300 WK4 Reply

As in past forums, please be sure to read the postings of your fellow students. To earn maximum points you will need to engage at least two other students and you will need, as always, to have thoughtful, fact-packed, and well-reasoned postings that add value and knowledge for the class.

Please respond to the following other students. That have read your post.  Responses should be a minimum of 200 words and include direct questions.

Responses Due: Sunday, by 11:55pm ET

William Shell

THIS STUDENT READ YOUR POST.

STUDENT # 1

“YOU”,

Thank you for a really interesting post this week.  Although Wikipedia is sometimes unreliable and not usually an accepted source, I do find that on a subject on which I have little familiarity I will often start there.  Do you also find this to be true?  For me, the way a Wikipedia page is laid out with clearly defined subject titles helps me to get a grasp on material that I need to bone-up on quickly.  I do not rely on Wikipedia as a source, but it is nice to have a quick lesson on a new subject.  I kind of look at Wikipedia as the Cliff Notes of everything!  Would you agree that Wikipedia is a good place to start, or do you have a better method?

I had never really put much thought into .org sites until the lesson presented the idea this week.  Like you, I found that .org sites were originally the domain of non-profits.  But, that has changed over the years and now .org sites are being sold on the open market to for profit businesses.  In the case of non-profits, I would challenge your assertion that initially non-profit sites were “credible and unbiased”.  I think that by their very nature non-profit organizations already hold a particular bias.  And, this bias must be promoted in order to maintain funding streams and credibility with the cause they are supporting.  Do you see what I mean?

Finally, could you explain a little further what you meant with, “Many newspapers company are currently retrenching most of their employees”?  I am not exactly sure what you were trying to convey with the word "retrenching".

Thanks.

Wade

Jason Tipton

THIS STUDENT READ YOUR POST.

STUDENT # 2

Good morning, I see the fact that anyone can edit as the biggest problem with Wikipedia. Having no one to check every thing written also can lead to false information. I have used it in the past to gain quick insight on a subject however that is as far as I go. I have never really thought about sites ending with .org however after this weeks posts and researching I can see how they would be biased towards their mission. I can understand this and I do not see this as always a bad thing however when researching I believe their is no room for personal bias. I see that as one of the biggest problems facing news these days, I see it coming from every side. It is harder and harder to find actual facts. I believe that double checking the things we research is how we can fight this, do you agree? I believe that as we research any topic we should leave our personal feelings or beliefs out of it. I know this is not an easy task however I see it as very important. I have enjoyed this weeks posts and I look forward to our last four weeks.

Jason