Spa Tek

Web Facts

Increasingly the Internet is being used as a research tool. It is a perfect medium, as papers, discussions and ideas can be displayed, and left to fester until they stimulate another mind into action. There are dangers, not always appreciated by those who enter the occasional word in the Google search box.

The choice of word is very important, and it best to take some time to think about that, and then to try a variety of words and phrases. All search engines have their own systems, and it is also worthwhile to look at the way it enables advanced searches.

Most importantly you must realise that the Internet is unsupervised. Anyone can put anything on your screen. You must exercise discretion and assess the failure of each contribution to see how it fits into the jigsaw of knowledge. This is not a tabloid newspaper, where you know the facts have been distorted to meet the wishes of the paper's owner (although not everyone understands that).

The increasing use of open source is allowing bias to be removed. One great example is at www.wikipedia.com, an online dictionary that has been created by contributions from many thousands of people. Anyone can add material to the site, and change anything put there by someone else. The task is to hone and perfect each section using our combined intelligence. It is a great resource, and should be one of the first places you start any search. It is better than search engines, more refined than search directories, it is a fund of knowledge. Use it, contribute to it.

posted by Suffolk Notes @ 8:31 am