Unrestricted Web Publishing

            For the assignment this week we are to visit an online article and determine the validity of the sources that are used. The guidelines to use to research each source is from the document listed below (Montecino, 1998). While searching for an article to do for this blog I found it hard to find one with at least a few cited sources, but found an article about the recent wildfires in Northern California (Gunnison & Nagournay, 2014). The main source that is used for this particular story is the New York Times website and also some quotes from the District Attorney for El Dorado County Vern Pierson. The story follows the wildfire that is believed to be due to arson in Placerville, California. Since it has been started the fire has been given the name of “King Fire” and has engulfed over 71,000 acres.

            For researching the main article page of being on New York Times makes the article seem to be a good source. The article meets all of the qualifications in the above mentioned article to be a reliable source. I have used this site on several occasions for both breaking stories and also the entertainment side of things with seeing what is going on in the lives of celebrities. With my history of using this site for news I have never question the validity of any of the stories. With regards to the Montecino article, according to the domain name this is a commercial site and therefore one of the main jobs is to bring in money usually from advertisement. One aspect of the article that helps develop its validity is the fact that there is contact information for the actual building to be able to do your own research or to ask questions. This article uses good information and seems to be used to give information of this horrible event that is happening in the state of California at this time. 

      One of the reasons that I find this article to be interesting is that I have been out to the area that this wildfire is effecting and also have a sister that lives just North of this area. Although my sister and her family are okay she tells me that she can stand on her front porch and see the smoke rising into the sky from this fire.

            One thing that really helped me with the credibility of this source is the history that the New York Times has since it has been around for several years and seem to be concerned with only given factual information. The problem, to me, of unrestricted web publishing is the same as plagiarism. I say this to the point that everything must be checked and therefore writers must be careful of what we do put onto the web. All-in-all though this is a great website and I use this site, and will continue to use, to get information and news of the day that interest me.

References

Gunnison, R. B., & Nagournay, A. (2014, September 18). Man is Arrested as Norhtern California Wildfire Rages, Threatening Thousands of Homes. Retrieved from New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/19/us/king-fire-in-northern-california-spreads.html?ref=us

Montecino, V. (1998, August). Criteria to Evaluate the Credibility of WWW Resources. Retrieved from mason.edu: http://mason.gmu.edu/~montecin/web-eval-sites.htm

Social Media and Truth.

For this week I will be discussing social media and its use of both research and what is true when it comes to social media.

1. Name one thing you learned using social media site today and explain why you believe it is true.

I believe that one of the most interesting thing that I have learned this week –via- social media is the identity of “Jack the Ripper”. I have always been interested in history, especially when it comes to issue like The Ripper and the Salem Witch Trials of 1690. One reason that I find this story interesting is that during the time there were no leads to the identity of the killer or reasoning behind the killings. According to the article the writer states that DNA was retrieved from a shawl that was left at one of the crime scenes leading to the identity (Writers, 2014 ). One issue that I have with this thesis of the identity is the idea of the shawl being left behind. All the readings that I have done and documentaries I have watched regarding this legend always said that there were no evidence ever left behind. The idea that evidence was left behind make it hard for me to believe this article completely. With the idea that the DNA was taken of the shawl brings another question to mind. The question of where they had DNA of the immigrant that they believe to The Ripper to make a match? With all that said I do believe that if they were able to get a sample of DNA then the case has been solved. If so then, for me, it has lost some of the magic in that the idea that these murders were done and no one know who the attacker was always fascinated me.

2. What source did you use to acquire this information? 

After first siting a post on my Facebook wall I clicked on the link and it took me to the Herald Sun website in which is where I read the report.

3. Are social media sites reliable for obtaining credible information?

I believe that the different social media sites can be a great tool to get different stories and be transported to more reliable sites. The use of social media as a tool is a great thing, but if using social media is your only tool for finding reliable and credible sources than that is where the problem lies. With this idea I am also aware that it is very easy to falsify a story on the different social media sites. As stated above, the use of social media sites in search of stories can be a great tool but generally causes more work than normal. When using a social media site the need to dive further into the story and make sure of the sources used is more important than ever. Another issue that can arise with using social media as your go-to for news is the ability to personally check the sources is limited. Take a local news story for instance, if I wanted to check something out personally I could. All I would have to do is just drive to the location and check for myself. As with the above story, if I wanted to check the sources or evidence I would have to traveling a lot further and currently do not have the time.

References

Writers, N. (2014 , September 7). DNA tests "prove" that Jack the Ripper was a Polish immigrant named Aaron Kosminski. Retrieved from Herald Sun: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/world/dna-tests-prove-that-jack-the-ripper-was-a-polish-immigrant-named-aaron-kosminski/story-fni0xs61-1227050842205?nk=d016626647cec73934266a95afd9182d

Influence of the Media

Throughout the history of mankind, the ability to communicate with others has been the top condition for both survival and community. The first known instance in which humans have tried to reach out for more than face-to-face communication were the cave drawings dating back to 15,000 BC (Kovach & Rosenstiel, 2010). This indicates the importance of communicating with others even for the primitive race during these times.

            Now let us fast-forward a few thousand years to the age of technology and new techno-toys. The rate that in which technology advances is mind blowing and will only get faster. On a personal level the main form of New Media that I use, not only on a daily level but, on a hourly level is my smart phone. I use this device for all my contacts, calendar, and will even sometime use it to actually talk to someone on the phone. It is weird that something that derived from the old land line services can now be used for so much more than just to talk to people. As I am writing this I am at work in the local airport waiting to clock in and I currently have seven people around me in which all of them are on their phones in one way or the other. Not one of them are actually talking on the phone through. Other than using my phone for work or emergency reasons the next big way that I personally use my phone is to keep up with news of the world.

            At this time I am a full time supervisor and also taking two graduate level classes for working on getting my Masters of Arts degree. For this reason I do not have the time to get my news from the traditional sources of watching the news programs on the television of reading a newspaper. The main way that I get my information on either the events of the day or a news story is usually from my Facebook account. In this way I am able to pick which stories I am interested in and weather I want to spend the time to read it or not. Although this is my main source for news I am aware for the need to be cautious of what I read in the truthfulness. I do sometime find my viewpoint on any given story influenced by what others are saying on Facebook. I love to take in all the different viewpoints of others before I decide in full what I fell about any subject, but in the end I do lean toward what I believe is right within my soul.

            I do believe that social media and the different forms of new media are a positive aspect of influence. In this way the idea of always having to keep up with the technology, and that if we do not use all the available tools that we have. Janet Kolodzy call this idea “convergence journalism” in her book on this subject (Kolodzy, 2013). The tools that she mentions are the different new media tools such as video, graphics, and social media.

References

Kolodzy, J. (2013). Practicing Convergence Journalism-An Introduction to Cross-Media Storytelling. New York: Routledge.

Kovach, B., & Rosenstiel, T. (2010). Blur: How To Know What's True In The Age Of Information Overload. New York: Bloomsbury.