Amarillo College Creery TLC Library Instruction PowerPoint Fall 2015

INTERNET SEARCHING:THE SURVEILLANCE SOCIETY

Amarillo College Library

Using Information EffectivelySection 1

“Getting information off the Internet is like taking a drink from a fire hydrant.”– Mitchell Kapor

Why do students need information literacy?

Information literacy is the ability to perform these tasks:• To identify what information is needed.• To understand how information sources are organized.• To identify the best sources of information for a particular need.• To locate those sources.• To use the information ethically, e.g., citing sources accurately.• To evaluate the sources critically.• To share that information.

Source: University of Idaho Information Literacy Portal (adapted)

Why do citizens need information literacy?

Citizens must constantly make important decisions in all areas of life:

CollegePlaces to liveCareersRetirementTaxesEtc., etc., etc.

PurchasesVotingMedical issuesParentingFinancesBuying a home

When you have to make an important decision, where will you look?

Evaluating Web Sites

Section 2

Does the Web site look serious?• What does the appearance

of the page tell you?

• Does it look professional or amateurish?

• Is there advertising on the page?

• What kind of advertising?

• How does it affect the quality of the information?

Does the Web site look serious? (continued)• What kind of tone does

the article have?

• Is it well-written?

• Are there paragraphs? How’s the grammar and spelling? Are there any typos?

• Does the text make sense?

Privacy is mostly an illusion. A useful illusion, no question about it, one that allows us to live without being paralyzed by self-consciousness. The illusion of privacy gives us room to be fully human, sharing intimacies and risking mistakes. But all the while, the line between private and public space is as porous as tissue paper. The adulterous couple sneaking off to a hotel: Is someone following them? The teenagers skipping school to visit the mall: Will they bump into a woman from Mom’s book club? The solitary motorist thrashing an air guitar at a traffic light: Will the driver in the next lane look over? Like children of a certain age who think closing their eyes will make them invisible, we assume that no one sees or hears our private moments, and we’re right—until someone watches or listens.

This was true long before the National Security Agency began collecting our telephone and Internet records from technology and communications companies, and long before the House of Representatives on July 24 gave a fresh thumbs-up to further NSA collections by a narrow 12-vote margin, 217-205. It was true long before a military judge found Private Bradley Manning guilty of espionage for his role in the WikiLeaks case—but acquitted him on the charge of aiding the enemy—on July 30.

Does the Web site look serious? (continued)

• Busy and unattractive.• No information on qualifications.• No details on issue positions.• No information on intentions.• No mechanism for online donations.

• Attractive appearance. Good photo.• “Why I’m running” featured.• Link to learn more about him.• Link to learn more about his position on issues.• Links for contributions and volunteers.

Who wrote this?

• “Von Drehle received a B.A. from the University of Denver and a Master of Letters degree from Oxford. “ Time.com Web site.

• Editor-at-Large page on Time.com site.

• Author page on MacMillan Publishers Web site.

• Author page on Amazon.com.

• Author page on Goodreads.com.

• Is there an author?

• Does the author offer any credentials?

• Is the author an expert or an amateur?

• Is there a link or included information about the author?

• Google the author.

• Google the author’s employer.

• Google awards author has won.• Check Amazon.com.

Who is the sponsor of this Web site?

• Does a particular organization provide the Web site where the article was posted?

• Is the sponsor of the site a reputable organization or a special-interest group that has an obvious bias? How do you know?

• Is there a link or included information about the sponsoring organization?

• Does the organization provide a mission statement?

• Read “About us” or similar section.

What do they say about themselves? What do others say about them?

Who is the sponsor of this Web site? (continued)

Top-Level Domainsedu = U.S. post-secondary educational institutions accredited by an agency on the U.S.

Department of Education's list of Nationally Recognized Accrediting Agencies. A tilde symbol ( ~ ) in the URL indicates that page is that of an individual. http://www.actx.edu/~jkcomerford

gov = Government institutions mil = Military tx.edu or texas.gov = Texas state government institutions org = Generic net = Generic com = Commercial

Who is the sponsor of this Web site? (continued)

Countries:United Kingdom = uk Example: www.parliament.ukCanada = caAustralia = auNew Zealand = nzGermany = de

Photo source: https://emmer.house.gov/issues/foreign-affairs

When was the information written?• Is there a publication date or

copyright date or last updated date at the beginning or end of the article?

• If there’s no date on the article, is there a date on the site’s home page?

• If there’s no date on the article or site home page, can you verify how current the site is from the text or topic of the article?

Page 1

Page 4

Why was this Web site published?

• As a public service? To educate? As entertainment? To sell something? To convince you of something?

• Is the information biased? Is this a bad thing?

Americans’ Confidence in News Media, 1994-2014 (Gallup Polls)

Choose Web sites for research wisely.

Web sites to AVOID for serious research:• Wikipedia et al. • About.com et al.• eHOW• Personal blogs• Forums• Satirical sites

“Limiting our ideas solely to those that are easily found online does little to advance our abilities to create knowledge from information. In this way, tools likeGoogle may be making us dumber.”

Dr. Ryan WatkinsGeorge Washington University

Public Searc

h Engin

es

Section 3

Top 10 public search engines as of October 2015

Google Advanced Search: First section

tricolor rat terrier“rat terrier”miniature OR standard-rodent –”jack russell”10 lb 20 lb

Google Advanced Search: Second section

Google search limited by domain: gov, edu

Google Scholar

Problems:• Old information• Lack of full text• Limited coverage• Payment sometimes required. Don’t pay for articles!

Are you saying I shouldn’t use Google?

Pros:• Often good resource for informal research or simple look-ups• Easy to use• Fast results• Natural Language• Free

Cons:• Information overload• Users determine ranking.• Few full-text academic resources• Advertisements

The answer is, “It depends.”

Public Search Engine Search

Techniques

Section 4

Plan your search. Think carefully. Step 1: Write your topic as a statement or a question. Should employers have the right to monitor employees’ email?

Step 2: Identify the main ideas of your topic. Keep it simple. Should employers have the right to monitor employees’ email?

Step 3: Think of synonyms or other words you could use for the same topic. Employers – Bosses, supervisors, workplace, “big brother”Employees – Workers, subordinates, staffEmail – ?Implied – Privacy, rights, monitorDon’t forget to enclose phrases in quotation marks!

Using the Boolean connector “or” in Google.

employer OR supervisor OR boss employee OR subordinate OR worker email

• 9 Ways Your Employer Can Legally Spy On You

• Workforce Surveillance: Is Your Boss Keeping a Private Eye on You?

• Should Companies Monitor Their Employees' Social Media?

• With Nowhere to Hide: Workers are Scrambling for Privacy

• Monitoring Employee E-Mail and Internet Usage

• Your Boss Is Watching | PCWorld

• Do employers have a right to spy on workers?

• Keep in mind that you are not talking to a person.• Too wordy. Every search term you include reduces the number of articles

that will meet your requirements.• Users should identify the main concepts and use them as search terms.• Sometimes search terms are implied and don’t have to be included.

Doesn’t “surveillance” imply humanity?• Search with just “surveillance” in addition to searching for “surveillance

society.”

Would this be an effective search?

Green, Joshua. “The Rove Presidency.” The Atlantic.com. Atlantic

Monthly Group, Sept. 2007. Web. 15 May 2008.

Quade, Alex. “Elite Team Rescues Troops behind Enemy Lines.”

CNN.com. Cable News Network, 19 Mar. 2007. Web. 15 May 2008.

“The Scientists Speak.” Editorial. New York Times. New York Times, 20

Nov. 2007. Web. 15 May 2008.

MLA examples – Author/No author






Nov. 2007. Web. 15 May 2008.

MLA examples – Editorial/Article title






Nov. 2007. Web. 15 May 2008.

MLA examples – Name of Web site






Nov. 2007. Web. 15 May 2008.

MLA examples – Sponsor






Nov. 2007. Web. 15 May 2008.

MLA examples – Publication date






Nov. 2007. Web. 15 May 2008.

MLA examples – Medium






Nov. 2007. Web. 15 May 2008.

MLA examples – Retrieval date

The End

Amarillo College Creery TLC Library Instruction PowerPoint Fall 2015

Education

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