tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5759844.post5225731058896985913..comments2024-03-21T14:59:20.729-04:00Comments on NT Blog: More on how to engage with WikipediaMark Goodacrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05115370166754797529noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5759844.post-23476125635266021172007-08-21T13:53:00.000-04:002007-08-21T13:53:00.000-04:00Dr. Goodacre wrote: "Of course I'm all for hours i...Dr. Goodacre wrote: "Of course I'm all for hours in the library. I practically lived there for a decade in Oxford, and I'm the kind of person who still feels a warm glow, a sense of eager anticipation when I go through the doors of the library here at Duke. Yet, even when through the doors of the library here, the first thing I see is a bank of computers, all down the left hand side as one walks in. And there are faculty and students there accessing academic resources."<BR/><BR/>One distinction worth remembering is that those "academic resources" are typically found in commercial databases to which libraries subscribe. My middle-sized state university library now spends over $500,000/year on commercial databases, which chiefly provide online access to academic journals. One connects to the databases via the Internet, but the actual search and retrieval remains in a database.<BR/><BR/>I am sure we all appreciate the free, open access academic resources which increasingly pepper the Internet, but do not forget to support your local library. The caution that "you get what you pay for" still applies, and if libraries cannot purchase database accounts, then those resources will not be conveniently available.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5759844.post-8619399163464985352007-08-20T08:06:00.000-04:002007-08-20T08:06:00.000-04:00Thanks for posting on this Mark! (I suspected you ...Thanks for posting on this Mark! (I suspected you would!) I've blogged it as well at http://exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com/2007/08/whats-wikipedia-worth.html and so won't repeat here what I wrote there. Just thought I'd share it...James F. McGrathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02561146722461747647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5759844.post-35819634985616574192007-08-19T09:32:00.000-04:002007-08-19T09:32:00.000-04:00Good on you, Mark, for encouraging your students t...Good on you, Mark, for encouraging your students to engage any resource critically!<BR/><BR/>Part of the reason the internet is such a valuable resource is that it makes many resources available quickly. This enables research to be pursued critically much more readily than the perusal of print resources. Not that the internet should replace research of print resources, but the process of critical evaluation can happen so much more quickly (and broadly) using the internet. <BR/><BR/>I have sometimes found that Wikipedia touches on a wider range of issues relating to a topic (and links to related articles) that aren’t always covered by more specialist resources.<BR/><BR/>I've blogged about this more at AGAPHSEIS.blogspot.comZephyrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03535537338626840403noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5759844.post-28234484310911081162007-08-19T02:37:00.000-04:002007-08-19T02:37:00.000-04:00Before the advent of the internet, poor/lazy stude...Before the advent of the internet, poor/lazy students would quote anything in print that they could lay their hands on uncritically. Good students might well quote the same sources, but they would critique them rather than offering them as "proof" of anything. <BR/><BR/>Teachers don't say "don't trust anything in print not recommended to you by your instructors or experts in the field" because they recognise that no-one can stay on top of what's being published. The same approach should be taken to the internet. Students should be taught to be critical readers, not to trust things experts say. Morton Smith used to be a trusted expert once. :-)<BR/><BR/>And, as you say, Mark, the internet is not monolithic.Judy Redmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04350638846246966802noreply@blogger.com