of the other zillion books online today is the format we’ve chosen–a wiki,” explains Peter Meyers, Missing Manuals’ managing editor. “Book viewers will be able to do all the same things they do on any other wiki: view the document, edit it, add to it–in short, whatever they want. The book is going to reside in the site’s Help area, naturally, since the book is all about helping people edit and navigate their way around Wikipedia.”
Adds Meyers: “Once it’s live, our hope is that the Wikipedia community will flock to the book and ‘curate’ it by adding tips, tricks, and by updating the material to reflect changes to Wikipedia since we’ve published the original edition. Down the road, when it comes time for us to consider publishing a second edition of the print book, we’ll think about whether to incorporate some of the community’s changes into the new edition.”
Source: O’Reilly Media, Inc.
Posted in Access to Information, Information Literacy, Search News, Source File, Technology and Internet, Web 2.0 | No Comments »
Sunday, January 25th, 2009
From the News Release:
The British Library and JISC have commissioned a major new study into the information seeking and research behaviour of young scholars born between 1982 and 1994 – commonly dubbed ‘Generation Y’.
The study will track a number of researchers over a three-year period, analysing their activity and habits in online and physical research environments. The study will also assess their usage of library and information resources, both on and offline. The research subjects will be doctoral students beginning their PhD programme in the academic year 2008/09.
Source: The British Library
Posted in Information Literacy, Information Seeking, Search News | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 6th, 2009
From the News Release/Report:
Online news sites are now second only to recommendations from friends as the nation’s primary trusted source of information, according to new research unveiled today by TNS.
Online news is ‘highly trusted’* by two fifths (40%) of those polled – second only to recommendations from friends which is the most trusted with almost half (45%) of respondents in the study stating that they highly trusted this source. Three quarters (75%) of UK respondents stated that they had ‘looked up the news’ when asked what they had done online in the last month – further emphasising the ascendancy of online news sites. The story of online news seems to be globally widespread with an average of two fifths (40%) across all 16 countries in the report trusting online news in this way.
Source: TNS (via DocuTicker)
Posted in Information Industry, Information Literacy, Information Seeking | No Comments »
Saturday, January 3rd, 2009
This workshop is scheduled to take place at the WWW Conference this April in Madrid.
From the Abstract:
As computers and computer networks become more common, a huge amount of information, such as that found in Web documents, has been accumulated and circulated. Such information gives many people a framework for organizing their private and professional lives. However, in general, the quality control of Web content is insufficient due to low publishing barriers. In result there is a lot of mistaken or unreliable information on the Web that can have detrimental effects on users. This situation calls for technology that would facilitate judging the trustworthiness of content and the quality and accuracy of the information that users encounter on the Web. Such technology should be able to handle a wide range of tasks: extracting credible information related to a given topic, organizing this information, detecting its provenance, clarifying background, facts, and other related opinions and the distribution of them, and so on. The problem of Web information reliability and Web data quality has become also apparent in the view of the recent emergence of many popular Web 2.0 applications, the growth of the so-called Deep Web and the ubiquity of Internet advertising.
Posted in Information Literacy, Technology and Internet, Web 2.0 | No Comments »
Saturday, January 3rd, 2009
From a Post by Jimmy Wales:
Since July 1, more than 125,000 of you have donated $4 million. In addition, we’ve received major gifts and foundation support totaling $2 million. This combined revenue will cover our operating expenses for the current fiscal year, ending June 30, 2009.
Source: WikiMedia Foundation
Posted in Databases, Directories, and Guides, Information Literacy, Search News, Technology and Internet | No Comments »
Friday, January 2nd, 2009
Risks of Admissions Marketing on Facebook
As admissions officers search for new ways to interact with Facebook and other social networking sites, the results have been slow in coming. Efforts to create popular user “apps” have found few takers. Admissions offices are finding that their stretched employees don’t have the time to monitor the myriad sites and pages – let alone respond to every negative remark that pops up on collegeconfidential.com.
And now, the “College Prowler” incident demonstrates the potential misuse of social networking in college admissions. As reported on this Web site, an online college guide called “College Prowler” created authentic-looking “Class of 2013” Facebook pages for over 200 colleges. Accepted applicants seeking to connect with potential classmates turned to those pages, and they (and some savvy admissions officers) noticed that these were designed not by admitted students, but by a higher education business interested in viral marketing.
Rather than a one-time scandal, this incident should be seen as a warning of potential pitfalls for admissions officers hoping to use social networking to attract the best prospects, and students who believe that social networks are a space they control. These cyber-squatters were probably interested in (the somewhat benign) goal of marketing specific products and services to targeted students preparing to enter college. However, it doesn’t take a large logical leap to imagine more controversial approaches — including concerted efforts to disseminate negative information about colleges. Despite the overall collegial relationships among admissions officers across institutions, that next step seems possible, if not likely.
Source: Inside Higher Ed
See also: Did Company Use Fake Facebook Groups to Market to Students? (Wired Campus/Chronicle of Higher Education)
Posted in Education, Information Literacy, Search News, Social Media, Web 2.0 | No Comments »
Monday, December 29th, 2008
Expert and Consumer Evaluation of Consumer Medication Information, 2008
From press release:
A study released today by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration found that the printed consumer medication information (CMI) voluntarily provided with new prescriptions by retail pharmacies does not consistently provide easy-to-read, understandable information about the use and risks of medications.
The study, Expert and Consumer Evaluation of Consumer Medication Information, showed that while most consumers (94 percent) received CMI with new prescriptions, only about 75 percent of this information met the minimum criteria for usefulness as defined by a panel of stakeholders. In 1996, Congress called for 95 percent of all new prescriptions to be accompanied by useful CMI by 2006.
“The current voluntary system has failed to provide consumers with the quality information they need in order to use medicines effectively and safely,” said Janet Woodcock, M.D., director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “Because the congressional goals have not been met, the FDA intends to seek public comment on initiatives that can be used to meet the goals.”
+ Executive Summary (PDF; 64 KB)
+ Full Report (PDF; 2.4 MB)
Source: U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Posted in Information Literacy, Papers and Presentations, Search News, Source File | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008
From the summary:
It’s no mystery that publications have been taking a beating as more and more people read their news on the Net. But there’s a catch. The online info may be instant and abundant — and in many cases free — but it may come at a cost, says a new study published in the Journal of Research in Reading.
Source: Scientific American
Posted in Information Literacy | No Comments »
Thursday, December 18th, 2008
From the survey news release:
1 per cent of web users are unaware of how Internet Search Engine results are compiled, according to research released today by Fasthosts Internet Ltd, (www.fasthosts.co.uk), the UK’s number one web hosting company. The study of 1600 UK consumers(1), which focused on the public’s day-to-day use of search engines, found that the vast majority of Britons either have no idea or an inaccurate view of how online search results are determined. The research also found that consumers today have a strong preference for ‘Organic’ or main search engine results as opposed to additional ‘Sponsored’ links which website publishers pay to display, with more than 1 in 3 (38 per cent) choosing to ignore these when they appear.
As our gateways to the Web, Internet Search Engines are the most commonly used websites for the majority of UK web surfers. However, Fasthosts’ ‘Online Search Matters Survey’ found that over two thirds of consumers remain in the dark about how the search engine results they use come about. Whilst 97 per cent of those questioned frequently use search engines, only 29 per cent are aware that search results are ordered according to a combination of relevance to search terms and optimisation techniques used by the individual website owners.
Source: FastHosts.co.uk
Posted in Information Literacy, Information Seeking, Search News | No Comments »
Thursday, December 11th, 2008
Overload! Journalism’s battle for relevance in an age of too much information
While it’s true that the Web allows the average individual to create and disseminate information without the help of a publishing house or a news organization, this does not mean journalism institutions are no longer relevant. “Oddly enough, information is one of the things that in the end needs brands almost more than anything else,” explains Paul Duguid. “It needs a recommendation, a seal of approval, something that says this is reliable or true or whatever. And so journalists, but also the institutions of journalism as one aspect of this, become very important.”
Moreover, the flood of news created by the production bias of the Internet could, in the end, point to a new role for journalistic institutions. “We’re expecting people who are not librarians, who are not knowledge engineers to do the work of knowledge engineers and librarians,” says Jonathan Spira, CEO and chief analyst for the business research firm Basex and an expert in information overload. In other words, most of us lack the skills—not to mention the time, attention, and motivation—to make sense of an unrelenting torrent of information. This is where journalists and news organizations come in. The fact that there is more information than there are people or time to consume it—the classic economy-of-attention problem—represents a financial opportunity for news organizations. “I think that the consumers, being subjects to this flood, need help, and they know it,” says Eli Noam. “And so therefore they want to have publications that will be selecting along the lines of quality and credibility in order to make their lives easier. For that, people will be willing to pay.” A challenge could become an opportunity.
In fact, journalism that makes sense of the news may even increase news consumption. As Jay Rosen points out on his blog, explanatory journalism creates a “scaffold of understanding in the users that future reports can attach to, thus driving demand for the updates that today are more easily delivered.” In a similar fashion—by providing links to background information and analysis alongside every news story—the BBC gives consumers frameworks for understanding that generate an appetite for more information.
See also: Trimming the Hedges: Web jungle, Web garden—you decide
Source: Columbia Journalism Review
Posted in Access to Information, Information Literacy, Search News, Technology and Internet | No Comments »
Saturday, December 6th, 2008
Matrix helps students weigh internet research
For anyone doing research online, the abundance of information available can be overwhelming–and so can the task of sifting out unreliable information. Now, a pair of researchers hopes to give students a method for assessing the reliability of material they find on the internet, whether it’s in Wikipedia articles, YouTube videos, or blogs.
In a paper they recently presented at a teaching symposium, North Carolina State University English professor Susan Miller-Cochran and Rochelle Rodrigo, of Mesa Community College in Arizona, suggest that students be given a sort of checklist to explore as they consider online–and offline–texts.
The two main questions they encourage students to ask are: How does the information change over time–is it constantly updated and revised, or static? And, how has the information been reviewed?
Miller-Cochran stresses that just because something has been published in print does not make it a reliable source. Such doubts could arise about self-published books, for example. Conversely, online materials are not necessarily inherently unreliable.
The professors’ published guideline (PDF; 15 KB) is formatted as a matrix of questions aimed at helping students decipher what should be used in a research project and what should be ignored.
Source: eSchool News
Hat tip: The Kept-Up Academic Librarian
Posted in Information Literacy, Resources for Educators, Source File, Technology and Internet | No Comments »
Friday, November 28th, 2008
Group think: The turn to online research is narrowing the range of modern scholarship, a new study suggests
But perhaps the greatest boon is the sheer quantity of readily accessible knowledge. Millions of journal articles are available online, enabling scholars to find material they never would have encountered at their university libraries. From classic psychology studies to the most esoteric literary theory, it’s all just a few clicks away.
A recent study, however, suggests that despite this cornucopia, the boom in online research may actually have a “narrowing” effect on scholarship. James Evans, a sociologist at the University of Chicago, analyzed a database of 34 million articles in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities, and determined that as more journal issues came online, new papers referenced a relatively smaller pool of articles, which tended to be more recent, at the expense of older and more obscure work. Overall, Evans says, published research has expanded, due to a proliferation of journals, authors, and conferences. But the paper, which appeared in July in the journal Science, concludes that the Internet’s influence is to tighten consensus, posing the risk that good ideas may be ignored and lost – the opposite of the Internet’s promise.
“Winners are inadvertently picked,” says Evans. “It drives out diversity.”
Source: Boston.com
Posted in Access to Information, Education, Information Literacy, Scholarly Publishing, Search News, Technology and Internet | No Comments »
Wednesday, November 26th, 2008
Cyberchondria: Studies of the Escalation of Medical Concerns in Web Search
The World Wide Web provides an abundant source of medical information. This information can assist people who are not healthcare professionals to better understand health and disease, and to provide them with feasible explanations for symptoms. However, the Web has the potential to increase the anxieties of people who have little or no medical training, especially when Web search is employed as a diagnostic procedure. We use the term cyberchondria to refer to the unfounded escalation of concerns about common symptomatology, based on the review of search results and literature on the Web. We performed a large-scale, longitudinal, log-based study of how people search for medical information online, supported by a large-scale survey of 515 individuals’ health-related search experiences. We focused on the extent to which common, likely innocuous symptoms can escalate into the review of content on serious, rare conditions that are linked to the common symptoms. Our results show that Web search engines have the potential to escalate medical concerns. We show that escalation is influenced by the amount and distribution of medical content viewed by users, the presence of escalatory terminology in pages visited, and a user’s predisposition to escalate versus to seek more reasonable explanations for ailments. We also demonstrate the persistence of post-session anxiety following escalations and the effect that such anxieties can have on interrupting user’s activities across multiple sessions. Our findings underscore the potential costs and challenges of cyberchondria and suggest actionable design implications that hold opportunity for improving the search and navigation experience for people turning to the Web to interpret common symptoms.
+ Full Paper (PDF; 532 KB)
Source: Microsoft Research
See: Microsoft Examines Causes of ‘Cyberchondria’ (New York Times)
Posted in Information Literacy, Papers and Presentations, Source File, Web Search | No Comments »
Tuesday, November 25th, 2008
Peace Corps Warns Public about Bogus Internet Dog and Animal Scams
The Peace Corps’ Office of Inspector General (OIG) is warning the American public to be vigilant against internet scams involving pet adoptions from Africa by a person or persons claiming to be affiliated with the agency.
“Since February of 2007, we are aware of seven U.S. citizens who have been victims of a pet scam,” said Peace Corps Inspector General Kathy Buller. “We want to let the public know they should be careful in responding to ads for pet adoptions overseas, especially if the ads claim some type of Peace Corps affiliation.”
One victim responded to an Internet ad about a Yorkshire Terrier puppy allegedly being given away by a Peace Corps Volunteer in Cameroon. The victim made a wire transfer to acquire the puppy before realizing something was potentially wrong. Earlier this month, the OIG received notification of an internet scam for an English bull dog also located in Cameroon.
Source: Peace Corps
Posted in Information Literacy, Search News, Technology and Internet | No Comments »
Monday, November 24th, 2008
The Wisdom of Crowds of Librarians Is on the Way—In Time: Reference Extract
Google can sleep easier—for a while, at least. A flurry of press coverage suggesting that “radical, militant librarians” —as the FBI refers to members of this profession—were heading its way turns out to be a little previous. While experts from three top library and information science institutions have begun a process that they promise will lead to a new search engine with a new infrastructure designed to emphasize authoritative content, the process is at very early stages yet. According to R. David Lankes, Ph.D., director of the Information Institute of Syracuse (http://iis.syr.edu) and associate professor at Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies, a product roll-out for Reference Extract (http://referencextract.org) is not expected to take place until sometime in 2010. The other two institutions involved are the University of Washington’s Information School (www.ischool.washington.edu) and OCLC (www.oclc.org). The MacArthur Foundation (www.macfound.org) has provided a $100,000 planning grant, which should lead to a full proposal in 2009.
Source: Info Today NewsBreaks (BQ)
Posted in Information Literacy, Libraries and Librarianship, Search News, Web Search | No Comments »
Saturday, November 22nd, 2008
NAS Announces Initiative to Connect Entertainment Industry With Top Experts
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) announced today the creation of “The Science and Entertainment Exchange,” an initiative designed to connect entertainment industry professionals with top scientists and engineers to help the creators of television shows, films, video games, and other productions incorporate science into their work. The Exchange represents the Academy’s first formal effort to reach out to the entertainment community and provide the creative minds of Hollywood with a direct connection to the creative minds of science.
…
Relying on the special connections available to the NAS, the Exchange can make introductions, schedule briefings, and arrange for consultations for anyone developing science-based entertainment content. Endorsed by the Directors Guild of America, Writers Guild of America, Producers Guild of America, the Entertainment Industry Foundation, and Women in Film, this new resource is being promoted to all levels of writers, directors, producers, and others in the entertainment industry. Professionals involved in the creative process may contact the Exchange to be connected with scientists, engineers, health professionals, and other experts for help with their productions and stories.
+ The Science and Entertainment Exchange
Source: National Academy of Sciences
Posted in Information Literacy, New Websites and Resources, Science, Search News, Source File | No Comments »
Thursday, November 20th, 2008
Who’s Who to vet U.S. vets after Tribune report
Who’s Who, the country’s biographical reference standard since its founding in Chicago 110 years ago, spends up to $1.5 million a year checking the educational and work histories submitted by those listed in the volume.
But military decorations? “We never thought anybody would be dumb enough” to lie about those, said Who’s Who publisher Jim Pfister, so Who’s Who never vetted those. Now it will.
Pfister, himself a decorated Vietnam veteran, decided to do so after a Tribune investigation discovered that a third of the medals for valor claimed by hundreds of Who’s Who “biographees” are not supported by their military records. “We will change some of our processes in scrutinizing the awards section,” he said.
See also: Claims of medals amount to stolen valor
See also: Top excuses for unverified medals of valor
Source: Chicago Tribune
Posted in Information Industry, Information Literacy, Search News | No Comments »
