Re: [ARSCLIST] Zits cartoon strip (trying to get back to matters archival)

[steven c <stevenc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tom Fine" <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> See also Britannica's point by point response to the Nature article that
suggested Whacky-Packia is
> as useful/truthful as Britannica (www.britannica.com).
>
> Search engines are just as bad as Whacky-Packia in perpetuating the
Internet as echo chamber for
> rumors, half-truths and out-of-contexts. Most search engines return
results based on being paid to
> favor some pages over others (do some digging and you'll find that just
about all of them have this
> practice -- a "favored return" or something like that). And since kids are
not being taught to
> discriminate about sources and context, to them all results are equally
valid. Plus, if one is
> searching for very specific information, even after years of tuning search
engines, you better know
> some very specific keywords or you will spend hours wading through
garbage.
>
> Now, I'm no Luddite (I prefer "traditionalist ;) ) but I think one needs
to approach real research
> on the Internet, as opposed to leisurely pursuit of curiosity, with great
care and caution. And, as
> I spent a good hour explaining to my niece recently, just because 10 pages
say the same wrong thing
> doesn't mean it will ever be right.
>
I suspect that most 21st-century students...just like many of their
"forebears"...aren't interested in the accuracy or completeness of
the information they acquire via search engines. In most cases, they
are trying to complete papers which they were assigned in their classes,
and are simply trying to find enough information to compose a reasonably
intellectual-sounding document X pages long so they can submit it before
the deadline (and said work may be graded by a graduate assistant who
might not recognize any inaccuracies...)

Steven C. Barr