The World Wide Web has proven to provide immediate information available to individuals across the globe. This allows for news to spread and become widely known at a moment’s notice. But with the ability for any individual to broadcast stories and “news” in an unrestricted fashion, how does one determine what is the valid truth?
In an online article I found called, Web Publishing and Educational Scholarship:
Where Issues of Form and Content Meet, which was published in 1997 by the Cambridge Journal of Education, “The pool of distribution can be targeted or unrestricted; for articles posted on Web pages, presumably, the predominant sentiment is ‘come one, come all’” (Burbules, 1997). In this article, Nicholas Burbules, member of the Department of Educational Policies at the University of Illinois, depicts the issues of consequences that may come about due to the ability for anyone to publish their opinion on the Internet. Self-publication has become easy, affordable and convenient yet often bypasses the important step of confirming facts, revision and verifying truth.
Another factor that has been recognized as a concern in this age of unrestricted self-publishing is the lack of effort put forth for error checking. Not only may the facts, details or sources be tampered with, but also one’s spelling, grammar and sentence structure may be incorrect and works may go un-cited. This hardly poses a positive outcome for readers or up and coming scholars.
The Science Publishing Group has recognized the practice for scholars to gain information at a faster pace using what they have named, “Open Access.” This unrestricted format of accessing journals, peer-reviewed work and articles, they say, will accelerate one’s learning. According to this publishing group, “By reducing the barriers that restrict access to knowledge, Open Access maximizes the opportunity for publications to be read and for authors to be recognized for their contribution in their chosen field and beyond” (Science Publishing Group, 2012). Will reducing the barriers of accessing knowledge allow for an influx of decreased accuracy? These are questions that need to be raised. While it is convenient to accelerate one’s access to knowledge, we must make sure that the knowledge is in fact, truthful.
References
Burbules, N. C. (1997). Web Publishing and Educational Scholarship: where issues of form and content meet. Cambridge Journal of Education. doi:10.1080/0305764970270210
Science Publishing Group (2012). Open Access: Science Publishing Group. Retrieved April 9, 2014, from http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/info/openaccess.aspx#what
Hi Becky,
ReplyDeleteI agree that one major problem of unrestricted web publishing is that people often go without citing their sources. It takes time, effort, and research to find and cite credible sources. People (including myself sometimes) like to take the ‘shortcut’ and get things done as quickly as possible. Because source citing takes a lot of thought, it’s a step many people skip. How else are we to know what’s true, though?
Cathy
With the idea of the unrestricted web publishing must come the idea of the audience learning how to check the sources of the information to know what is factual and what is not (Kovach & Rosenstiel, 2010; Montecino, 1998). I fear that is not something that is attainable because it would cause so much more work for people. The truth is that people would have to spend hours upon hours of time research everything that they read about, and the likelihood is that will not happen (Kovach & Rosenstiel, 2010; Montecino, 1998). However if what we are moving to is unrestricted web publishing, then what we also need to be moving to is an audience that checks the sources of the information that they are given (Kovach & Rosenstiel, 2010; Montecino, 1998). If that does not occur, we are going to end up in a world where what is fact and what is fiction are almost indistinguishable (Kovach & Rosenstiel, 2010; Montecino, 1998). Do you have any ideas how we could go about doing that? Is it even possible?
ReplyDeleteReference:
Kovach, B. & Rosenstiel, T. (2010). Blur: How to know what’s true in the age of information overload. New York: Bloomsbury, USA.
Montecino, V. (1998, August). Criteria to evaluate the credibility of WWW resources. Education & Technology Resources. Retrieved from http://mason.gmu.edu/~montecin/web-eval-sites.htm
Hi Becky,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your comment about if the author doesn't take the time to proofread for spelling and grammar that it takes away from the creditability of the article and therefore diminishing the reliability of the author. I find when I am reading an article that has errors throughout that I am leery of the content because if the time is not taken to double check their work why should I believe what they are saying? Also if citing is not being used in an article that is published to inform or teach than the content does not hold as much power.
Great Post!
~Nina