On this page are the assignments for Monday of Week Three. 

DEADLINES: You should have your assignments completed by Thursday, June 3, at 7 p.m.

Within a week after 9-11, I received this photograph three times from various people via email. You may have received it yourself.

It purports to show a tourist getting his picture taken at the World Trade Center on 9-11, just before the first plane hit. The camera supposedly survived the destruction.

Each person who forwarded the message to me explained that he or she could not be sure that the photograph was "real." It, of course, was not.

Evaluating information found on the Internet has become an extremely important subject. You can find or get lots of information from the Internet. But what good is that information if you cannot be sure it is correct? If it is real?

It's a busy week. You have five tasks:

1) I would like you to read another brief presentation I've prepared that gives you criteria for the evaluation of information:

3-Evaluation

2) You should supplement that with:

Elizabeth E. Kirk, "Evaluating Information Found on the Internet," a site created by the electronic and distance education librarian at the Milton S. Eisenhower Library at Johns Hopkins University. Here's a copy if that link doesn't work.

Then, using this work, please send me an email answer to the following research exercise:

3) Research Exercise: Evaluating Information

Here's the scene: You have graduated and are working at your first job. Knowing that you’ve taken an Internet research class, your boss assigns you to do research on a difficult topic: global warming.

You get to work. You first compose your search strategy.
You then go to a subject directory to compile a list of possible topics. You then try a preliminary search on Google.

Your search yields 537,000 hits. Among the top ten are:

www.epa.gov/globalwarming/kids
www.globalwarming.com
www.globalwarming.net
www.globalclimate.org

If those links are down or under construction, you can also use:

www.biblebelievers.org.au/green.htm

www.nationalcenter.org/NPA177.html

Are these sites useful to pass along to your boss? Use the SCOPE criteria from my presentation (and refer to the supplementary reading) to evaluate the sites you find. Prepare a report, 1-page in length, evaluating each site for your boss. About a paragraph or so on each site. Remember use the SCOPE criteria. And then send the report as an email or Word document to me.

4) JAYSON BLAIR & THE TECHNOLOGY OF PLAGIARISM

Spring 2003 brought one of the most incredible and interesting stories of plagiarism to hit journalism in a long time. Maybe ever.

As you may know, a young New York Times reporter Jayson Blair, spent much of his short career at the Times telling his editors that he was on assignment for various stories when in reality he stayed home, apparently with drug problems. He was able to write his stories by stealing from other people's work and looking at digital photographs.

The story has lots of angles. But one of them is technology: Although sometimes Blair just made up facts, mostly he took from the Internet. He could never have done this without the Internet.

I want you to know about Jayson Blair. Please read this short Newsweek story on him. (If you are interested, the Times devoted a four-page story to the situation.) Then read this fun column that points out the technology issues.

5) Once you read and have thought about these issues, please go to our online discussion area at http://bb.lehigh.edu and talk about them. Share with your classmates: What do you think about Jayson's Blair's situation? How much did technology play a role?

Then, let's get personal. Technology has made plagiarism easier. Do you know of instances of plagiarism at Lehigh? Take a look at Lehigh's Academic Integrity page. Have you seen or heard about the online term papers? Is plagiarism a problem on campus? How much thought have you given to technology and plagiarism?

Run through the checklist. Make sure you have five tasks covered. It's one of the joys of online learning. You can learn in many different ways

Just a heads up: Your first research essay is due Thursday, June 10. It will be an interesting project on a social or political issue raised by Internet research. Please check Grading so you can get started early.

If you have any questions, just email me at jack.lule@lehigh.edu.

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