Module 4: Using the infosphere - taking & organising

Site 1 - Making the best of the WWW

A Great Cities Initiative of the University of Illinois at Chicago Library

ISSN 1396–0466 Copyright 1996–2007, First Monday.

http://www.firstmonday.org/ retrieved from the World Wide Web Thursday 27 April 2007.

This site is an online peer reviewed journal about the internet, its use and development. It even joins the ongoing debate about Wikipedia as a quotable source of information, and although it doesn't go this far it does label it a 'very successful cooperative effort.' First Monday was set up in 1996 and publishes on the first Monday of every month a new set of papers. This is a great site if you want to go a bit deeper into some of the major discussions around the use and accessibility of the internet. One current paper addresses the challenge of the internet in developing countries. It seems to me that this would be a site to watch to perhaps get a 'preview' of some of the major developments and ways of thinking coming down the line. It seems to have a strong focus on achieving the full potential of the internet and not limiting it by adopting fast moving technologies that begin to exclude users around the world.

Relates Concept 8 - the invisibility of difference by reminding us that not everyone has a big screen with high res and a fast broadband connection and by presenting the latest thinking on the development of the internet and its resources.

Site 2 - Sorting through it

Abilock, Debbie & Damon. (1999-) NoodleToolsInc. Retrieved from the World Wide Web on Thursday April 27 2007 http://www.noodletools.com/

Possibly one of the hardest tasks is to search the internet effectively and store that information in a useful way. It is easy to waste a lot of time doing very broad searches and coming up with meaningless responses. The Noodletools website and its resources are being used around the world by teachers and students to make research on the internet an easier task. This is such a well -laid out site - the tutorials are very useful and comprehensive. A new notetaking facility makes life easy and the 'how to do an annotation' is a godsend for students and teachers alike. This website is just one example of some great tools that are available - free! - for good web searching. This approach to sorting and categorising information makes sense of the mass of info in a very clear manner.

Relates to Concept 32 - Virtually a library by providing some options for categorising your search information and being able to track it down later.