Comment on Capurro

Capurro's article "Towards an Information Ecology" is incredibly difficult to read. Why do academics and authors on subjects like these have to be so obscure and jargonistic in the way they write? Do they want to appear really smart? Make us all think we 're stupid? It seems ironic to me we are discussing communication here and this author has failed miserably - with me anyway. Idiot. And it really annoys me that he can't spell.
On the other hand, Stalder is straight forward ... mostly.

Great sites for webdesign

Not that I'm ever going to be a web designer, but I need all the info I can get to help me thru this course. The other guys doing this course have passed on some great sites.

http://www.webdesignfromscratch.com

Module 5 - Information ecologies, literacy and more

Just finished reading the first two articles. Have had a huge amount of work to do in the past fortnight, and no time for this unit. But the reading has been great. What I really like about both Purdue's (portal: Libraries and the Academy, Vol 3, No. 4 (2003) pp 653-662. Copyright 2003 by The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD 21218) article and Nardi's (http://www.firstmonday.org.issue4_5/nardi_chapter4.html) , is the idea of information literacy, and information ecologies, or environments as dynamic, growing, interactive spaces. That research, and the gathering of information is a journey and should be inspiring as well as instructive - like our old stories.

One down two to go.

So Assignment 1 is in. This will be interesting. Now on to Module 5 - concepts and th einternet. Great - I like this stuff. Wish I had more time to really get into it.

Mod 4 - which resource would I use?

Definitely the Internet tutorial site by Laura Cohen. It suits my needs as a basic advanced internet user. The first page lists all the info covered - thats all you need to see to checkout whether its going to help you navigate the net.

good concept to pull in here:
In the era of the 'attention economy', readers and users of Internet information must be carefully craft, in their own minds, the kind of metadata which will – almost instinctively – 'fit' with the metadata of the information sources they want, so that – in the few brief moments of initial exchange, when a seeker of information encounters information being sought, rapid, effective judgments are made that 'pay off' in terms of further reading, accessing and saving.

Mod 4 - task - evaluating the web

This task asks us to pick our best source from the previous task and analyse it using the following guidelines.

1. Purpose: Determine whether the main purpose of the site is to inform or to persuade (advocate for a cause).

2. Author: The best sites are produced by those who have appropriate education, training, or experience to write with authority on the topic. Check site documents or external sources to find out more about the author.

3. Content: Consider whether content seems biased. Does the author have a "vested interest" in the topic? Look for documentation of claims and a balanced point of view.

4. Coverage: Shop around for the best source. You can compare the page to others on the same topic to see which provides better coverage.

5. Currency: If you are looking for the most current information on a topic, be sure to determine when information was added.

6. Recognition: Also try to determine whether the site has been recognized as exemplary, either in reviews or by others linking to it.

I would choose the 'internet tutorial as this contains some great reading and resources on all the subjects we have been studying.

Here's my annotated analysis:

http://www.internettutorials.net/internet.html

This site is maintained by maintained by Laura Cohen, Web Support Librarian, University at Albany, SUNY.

She may be reached at lcohen AT uamail.albany.edu.

This really seems to be written for people wanting to learn more about how to use the internet. The language is neutral and informative. There seems to be no bias. The site covers all the basics our course is looking at. It is easy to read and easy to use. It follows a very logical format.
Although there are not a great deal of resources listed, there is a 'whats new' link that describe show the site is being put together and what the latest developments are. You wouldn't use this in isolation from ANY other resource but it is so well written that I will read it again and again to clarify issues.

For ASS 3 - why did I choose that software and saving methods?

Used paste and copy for urls, snapshot using paint for images, searched with metacrawler - best results.