On The Media

1) Our Privacy Delusions: The part I found most interesting about this segment was about the third party providers subject of it's terms. It basically explained that they own your data and can do with it as they please. A provider such as Google has a terms of service and privacy stating they won't give up your data, however they are not required to do so. I think this is important because even though a person may think their data/ info is safe the provider can do whatever they want to with it.

2)How to Sort Good Information from Bad on Twitter: I found a statement made during the segment to be very true and interesting; "Twitter is only as useful as the people you follow." This is true because usually people follow just their friends or other people that post nonsense half of the time. The guy that made the statement had a friend that was trying to find out where would be losing power during a storm. His friend had been calling the company all day long, but after he tweeted to the company's twitter, they responded within 5 minutes. I think is it good for people to know that certain people or companies you can follow can give you good, helpful and reliable information, opposed to normally just following friends or celebrities.

3)Facebook's New Social Search: Something about this segment I found most interesting was the fact that Facebook has quietly updated their privacy rules so that no one is allowed to avoid searches. There has been one bata testing company that has used this. There is now a graph search on Facebook meaning that other users can find people based on their likes and declared interests. This is good to know because instead of people having to know your name to find you or search for a person, they now have the ability to find anybody based on things they have like, and it is good for a person to be aware of this new change to watch out for people they do not know wanting to request a friendship.

4)Facebook vs. Europe: The part about this segment I found most interesting is that even when a person clicks to delete something, the info or data is not truly deleted. This is good to know because it should make people more censored and think twice about what they are posting or uploading because it is truly not deleted if they decide to take it down. Also in Europe, Facebook gives people the option to opt out of tag suggest, but after asking 3 times it will automatically opt a person in. This is good to know because even if a person doesn't want it, they will have it regardless and may be tagged or tag people in something that isn't even them. It isn't such a big deal because it is in Europe but should definitely be monitored.

5)That Little Thing Called "Like": Something I found interesting about this segment are the analogies used to describe the reason people use the like button on Facebook. It said people use it as a self presentation. It related this to a person smoking one brand over another or reading one magazine over another. The statement it is a means of of projecting yourself as you wish to be understood. This isn't too important for people to know, it just is an eye opener as for people to watch out for what they like because it could possibly be portrayed as something about their character.

** The two segments I found to be most related were "Our Privacy Delusions" and "Facebook vs. Europe". Although they do not go hand-in-hand with one another, they both make references to info posted by and uploaded by media users. In "Our Privacy Delusions", third party providers have subject to it's terms and privacy policies stating they won't give it up, but they are not required to do so. In "Facebook vs. Europe", it explains that any info or data posted that you wish to delete and may think you delete, really is not deleted. These 2 segments relate because even though people think they have privacy and control over their information or accounts, they really truly do not have half the authority over it. People just need to be a lot more careful and censored with what they put online.  

In Class Post #10

There have been many skills covered that will greatly benefit my college years. I have learned about so many new search engines that Ihonestly did not even know existed. These would include the databases within Galileo and Galileo itself. I had heard of Galileo but never really knew what it was. We have leanred how to determine whether or not a source is reliable by using the CRAP test. This was extremely helpful to me because I had never paid attention to any of the CRAP test evaluation: dates, author, information within, ect. It has helped to me find the most valuable, reliable, and credible sources pertaining to my research topic. Learning how to do and actually writing an annotated bibliography helped greatly. It made me understand each of my sources in a better manner and helped narrow down or decide which sources would be of full help to support my research. Another aspect of the class that has been taught is presenting the information that has been found. We have already had one presentation and by doing so, it helped me to hear my research out loud and get feedback from co-classmates. All of the skills and tols we have aquired will definitely benefit me in the future and another classes. When writing papers in English, I now can determine whetehera source is good or bad to use. Also when starting my graduate classes, the tools will help me to use reliable sources, dig much deeper into my research, write annotated bibliographies, and will help with presenting the information and research i have found.

In Class Blog Post #9

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mike-owens/608945297/

This photo was uploaded from a user by the username of Paranoid Black Jack. The real name of this user was not given. The uploaded picture was taken by the actual user, making him the photographer. The title of the photo is "Snow Lepoard." The restrictions state that some rights are reserved; attribution, non-commercial, and no derivative works. The attribution restriction does not allow me to use the photo without citing the source of the picture. The non-commercial restriction on the picture does not give me the right to use the photo to make a profit. Also, the non-derivative restriction given means that I cannot build upon or alter the work. Each restrictions can be waived, but only if permission is given by the photographer/uploader of the picture.

Snow Lepoard [photograph]. (2007). June 18, 2007. http://www.flickr.com/photos/mike-owens/608945297/

Annotated Bibliography

An annotated bibliography is basically a summary of the sources a person has used for and in their research. Summarizing can entail assessing, reflecting, or evaluating the sources that have been used. Writing an annotated bibliography in class will greatly benefit our research for each topic. Instead of just having the citations and information of sources, there will be an actual summarization of the sources so more information and details can be drawn from each source. Writing an annotated bibliography can also help to form a strong argueable thesis, that can be better supported. It can help a person to better understand their topic and the different aspects or opinions of the topic they have. I belive annotated bibliographies will be greatly helpful to my research now and also in the future, and I am glad we are learning how to do them and what they are about.

In Class Blog Post #8

Special Collections is an area located on the bottom floor of the Ingram Library, that basically has different materials (articles, newspapers, photographs, ect.), that are very rare from different places. Special Collections would be useful or beneficial to a research project because you could find different sources that may not be found somewhere else, or that has very specific details or information of your topic. Along with usuing Special Collections for a project, primary sources could be very helpful as well. Primary sources would give you first hand, unedited information of your topic. This could benefit your research because you know for a fact the data had not been altered or changed. Even though the primary source material may or may not be old, it is still the original source and is where any other information or details, elaborating on that source, came from. These sources could help to answer questions relating to, but not restricted to, how something started?, the origin of a certain topic, person, place or thing, or it could give you photographs that have not been altered or edited throughout the years. Primary sources and Special Collections could definitely benefit a person doing a research project, and it may be something I look into throughout any research I perform.

In Class Post #7

The two databases I examined today were ERIC (at EBSCOhost) and ABI/INFORM COMPLETE (at Proquest). My groups topic is bilingual, and my individual topic if marketing. Therefore, the two words I chose to search for were bilingualism and marketing. Although most information was of the same sort, I did find some different varieteies of information throughout my search. For the most part, the abstracts of articles I read from ERIC included articles about British students giving a presentation to French people, the relationships between bilingual and marketing from women in two different countries, and the relationship between bilingualism and international trade. This database did not give me any subject filter options. However, when looking at the database ABI/INFORM COMPLETE, there were many subject filters given: bilingualism, studies, hispanic americans, target market, marketing, advertising, consumer behavior, and many more. The inforamation from the article abstracts of this database included codeswitching, effects of using a second language in the brain process, and how when translating a marketing message, it might not have the same meaning. Each databaseincluded information on the relationship between bilingualism and marketing, but had different approaches to the topic. I felt that these databases gave more direct information to my search topic, and was more helpful. It narrowed down the results to a lot less than the other day.  Using each database would differ for the assignment or topic. However, I would definitely use the two databases my group looked at today for my research because they had very helpful information related to my research topic.

Filter Bubbles

I believe that filter bubbles can be good, but can also not help you too much at the same time. The filters only give you results based on the information the filters think is what you're looking for, when in reality may not be exactly what you were wanting to search for. if you were searching for non-academic information, then the filters would definitely be helpful. However, when it does come to academic researching, research usually requires looking through mostly all and any information to make sure you get the best research of all the information needed for your topic. if filter bubbles are present, it will only show sites such as most recently viewed and visited or only the supporting sites of your information. This limits a person to finding the most accurate and best information for their research. By popping the filter bubbles, this might greatly help a persons research. I can definitely see how each of the ways explained to pop the filters(burning cookies, deleting history, making information more private, ect.), can benefit the reseacher greatly. I believe it would be a good idea to try these in the future to help with my researching and not limit me to certain sites.