Should you be judged by your internet communication ?

INTRODUCTION:

Extracted from web guide

Why the internet is so important

By Earl Mardle

A criticism of the Internet by traditional and corporate media is that the net is full of inaccuracies and cannot be trusted. The implication, and often the stated position, is that corporate media are "professionals" and provide a much more reliable service than mere amateurs.

The reality is different as anyone knows who has ever been reported in corporate media, or found an article about something in which they are well informed. The media always get something wrong, perhaps a detail that annoys, often a misunderstanding of the issue, editing that distorts the facts or just plain misquotation that makes nonsense of what you have said or done.

Yet we tend to believe that all the rest of the paper, news bulletin etc is wholly accurate and a moment's thought will show that is not justified. Now Dublin university student Shane Fitzgerald has provided a lens into how the media gets it so wrong, so often.

He posted a poetic but phooey quote on Wikipedia to test how our globalised, increasingly internet-dependent media was upholding accuracy and accountability in an age of instant news.

His report card: Wikipedia passed. Journalism flunked.

The sociology major's made-up quote - which he added to the Wikipedia page of Maurice Jarred hours after the French composer's death March 28 - flew straight on to dozens of US blogs and newspaper websites in Britain, Australia and India.

They used the fabricated material, Fitzgerald said, even though administrators at the free online encyclopedia quickly caught the quote's lack of attribution and removed it, but not quickly enough to keep some journalists from cutting and pasting it first.

A full month went by and nobody noticed the editorial fraud. So Fitzgerald told several media outlets in an email and the corrections began.

"I was really shocked at the results from the experiment," Fitzgerald, 22, said on Monday in an interview a week after one newspaper at fault, The Guardian of Britain, became the first to admit its obituarist lifted material straight from Wikipedia.

But the key to the internal mindset of traditional media organizations is next.

So far,

1. The Guardian and the Herald are among the only publications to make a public mea culpa,

2. while others have eliminated or amended their online obituaries without any reference to the original version -

3. or in a few cases, still are citing Fitzgerald's florid prose weeks after he pointed out its true origin.

The reality is that paid journalists are under ever increasing pressure to deliver fast, first and full on while being denied the actual resources they need both to meet those demands and sustain a professional standard.

The difference with the internet is that there is always someone watching who knows the facts and if they can watch, they also have the tools to correct. Wikipedia editors are just one of guardians at the gates of misinformation; there are plenty of others with blogs, twitter accounts and websites to argue the issue.

The real lesson of the information revolution is that we don't have to trust anyone blindly and we have the tools to check their facts or opinions always at hand. We can also find all their published statements on any particular topic and stack them up against each other, always good for a laugh.

REFERENCE:

Article from web guide

http://webguide.net.nz/2009/this-is-why-the-internet-is-so-important/

Published: 13 May 2009

Is it ethical to manipulate Search Engine Results?

No, manipulate search engine results are unethical and unfairly. The Search engine optimization use techniques that negative search engine terms and conditions to manipulate search results. This gives the industry a bad name.

Should the Government allow you to sign up for a do not track list?

Government should allow to sign up for a do not track list. The Do Not Track list looks great to me. I will be among the first person to sign up. It will give me back the control over my own information.

Should you trust on Wikipedia as an academic research?

INTRODUCTION:
Extracted from BBC NEWS
Students 'should use Wikipedia'

By Alistair Coleman
BBC Monitoring


Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has said teachers who refuse younger students access to the site are "bad educators".

Speaking at the Online Information conference at London's Olympia, he played down the long-running controversy over the site's authority.
He said young students should be able to reference the online encyclopaedia in their work.
Mr. Wales said the site, which is edited by users, should be seen as a "stepping stone" to other sources.

As long as an article included accurate citations, he said he had "no problem" with it being used as a reference for younger students, although academics would "probably be better off doing their own research".
"You can ban kids from listening to rock 'n' roll music, but they're going to anyway," he added. "It's the same with information, and it's a bad educator that bans their students from reading Wikipedia."

In 2005, at the height of the controversy over the site's accuracy, Mr. Wales told the BBC that students who copied information from Wikipedia "deserved to get an F grade".
Mr. Wales said the website still lacked the authority to be used as a citable source for college-aged and university students.

But he said new editing and checking procedures had made Wikipedia more trustworthy.

CONTENT:


Changing procedures
Since the controversy, in which it emerged that the "free editing" policy had allowed articles containing inaccuracies and bias to appear, the site has introduced a system of real-time peer review, in which volunteers check new and updated articles for accuracy and impartiality.
Despite advances in technology, there are no plans to automate this process. "There is no substitute for peer critique," Mr Wales told delegates.
Authenticity of sources

It is this perceived lack of authority that has drawn criticism from other information sources. Ian Allgar of Encyclopaedia Britannica maintains that, with 239 years of history and rigorous fact-checking procedures, Britannica should remain a leader in authoritative, politically-neutral information.

Mr Allgar pointed out the trustworthy nature of paid-for, thoroughly-reviewed content, and noted that Wikipedia is still prone to vandalism.
But Britannica and Wikipedia should not be seen as direct competitors. Wikipedia, he said, had made the use of encyclopaedias "trendy and popular" with young people, which could only benefit Britannica's subscription-led service.
Content licensing

Jimmy Wales also said that the Free Software Foundation would be rolling out a new version of its free documentation licence, which Wikipedia may adopt.
“We are red cross for the information. We won’t sell out to Google”. (founder Jimmy Wales)
Although Wikipedia allows users to copy, modify and redistribute information, commercially or non-commercially, the new licensing regime, based on the existing Creative Commons scheme, would "bring Wikipedia into line with the rest of the free content culture", if adopted.
Mr. Wales reiterated his commitment to keeping the Wikimedia Foundation free of corporate sponsorship, and of major donors who might want control of online information.
"We are the Red Cross for information. We won't sell out to Google," he said.
The foundation is, however, expanding into the search function, with July's announcement of the Wiki a search facility which combines open-source searching and social networking.
"This is a political statement against proprietary-driven software tools," Mr. Wales said. "Wiki wants to give people the maximum freedom to do good."

BBC Monitoring selects and translates news from radio, television, press, news agencies and the internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages. It is based in Caversham, UK, and has several bureaux abroad.

CONCLUSION:
All in all, Wikipedia is valuable source of information for all levels and field of studies.


REFERENCE:

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/technology/7130325.stm

Published: 2007/12/07 08:04:40 GMT
© BBC MMX

A VISIT TO A MUSEUM

museum is a place used for storing and displaying different objects,illustrating different cultures,natural history,art and craft.It aims to bringing before public mind new things discovered and new researches made.lahore museum is one of the great museums of pakistan.it is situated in the centre of the city, on the mall near anarkali.another part of this museum exhibiting anicent and modern armour is lodged in th lahore fort. the outward appearance of the muesum building presents a grand and magnificent sight as it is a massive and lofty. the lahore museum.the sorrounding parks and garderns also present a glorious spectacle.

when, we visited the lahore museum the man at the gate gave us a brass-token and we went inside.it looked as beautiful and grand inside as from outside. the internal beauty of the museum was rather enhanced by the materials which were elegantly arranged in the hall.there were antiquities antiquities both of foreign and native origin. The antiquities of native origin were numerous than the foreign relics.The thing that interested me most was the dress gallery .There were a displayed a vareity of people in their local dresses.There were also shown the dress of primitive inhabitants.Tribal pathans with their long thick dress and robust constitution were also there.There dress displayed their warlike habits and their stern looks showed their high sense of honour and dignity.Besides,there were specimen of various clans.then,there were the dresses of the english people who had ruled over india in the 18th century.

The next thing that arrested my attention was the display of arms.both anicent and modern.There were many types of bows,arrows,armours,sheilds,guns,cannons,helmets,pistols,revolversclubs abd many other kinds of ancient and modern offensive weapons. Standing before them i could well study the ancient and modern modes of warfare. It also reminded of the influence each new invention in the modes of warfare had wielded on the politics of the country of origin. close to these were arranged musical instruments bearing strange and uncommon names. they gave an account of the glories of classical music and the heights of excellence it had attained in the days of yores.

arts and crafts gallery was also very interesting.there were drawing and painting of all times and of all ages hanging side by side. in a single gallery one could see the best models of different style paintings.

of these the moughal miniatures and portraits had the greatest fascination for me. the modern school of painting was also represented. the oil colur and water colour paintings of some of the great masters, gave me a very good treat. sometimes i was lost in admiration for the exquisite beauty that the artist had represented in these paintings. in a well-illuminated corner there were speciemen of carpets,pottery,embroidery,needlework,engineering appliances,photographs, prepared by various artists. the agricultural products of different places were also arranged there.

Museum have an importantance of their own,specially in a country like pakistan. here the best tradition of our past stand shoulder to shoulder modern productions of arts and industry. with one careful glance we are able to find the aesthetic contiunity through distances in time and space.thus, by just visiting a good museum we learnt what cannot be learnt from whole liberary of books.here we see life,not in frangment,but in totality.