Thing 14: Reliable Online Resources

"Reliable Internet Resources"--a buzzphrase in today's academic circles (Is buzzphrase a "word"?--I better do a search!). . .The Constitution's First Amendment provides freedom of speech, explicitly, and freedom of expression, implicitly--but it does not restrict speech and expression to accuracy and reliability. . .Thus, people who post on the web do not have to provide information that is accurate and reliable. . .However, in contemporary academia, which is a reflection of enlightenment values, those two aforementioned concepts are the holy grail for researchers. . .The internet in 2008 is a cornucopia of information and misinformation, and educators and students must be careful to be able to glean the former from the latter in their search for that eternally elusive quarry--the truth. . .With in mind, I checked out "Librarians Internet Index: Websites You Can Trust". . .Under the topic, "Ready Reference and Quick Facts", I investigated the subtopic "statistics". . ."Statistics" should be the ultimate test for the reliability of a website. . .I found a site entitled "School Data Direct" which is "a place for educators, researchers, and policymakers to access information about public schools.". . .Under "Find State Information", I clicked "Minnesota". . .Immediately I was taken to a "State Overview" webpage which provided a link to the State Department of Education; a summary called "Minnesota Public Schools and Districts: Education Facts" with number of students (circa 2006), number of schools (circa 2006), number of school districts (circa 2006, and spending per pupil (circa 2005); graphs on stduent performance on mandated standardized tests (circa 2007), college entrance exams (circa 2005), estimated graduation rates (circa 2004), and more. . .The information appeared accurate, yet a little old, and did provide links to the site where the information was gathered. . .School Data Direct is a service of Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). . .CCSSO is a educational lobby located in Washington, D.C. which has been in business since 1927 in various forms. . .As an advocacy group for school administrators, etc., its stats should be viewed as data directed towards a specific goal of forwarding the goals of the organization. . .Does that mean they are not reliable or accurate? No, but they must viewed through the prism of legislative advocacy. . .Other sites involving statistics were corporate (boeing.com), government (census.gov), mainstream media (cnn.com), government/academic (usda.mannlib.cornell.edu). . .Overall, I would recommend, with qualification, this site as a fount of reliability. . .Next, I checked out the "Internet Public Library" (IPL) which started out as a class at the University of Michigan's School of Information. . .The IPL is now operated by a consortium of colleges and universities. . .The mangaing partners are the University of Michigan, Florida State Information, and Drexel (PA) University. . .At IPL I checked out the "Teen Space" page, which includes the following topics: Homework Help, A+ Writing, Graphic Novels Guide, Poetry Wiki, FAEQs, and Procrastinator. . .Clearly, I needed to check out "Proscrastinator". . .As that webpage I found a "Movies" section which featured "Internet Movie Database", "Rotten Tomatoes", "Cinescape". and "Film Wise"--all reliuable and accurate movie web sites. . .Their movies link sections included more resources--all excellent including the American Film Institute, the Library of Congress' National Film Registry, and more. . .The IPL's Teen Space is highly recommended along with the rest of the IPL. . .Also, I checked out the "Open Directory Project" (ODP) and its website "dmoz.org". . .Under the section "Kids and Teens" I clicked on the subsection entitle "School Time" and conducted a search for "AP U.S. History". . .I had 28 results. . The results were disappointing in that the search did not find the "College Board" website. . .However, it was a total loss and there were some AP prep results. . .Under the "Movies" subsection of the "Arts" section, I had no luck when searching for "War, Inc.". . ."DMOZ" is not recommended. . .That's all for now--drfaust. . .