Chris Nolan's Presentation on Searching the Internet for Scholarly Sources

Chris Nolan, an assistant librarian at TU, made a presentation about how to search the Internet for sources that are academically appropriate. I learned a lot from the information he presented. For example, I learned that in a Google search the sites listed first are arranged from the most relevant, popular sites, including sites with the highest frequency of words searched to the least relevant. Word order matters as well. Popularity is not related to the number of times people look at a site, but rather corresponds to the number of times that a site is linked on a search by other websites. Some companies use this feature to their advantage for free advertising, which causes problems for Google.

I was surprised to learn how advanced the Google search engine is. I had never used any other feature besides the "Search" bar. However, you can use the Advanced Search to limit sources to ".edu", ".gov", or any other type of site that you are looking for. You could also type "site:.gov" or "site:.edu" in the search bar. Mr. Nolan explained that wikipedia.com can be a good place to start researching a site, but should never be used in a paper. He also mentioned that ".org" sites, which are linked to nonprofit organizations, are not reliable for academic information because they have a specific agenda to promote their ideas and, therefore, often are slanted towards their beliefs. Another way to find scholarly articles is by using the Google Scholar feature, which lists sites that Google has flagged as scholarly material like journals and books.

Diane Graves' Copyright Presentation

From the overview of copyright laws that university librarian Diane Graves gave, I learned the length of time a copyright lasts, policy about fair use and public domain, and the entertainment industry's manner of tracking down illegal distribution of copyrighted works. At the very start of her presentation, I was surprised to learn that copyright terms for monographs, which are individual works created by a single author, last for the author's lifetime plus an additional seventy years. Furthermore, publications made by corporations own the copyright for ninety-five years after they are produced. I was not expecting that these copyright terms would be so long because I was under the false impression that copyright terms only lasted for fourteen years like they did in the 1700s and 1800s. Understandably, though, many authors and corporations wan to receive credit, and in some cases money, for the publications that they worked so hard to create. However, as Diane Graves mentioned, these terms are so long that the public domain is significantly limited.

The public domain includes all published works that anyone can use without having to ask permission from the author. No copyright infringement issues can arise if they come from the public domain. Strangely enough, however, publications called "Orphan Works," for which no author or copyright owner can be traced, are not part of this public domain in the United States. Since they cannot be lawfully used under copyright laws because it is impossible to know who to ask permission from to utilize the work, these publications are essentially obsolete. Obviously, everyone wants their work protected from unauthorized distribution which could, in turn, lead to plagiarism. The "Orphan Works" legislation seems to assume that the author will find out about the use of his work and some sort of legal quandaries will ensue. If someone wanted to prevent this from happening, the author would most certainly ensure that his name and copyright appeared on the document. Nevertheless, I strongly prefer Canada's policy concerning "Orphan Works." Their laws state that if after a six month search for the copyright still no one can be attributed to the work, it can be added to the public domain. To me, this policy is more reasonable because the public benefits and the author's work can still be appreciated.

Facebook Rules the World

In the online article "Facebook: A Campus Fad Becomes a Campus Fad," the pros and cons of the Facebook social networking program are discussed. Like the students at University of Iowa, Tufts University, and Cornell University who used Facebook to spread the word about campus activities and gain support for public issues, Trinity University also utilizes this network. For example, a facebook group "Trinity Res Life 2012" was formed over the summer to help incoming freshman get to know their fellow classmates and make the transition to college more comfortable. Futhermore, groups are also formed to gain support for athletic events, such as the recent Stauchy Friday basketball game. As a Facebook user, I realize like the artice mentions that Facebook can also be a pathway to hazing and harassment, but I think that these instances are rare. The benefits of Facebook far outweigh the drawbacks and make college campuses more connected and supportive of each other.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1213/p13s01-legn.html