ETEC 597 Journal #2 - October 8th

Information literacy is being able to identify, locate, evaluate, and effectively use information for a topic or issue through the Internet. I never thought about the possibility of information I find on the Internet being false. When I think about all the information I took off Google to compose papers in my undergraduate studies and all the information I pulled off Google to use in my classroom, I can't help but feel ignorant. I never once thought about the possibility of the information being untrue or fabricated. I was fairly new on using the Internet in college because it was then that I received my first computer ever. No one really taught me about how to research effectively. I didn't know people could post information without being censored or reviewed for authenticity. I honestly thought that the people who worked for Google had employees who sat down at desks and researched all the information to make sure it was the truth and then posted it. I was guilty of pulling up the first link that appeared in Google and using it because I thought it was the closest, true information found for my particular search. The MAPit activity really opened my eyes to the amount of false information posted daily on the Internet. The Martin Luther King activity really bothered me. If I was researching Martin Luther King I probably would have used some information on that website without even noticing all the racial remarks. It is really kind of scary to find out that kind of information is readily available for everyone. This MAPit activity has undoubtedly opened my eyes to be more careful when relying on the Internet. I have started passing on what I learned to collegues, family, and friends. I want them to be more aware of the fabricated information posted on the Internet. Many of them use Google to conduct research and most likely click on the fist thing that pulls up. Through the exercise I learned that Google lists information based on how many "hits" that site received not by the most reliable source. How many people used fabricated information without realizing it?? How many others have passed on that fabricated information to their students? If the cycle continues this new generation will undoubtedly receive false information and believe it to be true. Our students will be misled into believing what they read to be the truth and will then pass it on to others. Eventually it would result in the generation becoming less intelligent because they will believe everything they read to be true. I plan to use Altavista more as well as other search engines. This exercise also opened my eyes to other search engines. I just always used Google because I hear about it more than other search engines. I wonder if you could do a Google search on other search engines. That would be information I could use in the future.