News 5

Second Strife
Emma Cowing
The Scotsman

The article I read dealt with the growing danger of the virtual program Second Life in which people can create a character and move through a virtual world meeting new people. In this case a 13 year old named Meghan Meier was roaming around her virtual world when she thought that she had met a 16 year old boy when in reality it was simply a construct made by her own friend to torment her. Upon being constantly berated by the cyber predator she committed suicide by hanging her self in the closet. Other stories include a 40 year old who wife caught him talking to another female in Second Life and they immediately got a divorce. Other horror stories have occurred including one man buy a gun in second life then killing his family before killing himself. Online virtual suicides have also become a growing phenomenon in Second Life. These acts simply prove that when people step into a world without boundaries they become worse, not better. In response to reading the article I found more than one thing disturbing. Most notably that people would take a virtual world so seriously that they would be driven to commit crimes or get divorced. Secondly in the case of the 13 year old girl her took her own life I blame in part he own parents who apparently did not have sufficient communication with her.

Reading Report #5

"Web Hoaxes, Counterfeit Sites, and Other Spurious Information on the Internet"

I would like to say that I was surprised at just how much flase information, scams, and harmful material is available on the web, but it is to be expected when something exists that is as expansive as the internet. Web hoaxes are everywhere some more decieving than others. Some of these hoaxes can be avoided through the use of discretion and common sense. Some hoaxes are obvious and should be easily avoided, others are a little more in depth and may require the cross referencing of information across other sites and print resources. Even though some websitesmay have some of the same false information which has been the case even with reputable news sources. Sites like wikipedia have tons of useful and accurate information however it also contains false content. Some of the more harmful internet sites may include a company selling products that do not exist, other sites may lead you through a string of popup ads, while others may be uploading a virus onto your computer. These websites are often the hardest to detect and can inflict the most damage. The best thing to do when surfing the internet is make sure that you use discretion, cross refence, and use some common sense. If something seems to good to be true it often is, and if something you read is so far off the wall that you do not think it could be true then make sure you research the topic before believing it.

Reading 4

I found Brock Read’s article “Can Wikipedia Ever Make the Grade?” interesting and informative, mostly because I was not aware of what went on behind the scenes of Wikipedia even though I use it quite often. It seems that Wikipedia is on the right track to being considered a credible source even though some of the postings are false they act quickly to fix the errors. The author seemed to be pushing the credibility of Wikipedia by pointing out how professors and scholars disagreed with the site because it did not give them preferential treatment over the common man, and you also got the sense that the professors who posted false information were a little surprised when there posting were quickly deleted. Another fact I found to be interesting was the control that the site’s editors employed, not only do they delete false postings but also pay close attention to the length of postings and commonly condense postings to preserve the site’s concise nature. The article did show that the system was not perfect by pointing out some lingering false information that has yet to be changed, however these errors were minor for the most part. Can Wikipedia ever make the grade was the question asked by the author and personally I believe that through continued and fast editing along with the expansion of postings by scholars and experts Wikipedia can become a more credible source and possibly even considered scholarly. Overall the idea of a website that contains facts on virtually any subject that can be imagined is useful and should be expanded.

News Report 3

Google is taking on Apple in the race to information supremacy. Google is set to release its own mobile phone on October 22 2009. The new G1 phone is going to cost $179 that’s twenty dollars less expensive than apple’s cheapest iPhone. However, the G1 is going to incorporate certain features that no other internet phone can match. Google has to decided to unrestricted the operating system known as Android that the phone is based on. This will allow 3rd party tech. Groups to develop programs for the phone that can be downloaded through the company’s website. Blackberry and Apple have not opened up their technology in quite the same way Google will. The new G1 will also have enhance abilities to connect to corporate email servers, and like the iPhone will be able to operate off of WiFi. Google feels that by not limiting what programs are available for the phone it will greatly benefit the consumer while setting them apart from internet phone producers.
I think that it is great that Google has decided to create a product that will compete with iPhone as well as others. When a company as massive as Google can produce technology innovations such as the G1 it helps out the public tremendously, not only by forcing other companies to drop prices to compete with google, but it will also allow for the public to have more access to information along with allowing the 3rd party developers to create programs that will keep us connected more than ever.

Reading 1

Thomas Frey’s, “The Future of Libraries Beginning the Great Transformation” is an informative article dealing with how libraries have progressed through time, and what the future may hold for libraries. Frey also provides a guide stating what will be required of libraries as technology changes and evolves.
Frey explains how libraries were instrumental in the preservation of DaVinci’s work and that libraries were more like archives in the medieval times. Libraries have since transformed in multimedia learning stations that not only house books but also provide internet access along with videos and other research materials. Even though libraries have become more and more advanced they still need make technological leaps to better serve patrons. Frey identified ten current trends that directly affect library patrons: Communication systems are constantly changing the way people access information, all technology ends, we have no reached ultimate small particle storage but we soon will, search technology will become more complicated, time compression is changing lifestyles, over time we will transfer to a verbal society, the demand for global information is growing, the stage is being set for a new era of global systems, we are transitioning for a product based economy to an experience based economy, and libraries will change from centers of information to centers of culture.
Frey feels that libraries must embrace new technology along with preserving the past. Libraries can incorporate things such as pod casting and blogging to enrich the library experience. But with all the new technology libraries must preserve the past of their community.