Wikipedia Audit Experience

I do not believe that Wikipedia should be used as a scholarly source. The strengths of Wikipedia are that it is a quick and easy way to get a decent background on whatever topic you would like to research, but part of the many weaknesses is that this information should be taken with a grain of salt. Another weakness of Wikipedia is even if a piece of information is cited from a legit source, the information could still be misrepresented or non existent. From the source that I audited with my group (Jersey Shore) there was a statistic that was cited from Fox News but never appeared in the article sited...this is problematic because many people probably see Fox News and assume that this is a legit stat, but in reality it is completely fabricated. This example shows that technology is not a reliable source for quick information. If a person is willing to put the research in, i.e. follow the citations, evaluate the sources, etc. then it could be a legit reference, but most people who want to use Wikipedia are using it because they don't want to have to put the extra work in. I think the fact that people can deceive the public by citing a source that has nothing to do with what is being cited is also a problem. It shows that as technology keeps advancing as well as sites like Wikipedia that allow "everyone" to participate, the more you must question everything you read. I learned that Wikipedia is not reliable for anything but getting the "jist" of a topic most of the time. I will never believe anything I read on Wikipedia again without following the citations and really discovering where the information is coming from.

Facebook Effect pt 1

Reading Kirkpatrick's "The Facebook Effect" I immediately expected to read something similar to the premise of "The Social Network", not that there is anything wrong with this assumption (because Mark Zuckerberg is obviously important while discussing this topic), but I was glad to be somewhat wrong. The fact that Kirkpatrick begins the book with a story about a Colombian man who used Facebook to organize a group against FARC (terrorist group who were terrorizing his country) was honestly an amazing intro. Instead of focusing on the standard "college, girls, partying" that one would expect from Facebook, the reader is given a legit example of how powerful, useful, amazing a website like Facebook can actually be when used at it's full potential. The first chapter does eventually move into what is expected when talking about Facebook, and discusses how there are negative aspects to such a website existing (especially in a country like the US), "What does it mean that we are increasingly living our lives in public? Are we turning into a nation--and a world--of exhibitionists?" is the question that Kirkpatrick asks and I find myself wondering very often since Facebook has been a part of my life. The next 2 chapters in the book discuss the standard story that I was expecting it to begin with and I think because I was caught off guard with how interesting the first chapter was, it made me more interested to read these chapters. It was cool to hear about the white board and how Zuckerburg was being taken around New York City to meet big time investors while he was still a sophomore in college. It was also interesting to see how Friendster creator admitted his social network was not built on "new ideas" but rather just modified to enhance older ideas of social networking (which is essentially what Facebook does to dominate the market). The Chapter "Fall 2004" was the most interesting to me because it shows how powerful Facebook or "Thefacebook" was when it tells the story of Harvard's President Lawrence Summer's used the website to check out profiles of incoming freshman students. It goes on to say how it became a standard in many other prestigious schools (Stanford, Columbia, Yale, Dartmouth). In the first 105 pages of this book I believe that Kirkpatrick does a great job of first displaying the power that this website has on a worldwide scale which then gets the readers attention and allows him to begin explaining how the website has gotten to this point.

5 ways that the web is helpful

chegg.com - allows students to rent textbooks for a much cheaper cost

familydoctor.org - contains descriptions/hand-outs for common medical conditions, a great website for anyone with children who has to wait to get into a doctors office

Online Banking - Allows you to view/manage your bank account from home. Quick and simple, but very important to our everyday lives.

OneClickAtATime.org - Charity website with different categories to choose from (children, animal, medical, etc.) where you can donate online quick and easy.

Kik Messenger - Recently got this application for my iPhone. It is essentially bbm (blackberry messenger) that works across iphone, blackberry and droid networks. BBM was a hit but only able to be used by blackberry owners, this app allows for even more "instant" messaging between a larger group of people.