Title: Assignment 3 - Information Discernment
Course: KVCC CPT126 > Section: Assignments

In class we have been discussing things in relation to using the Internet. In this assignment the goal is to have you start to think on your usage of Internet as an information resource. I would like you to think on these and then ultimately answer the following questions:

We live in a world where it is very likely that we use the Internet on a daily basis in some form or another. We have access to information at a second’s notice and we come to almost take this fact for granted. In the first assignment we discussed the topic on whether or not this information should be free and due to this I will not touch on this further here. However, on this same vein much of this information is freely available and there is the capability to place any content on the web with no fact checking or verification. Due to the ability to place highly false information in openly accessible areas we have to find some way to fact check and discern our way through this mountain of data. The next few questions are on this topic:

a.           What steps do you take to verify the accuracy of information you read online?

b.           Do you ever attempt to identify the author’s bias and use that to determine if an agenda is present within the information? If not, why? If so how?

c.           When have you ever discounted something based on its source- please provide an example?

d.           What kind of sites do you trust without having to verify? Why is it that these sites are trust worthy to you and thus removes the need to fact check? Should you ever do this or should everything be researched?

e.           If you were to create content on the web what would you do to assist your readers in being able to know or verify the information you provided is true?

f.            What is your stance on wikis or other user generated sources? Why?

g.           What would you suggest to do to make these types of sites better and ensure the quality of their information?

While we are speaking of gathering information online no conversation will be complete without the discussion of plagiarism. Please answer the questions below:

a.         What are your thoughts on plagiarism? Be honest here please?

b.         When we live in a society where information is so plentiful and we rely on things for research what do you do to ensure you are not copying someone else’s work?

c.          Do you believe there is such things as original thoughts anymore? Another way to look at this is by the quote “there is nothing new under the sun? Why or why not do you believe this to be the case?

d.         Do you think we have enough protections in place online to protect from intellectual property violations or plagiarism? Why/why not?

e. If the role was reversed and you knew that someone was plagiarizing your work how would you feel? What would you like in return to see that justice is done?

Attached Files: | - KVCC CPT126_IntroDigitalLiteracy_Assignment 3.pdf