Tagging

When I think of certain things, I think of descriptive words that go along with those things. For instance, when I think of "MSU", I think of the words blue, gold, racers, college, etc. This process is known as "tagging", and sometimes our tags may not match up to how other people would describe the word or thing. We "tag" things every day, even though we may not be aware of it. When we see words or pictures, descriptive words instantly come to our minds. 

This "tagging" process is very important when it comes to doing scholarly searches. When typing in a search bar what we wish to find, we must think outside the box because someone else may have tagged that article or journal differently than what comes to our minds. For instance, if I wanted to do research on communication disorders, specially swallowing disorders, I may want to be more specific in my search and type in "dysphagia". 

When doing research, we must keep in mind that someone else may have tagged the piece of work differently than how we see it, so we must be open minded with our searches!

For more tips on effective tagging follow this link:

http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/webbuilding/page5508.cfm

Classification Systems

Two ways libraries can classify their materials are by the Dewey Decimal System and the Library of Congress. You may not be aware of the difference between the two, as I was not before the class discussion! After comparing the two, I prefer the Library of Congress classification system over the Dewey Decimal system. This is because the LC has many more sub-categories, and offers a much wider range of classifying things. There are numerous broad headings, and within them there are hundreds of different sub-topics! Within the Dewey Decimal system, you are limited to far fewer categories! The LC, however, has a very random way of assigning which categories go with which letter. For instance, while M is the music category, fine arts is the N category. Despite this minor setback, I still prefer this system over the other. It is a good thing, because the libraries at MSU use this classification system!

Although Wikepedia is sometimes not a reliable source, it gives an accurate list of the categories of the Library of Congress classification system. To view these, follow this link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Congress_Classification

Information Content

When researching, it is very important to consider the content of your information, and make sure the sources you use are reliable, on topic, and unbiased. In doing this, you must consider what type of resource you are using. Is it a book, a newspaper, a website, or a magazine? Whatever it may be, the information in each of these is different, due to how quickly it was published after the topic you are researching. If you want same day info, you may reference the TV, radio, or Internet headlines. If you want information the next day, you may look to a newspaper. If you want to use information that has been analyzed and gives  a somewhat "historical" perspective, you may wait years, and reference books and films. New sources are constantly added as time goes on.

 

It is also very important to consider the differences in the library versus the internet. The main thing to focus on here is quantity versus quality. Withing library, scholarly resources, you will get a smaller amount of quality information, whereas, with the World Wide Web, you will recieve tons of information that may or may not be reliable! You must keep in mind, that information pulled from the virtual MSU library online would not be considered part of the "quantity" information. Through this, you can pull scholarly journals which have been peer reviewed! This is a great way to conduct research for college papers.

 

The following website is a popular example of information that may be considered "quantity", and one that may be laughed upon if used in scholarly research!

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

 

Valuing Information

We all value information! But we all must admit some bits of information are more important to us than others. Whether the cowboys lost last nights game or Nissan shares go up today, personal opinion and bias affect which information we choose to value. Our personal values and interests will have the greatest effect on what information we prefer.

The article we read in class about valuing information brings out an interesting point: Flow of Infomation. This concept looks at how information travels and how it travels so quickly! You must consider, through what means is it getting to the individual? There are so many pieces of technology nowadays that information travels "at the speed of light".

Within the realm of information out there, there is a vast amount purely for consumption. This is information that we read only for pleasure and entertainment. This can include anything from magazines, to celebrity blogs, to following famous people on twitter. 
Information I enjoy reading for entertainment purposes can be found by following this link:

http://espn.go.com/

The Job Market

With me being a junior in college, what better topic to research than today's job market? Well-truthfully, it is a little too late for me to be looking in to this, because I have already decided on a major, and am well over halfway done with my Bachelor's degree. (I am going straight through to obtain a Master's, as well- but that is irrelevant!) But I decided to take a gander on some job stats in the United States today.

In my search to find the fastest growing fields, highest paying careers, etc., I found some interesting information. The Bureau of Labor Statistics provided me with endless facts! At the top of the list for highest paying jobs in the United States, oral and maxillofacial surgeons held the number one spot! (Go figure!) That career path, along with orthodontists, prosthodontists, physicians and surgeons, all generally make more than $166,400! Hmm-what I would do with all of that money! Underneath them, making a measly $110,000-$140,00 per year, were dentists, lawyers, pharmacists, physicists, and astronomers! (Please note my sarcasm!)

The occupations adding the most jobs per year are registered nurses, home health aides, customer service reps (which I found odd), and retail salespeople. The fastest growing occupations included biomedical engineers, financial examiners, and physician assistants. 

I am planning on becoming a speech and language pathologist, and, although that did not make any of my job search's top lists, I seem to have at least chosen the right field. The medical and therapy field are growing at an unbelievably high rate. It seems as though every bit of information I looked at contained occupations in the medical field. The job outlook for speech and language pathologists is expected to grow 19% within the next seven years. This gives me some incentive to push through my next four years here at Murray State University!

To find out more, see the following links:

http://www.bls.gov/oco/content/oohinfo_faq.stm#earn

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos099.htm#earnings

Information Landscape at MSU

I never realized the vast amount of information that is available to me right here at Murray State University free of charge (well-besides that $3,300 for tuition). Anything I could ever possibly need to do any kind of research is available within Murray State's three information sources- the Waterfield Library, the Pogue Library, and their online virtual library. The Pogue Library, or the Overby Law Library, contains special collections and archives, while the Waterfield Library contains the circulating collection and other resources. Also offered at MSU, is the new Racer Communication center, where you can go to perfect your speeches and get advice from proffesionals! There is also the writing center, which is a very helpful resource for any of you who have English classes! The most helpful thing to me, I believe, will be the virtual library. It is very easy to navigate, as you can click directly on your field of study to begin your research! I am very lucky to have all of this right at my fingertips! I feel like the information landscape at Murray State University will come in handy to me as I finish up my next two years for my Bachelor's degree in communication disorders, and then begind my Master's in Speech and Language Pathology.  The following link will lead you to MSU's virtual library.
http://lib.murraystate.edu/bb/

Information as a Resource

Information is everywhere! Every single day we are bombarded with tons of new information that our brain could never store it all. This concept, known as information obesity, is becomming more and more common, mainly because of how easy it is to transmit information in today's modern world. The article distributed in class, "Information as a Resource", points out the meme theory, which explains how information spreads. The way information spreads can be related to Charles Darwin's survival of the fittest, in that some information is forgotten, and other information survives, and it spreads like wildfire. Gossip is one popular type of this information. With today's world, we communicate instantly through email and text messaging, that hundreds of people can catch wind of something within minutes. The sphere this information is transmitted in is labelled by Vladimir Vernadsky as the Noosphere. The article points out that we are exchanging information at "light speed", which is a very deep concept to consider. This is because the world keeps progressing, so you must ask yourself if we have reached a time of "maximum dynamism", or if technology will continue to advance and information will ever be able to be transmitted on a larger, faster scale.

The following link describes the history and relation between the noosphere and biosphere, as described in the article "Information as a Resource"
http://www.lawoftime.org/noosphere/theoryandhistory.html

9-11

It is hard to believe that Sunday marks the ten year anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Those events are among the most notable in history, and affected the lives and families of millions of Americans. One question I have been asked many times this week is, "Where were you and what were you doing on September 11, 2001?"

As I reflect back to ten years ago, it is not hard for me to answer this question. I was in fifth grade and Mrs. Michelle, my teacher, was teaching us how to play chess (who knew this was a required skill to pass fifth grade?). We had all partnered up and went into the hallway to practice, and shortly after that, all of the teachers came running out telling each other to turn their TVs on. We all went back into our classrooms and watched the events unfold. At that time I did not understand the importance or significance of the event, but it was not long before I began to realize that it would be one of the most known terrorist attacks in history.

After the attacks, people were scared to fly on airplanes because of security issues. So the big question today is whether or not airport security has in fact increased and gotten better since 9/11/01. I think that it has increased, mainly because of all the things that are not allowed on airplanes anymore. I have flown on a plane twice since the attacks and felt completely comfortable in doing so.

If you're interested in reading more on airport security and how it has progressed in the past ten years, see the following article!

http://www.todaysengineer.org/2005/Jun/security.asp 

Consider Your Source!

These days, you can answer pretty much any question you have by the Internet. There are millions of websites out there that hold answers to millions of questions people have everyday. How warm is it going to be tomorrow? What was the score of the game last night? What is a good recipe for the casserole I want to cook this weekend?  You can answer every one of these questions through some website out there. However, some websites are much more easy to navigate than others. Some are more reliable than others, as well. So the question is-which one should you use?

Choosing from the list given in "Consider the Source", I decided to navigate ESPN's site and see how long it would take me to find out what the Cowboy's schedule was this NFL season. As it turned out, I found the answer to this question in under a minute. Their site was very easy to navigate, as it consisted of tabs for each professional sport (MLB, NHL, NFL, etc). Under the NFL tab it held a link for each team's schedule, then I selected 'Dallas'. Within seconds I was able to find the answer to my question.

Another good thing about ESPN's website is that it is updated on a very regular basis, so it's relevance is great! It is timely, updated often, and on topic. The people who update the site must have a great knowledge about sports in general. The content of espn.go.com is outstanding, as it has scores, schedules, rosters, ranks, and numerous other statistics about almost any sport you can think of (professional and collegiate)! I was very pleased with how easy it was to find the answer to my question. I have also now downloaded an ESPN app on my Iphone that will provide alot of the information on the website through my phone.

If you are a sports fan, this site is a great one for you! With the NFL season approaching us quickly, I have posted the direct link for any of you that want to see your favorite team's schedule this season!

http://espn.go.com/nfl/schedule

Is Google Making Us Stupid?

The article "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" which we read in class raised some very valid points about the way we find information and the way we think, read, and function in the every day world.The author of the article says that the World Wide Web is "changing the way he thinks," and that he can "no longer focus on long articles and novels."  Once this point was brought to my attention, it really got me thinking! In today's society we want instant answers! If we have a question, we aren't required to spend much time researching. All we must do is type it into Google and within seconds an answer that we are looking for is more than likely to pop up!

Google, along with other internet search engines, are reconstructing the way we think. We are so distracted because so much information we read comes from the internet, where there are links, ads, and other things that draw our attention away from what we actually started reading. Even as I write this blog post, I must admit, I have Facebook pulled up on one tab, Twitter on another, and WPSD on a fourth tab. As I switch back and forth between all of these information sources, I realize why it is that my attention span is much shorter than it used to be.

On a daily basis, I find myself searching Google for phone numbers, addresses, weather, and other information I might need to know. I completely depend on the Internet for many aspects of my life. I believe this is the case with many others, and society as a whole would be lost without the World Wide Web. Instant gratification is provided to us through search engines such as Google, and I do not believe we will ever draw away from that!

I found the following article very interesting, as it responds to the "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" article we discussed in class. It points out the perspective of a neuroscientist and how she believes visual stimuli through technology will eventually change the way we express ourselves and behave. I encourage you to check it out!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7459182.stm