The Internet As A Source of Facts
WARNING!! WARNING!! Danger Will Robinson! Danger!
If a person, previously unknown to you, came up to you on a busy street in a city that you were new to and tried to sell you a bridge, would you buy it? I hope not.
If you googled or yahooed or aoled something on the Internet and read it would you believe it? I hope not.
Fact, as a source of information the Internet is one step above rumor. Tabloids in the supermarket have more supported facts in them than the average response to an individual search query.
Oh, you’re saying that I had a problem with my pc and I googled the problem for a solution and got one. Swell, how do you know the answer provided was creditable. Did you download any software? How do you know there isn’t a virus in the software? Did you check out the solution in more than one place?
Newspapers may be so 5 centuries ago, but they do make one valid point. The sources you find on the Internet are suspect until proven otherwise. I know that if I read it on Wikipedia I need to find another source that supports that information.
Never, never take a single source or multiple sources who quote the same source as a reliable source of information anywhere especially on the Internet.
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POSTED IN: Mindset
1 opinion for The Internet As A Source of Facts
hhcv
Jul 29, 2007 at 1:45 am
You’re right, the written word does not add any value to statements or claims that you would otherwise hear on the street. However, unlike other sources of information, on the Internet, it is much easier to determine the accuracy of information.
A quick visit to Google scholar, for example, will give you immediate access to properly referenced academic papers which should fit the needs of those that _must_ rely on secondary or tertiary information, that is, data or facts that they have not collected themselves.
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