Electronic information and academic research: Partnership pains

The Internet is a profoundly democratic entity. Sites can be placed on the Web by just about anyone, with just about any political motivation or social bias. Determining the authority of the author and the reliability of the information can be tricky. For example, marketing and advertising have become insinuated almost seamlessly into sites with objective information, oftentimes blurring the distinction between promotional and factual information.

Outstanding examples of these new marketing techniques are online bookstores such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble. These sites provide search engines for bibliographic citations to locate and order books, and you can also read book reviews and look for articles elsewhere on your topic once you have completed the search through the commercial site. Again, however-in the democratic style of the Internet-the reviews of books can be written by just about anyone, with just about any motivation, and the bibliographic referencing is geared to commercially available resources.

Print publishing runs a continuum from superfluous to quite scholarly. As a reader, you have developed techniques for evaluating most hard-copy material you come across. The context of the information provides good clues. For example, your general understanding of what the magazine is about would guide you to read an article on teen pregnancy in Hustler magazine with a different focus on content than you would read an article on teen pregnancy in Annual Review of Sociology.

The contextual clues on the Internet can be very different than those in print publishing. It is your responsibility to be critically vigilant with everything you read-especially with what you find on the Internet.

Something presented as fact on the Internet could lead to wrong choices or even choices that result in harm to personal health if those "facts" are not critically challenged. Careful writing can camouflage motivation for those readers inclined to believe what they read if it sounds "reasonable." You can be led far down the primrose path before even considering to critically challenge the material if you are not cautious.

History: From databases to Web sites

The growth of the Internet in 30 years has astounded even the most computer-savvy. It was begun in the early 1960s by the US Department of Defense's Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA) as a way to link military command and control communication. By 1982 ARPANET had grown to over 200 hosts, and the term "Internet" was used for the first time to describe the loose collection of networks.

The introduction of personal computers and mini super-computers in the early 1980s marked a shift in Internet use from military-dominated to a system dominated by private corporations and their customers. Concern about who would have access to the incredible potential of the Internet was growing in universities and academic think-tanks across the nation, however. In 1986, Case Western Reserve University in Ohio addressed these concerns by creating the Society for Public Access Computing, and developed the first "Freenet" host. It is the insight of those early "techies," who had the vision to see they held a tiger by the tail, which has shaped the Internet of today as a democratic, unstructured, accessible, and highly public resource.

At the turn of this century-roughly 30 years after computer-based networked communication was conceived-well beyond one million Internet hosts provide consumers with products and entertainment resulting in the exchange of over one billion dollars annually.

In developed nations, the proliferation of Internet is bolstered by millennial enthusiasm and bright hopes for economic opportunities built on "Internet Culture." "Net-Careers" and "e-business opportunities" not even dreamed of a decade ago have become highly sought after by college graduates and junior high computer junkies alike. Fortunes have been made, and an entirely new sociodemographic category of twenty-something millionaires has emerged as the world of high technology has sped forward.

The Information Age arrived with a vengeance. It didn't tiptoe in with a carefully planned and well-organized structure. It mushroomed in disorganized clusters, bringing with it an ethos of free speech and public access, and insistence on the supremacy of the creative process. From early on, those who defined the language of the new Information Age have been the users and shapers of the tools, not academic or corporate analysts of some process.

Many of the users and shapers of the current Internet culture have a vested interest in showing how this new medium can create economic opportunity and democratically oriented social change. However, as with any emerging technology, the potentially negative impact of side-effects which may not necessarily be evident must also be considered. What are the social costs of electronic capitalism? Can we build safeguards into our virtual lives that will ensure our privacy? Can we find virtual safeguards for our privacy as well as the quality of life we desire for ourselves individually, at work and in the family? Will lasting opportunities be created for individuals and groups on the fringes of our political and economic life, or, will they eventually be shut out? Will Internet culture help grow a new middle class, or simply lay the groundwork for a new wealthy elite?

These are just some of the many questions we encounter when attempting to filter through the electronic information overload. It is in this world of virtual information, organized by concept rather than in the linear pattern we are trained to think in, that the material of the Information Age exists. Play with the exercises in this guide; learn all that you can about connecting, communicating, sorting, sifting, and always critically analyzing the material available to you through the power of the Internet.

Connecting Virtually: Social Research

In this guide, we assume you are already familiar with basic usage skills on the Internet. But what if you've been too busy, or too broke, to get on board? Most colleges and universities, as well as an increasing number of community colleges, offer Internet accounts, including email, as well as training and support through their computing resources centers. If you are Internet initiate, this should be your first stop. If you don't have your own personal computer, find out what kinds of resources exist at your school's computer lab. Internet access is also provided free at many public libraries, as well as through an increasing number of "Internet Cafes."

The Web sites below can help you overcome economic and educational boundaries concerning access and use of the Internet. Knowing how to use this tool is of absolute importance to your future-don't let anything stop you!

Free Web pages-Geocities
Companies like Geocities are providing free Web site hosting and tools for creating Web sites that anyone can easily learn.

Free Internet Access
Some commercial Internet providers, such as AOL, provide introductory packages with free limited access. But did you know that many access providers are now supplying completely free online access? The directory above provides a good starting point for learning more about free access providers.

Free Email
Yahoo's Free Email directory is the best place to start when choosing your free email account. Once it is provided, you can use email for free directly through your internet browser.

Exercise 1

The process of making sense of the information on Internet sites can be compared to asking a series of people for advice.

Let's say that for very personal reasons you have asked six friends for their advice or comments about reproductive choice. You understand that each person is coming from a perspective unique to his or her own values, and that you hear what friends have to say through their lens, or perspective on the world, as well as through your own. You probably are able to sort through a mental list of which friends to ask in the first place-not because some friends are "better" than others, but because you have a general sense of where people are coming from. Different perspectives will be useful to you in sorting out your own ideas.

Now turn to another set of voices, or "lenses," that you locate on the Internet. This is a time for you to critically evaluate the content of the sites you locate in order to help you make personal sense of an important issue. Obviously, the cues you have by talking in real time with real people will not be available to you on the Internet.

What resources do you bring to sort through the information you find? Are you able to identify the underlying values of each site? What is the process you go through as you sort through information? Do you find that you are more drawn to information that agrees with your own values? Are you more-or less-attracted to a site by the visuals presented? What makes you feel that you are getting "good" information at any given site?

Develop a list of several items that catch your attention when you are critically determining the "lens," or perspective, of a given site. Begin your search by using the following two sites, then locate at least three other sites that provide a range of perspectives on the subjects they address:

http://www.prolifeaction.org/

Exercise 2

Use the key search word "bookstores" and explore some of the book marketing sites available.

Which of the sites have actual search engines, rather than indexed categories? What are the parameters of those search engines-that is, how sophisticated a search are you able to complete using the engine? Search by title/author alone? Also by topic? What is the depth of the literature the site carries?

Are you able to determine an ideological or intellectual perspective in the books carried by the company? What is the balance between linguistic content (words) and visual content (pictures) on the site?

Exercise 4

The history of the Internet is short and it will be changing enormously in the next decade. You have the privilege of being on the cutting edge of the Information Age, and are therefore in the unique historical position to experience a revolution with consciousness. Imagine the stories you will be able to tell your grandchildren!

Develop an Internet timeline of your own, including your personal process along with the historical developments of the technology. For historical reviews, begin using the following sites:

The following are good sites on Internet history:

http://www.isoc.org/internet/history/brief.shtml

http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/FAQ.html