Reflection 2

My findings were just "Shocking". When I went to the "Dihydrogen Monoxide" website and dissected its structure, I realized Dihydrogen Monoxide really was... H2O. At first, it really looked legitimate, but after further investigation, it led me to a very cleverly designed hoax. It was completely concealed from the initial appearance. However, further investigation led me to the belief that it was just an intellectual way of showing people why they should not believe everything read on the Internet. It was masterfully done so people would acquire that "watch out" syndrome while doing their research on the Internet. Now I know why most people think the web is the "truth and nothing but the truth". Very startling! As the saying goes, if it's on the net it must be true, of course it's NOT. What an eye-opener. My thinking now reflects caution when searching on the web. No more taking the first website that pops up without analyzing the structure first. No longer will I just use the most popular browser. Analyzing the URL will be one key in establishing good and sound research. Although my past research projects, I feel now, might not have been well rooted, I feel reasonably assured my research was sound. Using a variety of sources which include books, periodicals, magazines, newspapers, etc., which I do, establishes the needed checks and balances. But now this gives me new tools to trust.

Implications for students who do not have the proper instructions for researching on the net are alarming. If students believe the Internet is a sound, empirical source of truth, and a plethora of final information, they are surely doomed to being deceived and in danger of enslavement. A society just cannot remain healthy with this trend of thought. A remedy could begin in our schools by making all students take classes which incorporate "Internet savvy research". I think mid-management would be the starting point for this change to take place. They have the power to get courses approved and implemented. However, knowledge is the major key in making educators cognizant of the Internet's fallacies and schemes.

Google Reader is an excellent tool in keeping data at your fingertips. It certainly can enhance your organizational skills. There are so many feeds one uses today while exploring the net for research and reading pleasures. Now that I know what Google Reader is and how it works, I will begin using it to help organize my URL stuff.

Wikis have arrived for me at the right time. I am planning a camping trip in August with my wife and her sister. Her sister lives miles from us and we just can't always catch each other by phone most of the time or it's just not convenient. E-mails are okay but a wiki is a much better communicator to get group projects done. I will be incorporating my wiki for our August camping trip. Yes, it is up and running at http://whiteswikione.wikispaces.com/. It is not an original idea but it gets me into a project by using it which is a learning device. When the time comes to do other projects, I will have the needed skill to implement this technology. One advantage of a wiki is its flexibility and using it as a collaborative communicator. Wikis evolve as a result of the group adding, subtracting, and moving material within the document. A disadvantage could be people being mischievous. Since all the participants who have been invited can edit and modify the wiki, a real potential for danger is present. Personally, I think it can only handle small to medium-size groups (3 - 75): otherwise, it can become quite cumbersome.

I would like to investigate other 2.0 technologies such as podcasting and Flickr. I believe this would be just great fun and beneficial for me in my new career, retirement.