Unrestricted Web Publishing

According to Nicholas C. Burbules, "....the Web is not an ordinary reference system; it poses some unique and, in many respects, unprecedented conditions that complicate the task of sorting out dependable from undependable information--and even complicates the notion that we have a clear sense of that distinction. Burbules is a professor at the University of Illinois, Urbana/Champaign with the Department of Educational Policy Studies.

For this weeks blog, my goal was to find an article from Time Magazine and challenge the validity of the sources referenced in the article. According to Criteria to Evaluate the Credibility of WWW Resources, developing a keen sense of the credibility of sources, based on such clues as connection of author to the subject, audience, source of publication, and documentation of supporting evidence,  can also help you evaluate print and other types of sources.

The article I chose to challenge the validity of its sources was called U.N. Launches ‘Unprecedented’ Mission to Combat Ebola by Alexandra Sifferlin, again pulled from Time Magazine. The first thing that I decided to do was to find out some information about the author and her background. According to her profile on Time, she is a graduate from the Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism. I also checked LinkedIn to see if her profile pulled up, and it did. According to LinkedIn, Sifferlin began her career as a journalist in 2009, working with several magazines, covering a variety of topics.

According the article, the UN has indicated that cases of Ebola hit 5,335. I did some additional research to see if there were any more figures regarding the outbreak. I found that a Bloomberg article indicates the according to the CDC ( U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), the worst case scenario has the number of cases at 500,000. An article on CNN.com quotes their numbers from the World Heath Organization. The WHO indicates that across three regions, there are 909 confirmed cases and another 414 probable or suspected.

My original article from Time, indicates that the death toll from the Ebola virus has reached  2,622  in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea regions alone. The Bloomberg article has the death toll at 1,618, and this is according to the Emergency Operations Center. Lastly, the article on CNN. com has the toll at 729. That number is out of the 1323 confirmed or possibly infected. That number covers the regions of Sierra Leone and Liberia and Nigeria.

So, What did I find out? I found out that, although the numbers across all three articles differ, there is not much of a gap to raise a flag. Not only that, but the sources used in all three articles are for the most part are reliable and trustworthy. We are all familiar with the CDC, the UN as well as the World Heath Organization as they are the sources often used when it comes to heath related statistics.  I also learned that a little extra work makes a lot of difference when it comes to validating information.  Again, sources are more credible when there is a connection to the author of the subject, source of publication, and documentation of supporting evidence.

References

Chen, C., Greeley, B., & Gilblom, K. (2014, September 20). Ebola Worst-Case Scenario Has More Than 500,000 Cases - Yahoo Finance. Retrieved from http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ebola-worst-case-scenario-more-040100868.html;_ylt=AwrTWfw7Gx5UK34ACRnQtDMD

Cullinane, S., & Thompson, N. (2014, September 18). Deadliest ever outbreak of Ebola virus: What to know - CNN.com. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/27/world/ebola-virus-explainer/index.html

Sifferlin, A. (2014, September 18). U.N. Launches New Mission to Combat Ebola. Retrieved from http://time.com/3399532/united-nations-ebola-mission/

The Social Media In Me.

    When it comes to the world of social media, I would have to say that I learned what I know through trail and error. I started of on Myspace and then graduated to Facebook. I remember think how great Myspace because you could create your own page and have music playing once it was accessed.  The more features that were made available for to Myspace, the more my page evolved. Then I got wind of Facebook and in the beginning I thought what a drag the site was. It didn't have all the bells and whistles that Myspace had, and so I didn't really used Facebook that often. I started hearing about how Myspace was tailored for the teenage crowd and how Facebook was for a more mature audience, so I decided to leave Myspace and make the journey over to Facebook. 
    
    After my Facebook transition, I realized how much I really enjoyed my experience. I was able to reconnect with people that I had not seen in years. I found many of my old classmates ranging from elementary school to high school, old co-workers and even family. What I have learned about social media in general is that it is a great way to connect with people that you may not normally speak with on a day to day basis, but still want to have some type of connection to them. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram seem like sites that allow for a "laid back" style of social networking whereas LinkedIn allows for a more professional style of networking. The social media experience will vary from person to person depending,  on the wants and needs of the individual. I know many people that are not on Facebook, but are on LinkedIn because they want to be able to connect to the CEO's and Presidents of companies, and should an opportunity arise for employment, they would have a connection to reach out to.

    Here is why Facebook is beneficial for me. I am friends with people that I want to be friends with. I have my page, for the most part tailored to my needs. I follow certain media outlets as well as organizations that I like. When my friends comment on certain situations, especially media related, that they could be stating an opinion, or it could be that what they post is actually true. Facebook is often the way that I find out about the death of a well known figure, get updated on sports scores, or something extremely crazy that has happened in the world. Now Facebook is a great way to find out what's going on in the media, it is not my one and only outlet for news. I do follow certain news outlets such as CNN or MSNBC because I know that not everything that you read on social media is accurate. If something is posted and I don't believe in the validity of the information read, I will always check other sources for accuracy. There have been many times that I have re-posted articles without checking to see if the information was true, and I have been called out as well for doing so. 

    Social media should not be used as a way to obtain credible information unless the source is trusted and reliable. Social media is an outlet to connect with and share information with peers. Again, my experience with social media is to stay connected with people that I generally don't speak to on a daily basis. I know that anything that is posted by my friends on any social media site may or may not have validity and ultimately I am responsible for the content that I read and the message received.

What forms of new media do you use daily? How has new social media influenced your perspective of events? Are these positive or negative influences?

I must say that I am a Facebook-aholic. The first thing that I do when I get up in the morning after I do everything else that you do is check Facebook. I love being able to connect with my friends and family on a daily basis. When I am on Facebook, I feel like I am reading a book of stories. Someone is always posting about what is going on in their world, good or bad. In a way, it removes me form my own experiences, good or bad. I guess what I am really saying is that sometimes I can relate and other times I can't. I can say that I am enjoy staying connected to my Facebook family because under any other circumstance, I can't say that I would have reached out to so many of my friends in any other capacity. That's the great thing about social media itself. You are able to connect with so many people at any given time. The downside is that you are least likely to be as engaging with friends on social media as you would with those in your personal circle.  What social media does is takes away the ability to have much needed face to face interaction. Yes it's easy to post and respond to post, but I feel that you still lack the intimacy that face to face allows.

I don't really uses any of the other social media sites such as Twitter or Instagram, although I do have accounts with both, I am more into Facebook. Other sites that I enjoy are LinkedIn and Amazon. What I have noticed about my internet usage is that I don't really frequent websites to check the news. I go to AJC.com for local news, but not so much world news. Oddly enough, I do follow certain news feeds on Facebook. If anything is going on, it pops up on my timeline. I find that very convenient because if there is a story that I am interested in, I can click on the link and read that particular story.  So on my timeline, I might follow CNN and MSNBC.  I also may follow local news feeds as well. I may not go to a particular site, but I can still follow them on Facebook and get the same information. I really like that.

I would say that my experience with social media is pretty positive. The only thing that I dislike is the lack of intimacy. Social media can be very impersonal sometimes. I really enjoy that one on one time that I get with people in my personal circle. I also like being able to tailor my page to fit my personal needs. I can follow whom I want to follow and be friends with whomever, and it is all up to me.