Disclaimer: While most of my posts have been dealing with social networking and other online communities, this post was inspired by our recent class which dealt with plagiarism and online content. So, a slight switch of gears.
Websites are to referencing what Marmite is to spreads. Vastly inferior.
That's what my uni career so far has shown me, at least. When it comes to referencing, almost anything is preferred to websites -- books, journals, newspapers, conference papers, edited books, papers, even films. Over and over again, my tutors have drilled into me that websites should be used sparingly, if at all, as references, and if they are, they must be "reputable".
I'm not saying this is unreasonable. Anyone can publish a website; you can write whatever you want, filter-free. Ripping information from a website is also much easier with copy and paste functions (although it's still not recommended; people still can find out, it's just less obvious). Books, on the other hand, aren't like that, and nor are newspapers, or journals, or conference papers, or films -- you can't plagiarise them easily, and they are a much more definitive source of credible information. It makes sense that websites aren't indiscriminately taken as gospel.
It's interesting to think that in a world where most people are informed by the web, the web is considered the least academic -- and arguably the least reliable -- source of information. I think I speak for most people when I say that, if I have some information I'm looking for, nine times out of ten I will go to an online source like Google, rather than borrow a book. Yet this information is, to educated people, considered the least reliable of any source.
How does this affect what we know? Will there one day be a system in place of "reliable" websites and "non-reliable" ones, rather than the hit-and-miss system of today where you guess the best you can whether a site has reliable back-up? Any thoughts?
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I think that you're right, academics should accept websites as reliable sources, but there is a fine line, because as you said, anyone can put anything they want up on to those sites. Yet, I think that most people can distinguish between what's reliable and what's not.
ReplyDeleteI mean, I've referenced sources from the web for so many of my own assignments and I haven't encountered a tutor/lecturer who has had a problem with it. From speeches and press releases to news articles, there are just some things that you can't find anywhere else.
Nice post Cheryl,
ReplyDeleteLike you, the web is sometimes the first place I go for a quick snap of information on something I'm looking for.
I'm really hasty about using websites too - they just don't seem academic enough unless of course it's an e-journal.
What I've started doing recently is avoiding the temptation to use the Google main search engine for academic work and instead use Google Scholar or Google Books in the hope that if I do stumble upon something worthwhile on the web - it's that little bit more 'academic'.
Shamina
I think that quality researching on the internet was impossible 5-10 years ago, but not anymore. If you take a look at the references of any scholarly publication you'll see that they themselves use websites.
ReplyDeleteNaturally, you have to be smart about it. I think the best way to go is by starting your research in journals and books and through them you'll learn which websites are trusted in the industry.
There are some really intelligent and qualified leaders in this industry of digital publishing, for example, whose work is almost entirely web-based, like Jay Rosen and Jeff Jarvis.
Gosh just realised my typo! "weary" and not "hasty" it should have read, haha!
ReplyDeleteShamina
Hey
ReplyDeleteOh I love google - I could not live without it - I am shocking when it comes to searching for stuff online as I am straight to Google and just find everything. I am like Sham - I like to go by the fact that e-journals provide me some academic points.
I don't like it how academics discredit online sources seeming they are the ones plugging technology and the need for us to always get in touch with the digital world.
I must admit I am pretty lazy when it comes to checking out books knowing that google/random web pages give me all the answers I need.
A bit cheeky but it gets the job done :)