Thing # 13 del.icio.us

Over the past few days I have created a delicious account and dutifully bookmarked sites that relate to Librar 2.0 technology and a few miscellaneous library-related sites.

http://delicious.com/gdeering

I can certainly see the benefits to this concept of social networking/bookmarking. However I have some fundamental issues with the idea of sharing everything - both good and bad misinformation. I expressed my thoughts on this very subject in one of my classes this summer.

"In the Courtney says, "The power of great numbers of contributors keeps Wikipedia very current errors are fixed very quickly." Courtney cites the results of the NATURE study the compares errors noted in Britannica (3) with that of wikipedia (4). That appears insignificant - unless you are the one who cites the misinformation, or unless some contributor updates the information without you realizing it’s been changed. We need to ensure that our own research is authoritative and instill in our students and colleagues the necessity for being critical of resources, checking sources and using reliable resources.Constructivism asserts that people with different skills should collaborate together through tasks and discussion to arrive at a shared understanding (Duffy and Jonassen 1992). Remember Vgotsky’s ‘zone of proximal development? The idea being that group members with less knowledge and fewer skills will learn from members who have more knowledge and more skills. That is all well and good, except the person in the group with the most skills and knowledge may not have the best skills set to accomplish the task. The shared understanding may consequently not be the “correct” understanding. This has implications on several levels relating to competition and differences between cultures.My point is you should always verify the information, the source, for yourself, Think critically before you go with the “group think”; a society can get in trouble that way. Which is a very long-winded way of saying Wikipedia may be a great place to start, to get you going, but there are more reliable sources that will ensure the information is accurate and authoritative. Don’t drink the kool-aid! "

Courtney, N. (2007). Library 2.0 and Beyond. Westport: Libraries Unlimited.