Chris Nolan's Presentation

Yesterday, Chris Nolan visited our class and gave a very informative presentation on searching the Internet. The focus of his speech was on how we can find high quality information on the web. Today, a plethora of search engines are used by college students, including Google and Yahoo! Contrary to what many students think, the most popular web pages are not necessarily the most useful sites for research. Usually, they aren't even scholarly sources.

Before the presentation, I had no idea that Google Scholar, a search engine for scholarly articles, even existed. On Google's website, anyone can find high quality information for research assignments or for general knowledge by using this search engine located under the "more" link. One thing that surprised me was how easy it is to avoid commercial sites when using a search engine. For example, I can type in :.edu or :.gov after what I am searching for to seclude commercial sites from the relevant links that are found. Overall, the presentation was very helpful and the information I learned will help a lot for future assignments.

Copyright Presentation

During class yesterday, Diane Graves visited to give us an interesting copyright presentation. She told us how easy it is to violate copyright laws and how few people on campus really know what the laws entail. The first copyright laws, which date back to the 18th century, were established to give authors the right to hold limited rights on their published works. Though one of their many intentions for the new laws was to spark innovation and invention, many people abused the system and violated the laws without really understanding the consequences. In recent years, organizations like the RIAA, MPAA, and ESA have been cracking down on college students for stealing music and movies off of the internet. Through file sharing computer programs, students have been able to easily download entire movies and popular songs without having to pay a cent for the works. Many students, however, feel that they aren’t doing much harm by downloading free entertainment. In my opinion, I lean more towards the side of keeping free file sharing programs in existence. Though I don’t participate in it and it is stealing, there is evidence that it has inspired more people to attend a singer’s concert or an actor’s movie because it gives the user a chance to listen to or watch an artist’s work.

Facebook

Facebook is a great social utility. Most of my friends use it frequently and I try to log on often to see my messages (sometimes school-related) and what events I've been invited to. It is also great to use for staying in contact with friends from high school. In a university environment, it allows users to access other users profiles who happen to be a part of the same network (unless the user changes his or her privacy settings). I've heard of teachers making Facebook accounts and adding their students in order to send messages, post class time changes, etc. It can be extremely useful since almost all students spend more time on Facebook than they do on their school e-mail pages. However, it can also be harmful. Students can easily become addicted to Facebook and spend hours browsing profiles and pictures. It has also been used for sexual harassment, hazing, and threats. Students should be aware of the many problems associated with Facebook and use it with caution in order to prevent addiction. I do feel that it is necessary and beneficial in a university environment. Here's a link to a good article on Facebook in college, http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1213/p13s01-legn.html.