Opening Our Eyes to a New Online Accessible World

Three readings and one video were to be read today, I’m here to discuss them all so that as a class we can better understand what’s going on. Starting with the video, “Is Google Knowledge”, that can be located at Youtube, Hank Green goes on a tirade about whether or not Google is considered “knowledge”. The argument is if we as individuals use Google as a search engine to get information does the process of us having to do this count still as still having gained knowledge. Basically are we cheating ourselves by googling anything we wonder about. Does it make us stupid and/or lazy by having this information at our fingertips?

In comparison Professor Melissa Terras’ piece, Reuse of Digitised Content, discusses the multiple changes she’d like to see in regard with creative reuse of digitised cultural heritage content. A bit of backstory on the content she’s referring to, it is in reference to works such as paintings, sculptures, photographs, etc that galleries, libraries, archives and museums are making public online for individuals such as you and I to access. Terra herself applauds this action on the basis that this access has allowed individuals to create pretty neat things with the works they are seeing such as fabrics, corsets and notebook covers to name a few things. The issue she sees with this unlimited access though is that there are poor search engines, too few works with copyrights, not enough information on how to get copyrights and poor image quality.

The next reading after, by, Dr. Ernesto Priego called, “Some Tips for WordPress.com Beginners”, discusses a multitude of definitions that one should know if interested in blogging (or interested in being relevant with youth today). In addition, Priego uses the published blog of Ryan Cordell to give helpful tips on how one could have a successful blog/ blog post if interested. Examples of this come from all the information that was gathered by him in regards to having a catchy byline/authorship, permalink, Bio/About Me page and categories.

The last reading titled,“Putting big Data to Good Use”, by authors S. Graham, I. Milligan and S. Weingart, examines the positive outcomes that occur when published works get transferred and become accessible online. The example the authors use is the Old Bailey, which covers over 197,000 trials in Britain. The scholars that were tasked with this not only brought Old Bailey online but assisted in creating formats that would help anyone who was looking over it to be able to research specific cases easier by having for example, key words and suggested trails. Authors Graham, milligram and Weingart also discuss the lack of historians being apart of this digitizing process. Though few have slowly made strides to become more involved there is still a scarcity of methods being taught in regards to how to accomplish such as feat as digitizing old works in the historian field itself.

From the three readings that were mentioned connections can be made between them. The first connection that I saw was that all three were written in a type of blog format. There were even instances in which an author would ramble on and catch themselves in the act. They’d let a reader know that whatever was said may have been a rant with no coherent meaning. In regards to content itself all the readings discuss the manner in which accessibility to the online world whether it be through the reuse of digitized content, an online blog or the transferring of online data, has been helpful. Helpful in manners that they themselves did not see possible up until the point they began to appreciate it through the research of a topic of interest to themselves. Being able to have access to the internet is key to one expanding their knowledge and these readings are proof of the wonders that the internet holds. What could have possibly not been imagined decades ago it seems as though online accessibility has reached the farthest corners and will continue to do so.

 

QUESTIONS TO BE POSED:

Is there anything you know of that you have not been able to find accessible online and would like to see accessible?

Do you feel as though as students we have not taken as much advantage as we should be being able to have access online through most all of our smart devices? And why?

Having gained knowledge about certain topics we may or may not have known about before, how do you see yourself spreading awareness about them? Or do you think these authors wrote what they wrote with no real intent on widening the consciousness about the reuse of digitized content, online blogging or the transferring of online data?