CO1007: Evaluating Resources - Recently Updated Pages

Wikipedia - what is it good for?

tm141 — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 15:34:24 CST

Go to Wikipedia and search for Computer Ethics

• Think about what do you find useful about Wikipedia? What are the problems with Wikipedia?

• You may find it helpful to read - strengths, weaknesses & article quality in Wikipedia

Post a Pro & Con to the list below:
To add comment click the Easy Edit button. Add your name to your comment.
If you cannot think of a new Pro & Con to add to the list then say which you agree with.

PRO

Covers a huge amount of topics (Selina)
Easy access (mani)
Allows anyone to add information (Tamish went over the top)
Fast access (Tamish went over the top)
Easy to use (Tamish)
Powerful Search Functionality (Tamish)
Ability to create more pages (Tamish)
Its a free service (Tamish)
Also functions as a worldwide news source (Tamish)
Users can revert changes easily if required (Tamish)
Can be downloaded for Offline Viewing (Tamish went over the top)
Biggest Database of Knowledge (Tamish went over the top)
Articles with incorrect information are quickly flagged (John)
gives a broad view of the search (sym)
Related links make for a useful tool when searching a given topic (Rakesh)

CON

Gives 'rel=nofollow' for links thereby not giving credit to sources (Tamish went over the top)
Prone to spam (Tamish went over the top)
Sometimes information against companies or an individual is removed (Tamish went over the top)
Only covers some topics superficially (Selina)
Unreliable sources (mani)
Editable by everyone (kat)
Vandalism!! (Tom)
Specific information may not be available (John)
It depends on the writer's opinion(Andreas)
An administrator should check any new topic and then add it to the page.(Antonis)
Topics less frequently searched are often innacurate as less people view them to make corrections (Ben)

Evaluating Online Resources

SinghIsTiger — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 11:14:49 CST

Evaluation Criteria	Questions to ask when applying the criteria
Intended audience	Who is the intended audience for this website? Is it aimed at researchers, undergraduates, general public, school children, customers etc?
Authority and Reputation	Does it name the person or organisation responsible for writing the site? Are they qualified to provide this information? Is the resources well known? Is there any obvious bias to the site e.g. a company promoting their products, a charity arguing their side of a case? Are there contact details and links to more information about the person/organisation providing the site?
Subject coverage	Is the site an overview of a topic or an in-depth look at a specific aspect? Does it cover the subject adequately? How does it compare with other sources on the same subject?
Accuracy	Does the information provided seem accurate? Has the information provided been through any editing or peer-reviewing process? Does the information have a basis in research, and if so, are links/references to this research provided? Is a bibliography provided? Does the site have a lot of spelling or grammatical errors? Is the information factual, propaganda or an opinion piece?
Currency	Does the site say when the information was written? Does it state when the site was last updated? How frequently is the site updated? If references to research are provided is it to recent research?
Ease of use	Is the site easy to navigate? Is it easy to find and link to the information you are interested in? Does the site take a long time to download, e.g. due to large graphics? Are images used illustrate points or merely as decoration?

Do you have any other tips for evaluating resources?

No
None that come to mind...
Nope
Not Really
Nah
Nah nah

How about using journal articles?

nstudent — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 11:03:03 CST

Journals are similar in format to magazines, but specialise in publishing articles on a particular research area.

The following two journals are recommended by your lecturers as being suitable for 1st year students:

Have a look at the online versions of the two journals, and see if you can find any articles relevant to your assignment.
Click on the journal link and then click on "Go To Title"
Most journal websites allow you to search within the journal for articles of interest..

Comment on whether you think the journals will be useful and why:

They are no so easily searchable and views/opinions will only be provided by a limited number of individuals [Jon]
Restricted audience, looking for specifics (Tom) (2nd alm)
easy access
How bout adding a nice search feature (Tamish)
Very easy to use(John)
Reliable,citeable and accepted by your university

Library Catalogue Recap

tm141 — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 11:01:27 CST

Many useful resources can be found on the web, but don't forget about the good old fashioned textbook!

Textbooks are usually written and edited by experts in a topic, and can therefore be excellant sources of information.

To see what books are available to you use the Library Catalogue

Remember to use a selection of different keywords to find what you're looking for.
E.G. Computer, IT, Ethics, Law, Professional.

Can you recommend any keywords to use, or books you have found on the catalogue?

Computing
Java
Automatic Essay Generator
Discrete Mathematics??
Beginning programming with Java for dummies :D
Architecture

Object-Orientated
How to make easy money in 12 hours
Are you paying too much for your car insurance?
Any of the 'for dummies' books :)
Discrete mathematical structures
CS
Introduction to programming in JAVA
programming

What search engine works best for you?

nstudent — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 10:59:14 CST

Use your favourite search engine to find information on plagiarism in computer science.

Add your comments on why you like the search engine and the kind of results you found.

Add your name to your comments.

Why do you like this search engine?

Results are relevant and of high quality (because of the backlink theory) [Jon]
All the different modifiers you can use to find exactly what you're looking for (Josh)
Fast and accurate results (Tamish)
Search can be customized (Tamish)
Easy to use (Google)

What kind of useful sites or information did you find?

I found out that software for checking plagiarism in Computer Science has been around for over ten years [http://berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/97legacy/11_19_97b.html ] (Josh)

Now try a different search engine, such as Google Scholar or Scirus, which are scholarly and scientific search engines.

Add your comments on these search engines below:
To add comments click on the Easy Edit Button.
Add your name to your comments.
Information too detailed

How did these search engines compare to your favourite?

Totally useless(Tamish)
difficult to comprehend,obviously not for novices

Did you find different results? If so, how were they different?

Results on scirus numbered

]

How do you manage & share resources with friends?

Lodgey — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 10:57:51 CST

This exercise demonstrates one method of collecting, managing and sharing resources that you find useful.

Create an account on Delicious using your CFS username, in order to save links that are useful for this course.

Go to my delicious account http://delicious.com/STLock and add me to your network.

You will see I have tagged a number of resources CO1007, which I think you will find useful for this course.

Add a resource you think will be useful to your account and tag it CO1007

You can add buttons to IE to make it easier to add resources to delicious.
Got to http://delicious.com/help/bookmarklets and follow the instructions for Internet Explorer (Manual)

Post your delicious account name to the wiki so that others can add you to their network and vice versa

Add your comments & thoughts on Delicious below.
Click on Easy Edit to add comments.
Add your name to your comments.

Do you think it will be useful to build up a list of shared resources like this? If so, why?

Yes but a way to deliver bookmark updates from those in your network would be useful (maybe there is a way?) [Jon]

Delicious is the most popular, but not the only, social bookmarking tool available. There are others that are aimed at researchers and scientists, such as http://www.citeulike.org/ and http://www.connotea.org/

CO1007: Evaluating Resources Home

selinalock — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 04:28:46 CDT

Create an account for this site using the Join button - this will allow you to add comments to the site.
Then work your way through the pages and exercises in the left hand menu.