Information Quality and Online Scams

In our society today thanks to technology we can save a lot of time and do things in record timing by shopping online.  Most of the time our goal is to be as economical as possible and we forget about legitimacy or "quality". For example when we shop for things, we tend to look for things that are usually on sale, especially as a college student. We are now capable of saving time and money all at the same time through online shopping. Think about the time right before school starts back up, and what are some of the things everyone is hunting for. Books that is, well we tend to go online and look for the best price given for a certain book and compare it to other sellers. In the end this saves us a lot of money and time. One thing we forget about when doing or looking for something online is how reliable the source actually is. Buying something online is just like looking for a credible source that will be used to back up an argument. Any one can go online and just for fun make something up, and for a real quick buck rip someone off.  The Internet Crime Complaint Center recorded that in 2010 there were 303,809 fraud complaints in the US. Texas is ranked third for fraud complaints, Florida second, and California first. So next time you decide to buy your books online don’t forget to ask your self if the sellers information is real and maybe try and educate your self on detecting an online scam. For more statistics on online fraud check out the link.
http://www.ic3.gov/media/annualreport/2010_IC3Report.pdf

Online Learning 101

 A college student that takes a minimum of fifteen hours a semester may sometimes look for a convenient, fast, and easy way to knock out some classes. One online class can often count for a fifth of the fifteen-hour load, and still count towards a degree plan to graduate. These classes are often know to be much easier than an actual face-to-face course because it usually won't go as in depth like traditional courses do. The learner is given a few dates for when quiz's are due and when the final exam is, and never attend an actual lecture. One can learn the material at their own pace at their own convenience before any kind of exam, and not worry about wasting time driving to school or attending lectures.

As learners our main priorities are having flexible schedules, with teachers that explain a subject in a well-organized manner. Therefore when we can’t find what we are looking for or sometimes hear calculus is the worst class to take by the only professor that teaches it at a university. Then that’s when we look for another open door. Executive Officer Karen Boanno from the Australian School Library Association indicates that taking online classes can still challenge a learner if they have trouble with self-motivation. “Self-motivation and interdependence requires a reasonable level of competency in emotional intelligence” (Goleman 1998, p. 24). Boanno uses Golemans definition of emotional intelligence as one who has “self-awareness, motivation, self-regulation, empathy, and adeptness in relationships.” I agree that if a person decides to take an online class it may be difficult if the have problems being self-motivated, but a course like this is not like high school where you have a teacher babying you. Second why would some waste their money and time to take a class they are not even going to try on to at least pass. I see online-learning as another form of upper level of education, but not as high as an actual face-to-face course at a university. I say this because at a university you go to lecture and each professor’s style of teaching differs from each other. Along with how strict they are grade distribution. This then only adds to those challenges from above and in there also falls dedication to learn the material for the class. Most of the time online classes are structured the same and not very difficult.

Learning Within 20 Years

Can you believe that 20 years ago that today we would be learning things at a much more faster pace than ever before? I want you to go back in time and think about how learning has evolved ever since your first day in school. We were slowly introduced to the fast pace style of teaching we now today experience. For example in elementary school-15 years ago our teachers were using chalk boards, paper and pencil, and would often read us books to expose us to new vocabulary. Middle school through High school we still had teachers using the same teaching a strategy, but now the workload was a little more intense. The ways we researched topics for homework began to slowly expand from hard book covers a wide variety of information found online. In college we still have professors to lecture about whatever the subject may be, but now we are held responsible for soaking in all that knowledge or just let it go to waste.

Throughout the years the way we learn something now can’t compare to the speed from before.  I remember when computers were first being introduced to do simple tasks, like write a paper or learning how to type. In high school I remember hearing people talk about how they were able to still get their High School diploma even after flunking out or getting kicked out. These kids would sit on a computer for a few hours every day for about 9 weeks and get the same credits I was getting in a year in order to graduate. The same thing is now being used on college campuses nationwide. At my university it is called Distant Learning, and it’s also know as an online class. You still have a professor, test, quizzes etc. The only difference is your lectures are all online and the only time you get to see your prof is at the end when you have to take the final exam. Therefore if you think about how you learn and compare to maybe how even your parents were learning things when they were in school it’s. Then where and how will we be gaining our knowledge twenty years from now? How digital are we going to get?
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/06/education/06online.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&sq=learning%20&st=cse&scp=4

Gaining Trust With a Few Pictures and Numbers

The still picture comes from a commercial ad that is marketing Hydroxycut. Hydroxycut is a dietary supplement meant to assist people trying to lose weight. The picture/advertisement is targeted towards all genders ages 18 and up that are looking for a quick way to shed a couple of pounds. Unfortunately not everyone looking at this advertisement keeps an adequate diet and exercise regime. So they end up thinking this is the magic pill that will give them results no matter what they do because of how the product is advertised.

Unfortunately in the U.S. obesity rates have been increasing since 1976 and continue to today, but not as rapid. “Among obese adults, approximately two-thirds have been told by a health care provider that they are overweight” (Centers for Disease Control, 2005). Therefore this issue creates a large enterprise for companies like Hydroxycut to create and sell products that are meant to lose a great amount of weight in a short period of time. I believe the picture targeted towards these kinds of people because for years they have been struggling with weight issues and now there seems to be a cure. These sorts of advertisements can easily persuade one to by their product. In this example the picture shows an actual doctor in a clinical setting with pictures of him before and after the eight weeks he used the product. The picture also includes large numbers beside him representing a positive change in his weight and body measurements. These sorts of messages allow its audience to think that this is the magical pill even a doctor approves. The picture appeals its audience with ethos, logos, and pathos. For example it gives them the feeling of hope to live a healthy and attractive life with the use of a little bit of numbers and a real sittuation.

I would say the main lure of this image is Dr. Jon Marshal wearing his lab coat and the large white numbers beside him. Those are the most important parts of the picture because it gives it the credibility it needs to gain the audiences trust. The less attracting parts of the picture that still give it positive credibility is the clinical setting, the small image of Dr. Marshal before and after he used the product, and to seal the deal some background information on Dr. Marshal and where he got his M.D. from. The image clearly emphasizes that the product will work if you buy it and use it. Especially since it was used by a doctor and got positive result. The only thing that ad is missing is that to in order to see the same results the Dr. did you must have a well balanced diet and exercise regime. Two things everyone just loves to do every day.

A Remedy for Information Overload That's Only Causing More Headaches

 Communicating amongst each other “the social life” has evolved dramatically for centuries, as well as for the amount of information our brains process day by day. Information overload has always existed and in various forms. Our brains are only capable of processing so much at once before we experience some sort of meltdown. Today we rely on e-mails, phone calls, text, instant messages, and many other forms of communication that keep control our tasks and social lives. The predicament we find in these new forms of interaction is that companies responsible for our communication capabilities are trying to decrease information overload; when in reality they are just closing our eyes with tools that may in fact control information overload and make life easier due to the overload.

Electronics have introduced newer and faster ways to communicate, and like I stated above make our lives easier. As the speed to communicate continues to increase so does the amount of information we are bombarded with.  This bombardment is all a way to gain revenue and power. In an Article by Jon Swarts, USA Today: “Social Media Users Grapple With Information Overload.” Contains a quote from Gmail product manager Paul McDonald.  “Americans now consume three times the information they did in 1960” (Swarts, USA Today). One can only imagine what a great business this would be to get into. It’s easy to trick thousands even millions in buying features that indeed are created to decrease over whelming environments caused by information overload. In that exact article Swarts talks about how companies like Facebook, Google, Yahoo, and AOL are coming up with features that can directly connect one from an inbox to a social network like Facebook and Twitter to make things easier. In reality they are only creating ways that will give them more money. Swarts explains how marketers and advertisers base their expenditures on the size of a websites audience; therefore in order for social media networks to gain revenue will do what ever they can to get more people to stay loaded on their network. As a result companies are intertwining work with social life to make it seem like they are making things easier for people, but in fact  are know causing them a distraction without even knowing.

How Long Have We Been Overloading With Information?

The best way to determine a scholarly article is legitimate online is if you found it on a database and the author is a scholar or a researcher in the field or specialty; whose purpose is to inform and report original research or experimentation. In this case I went to Texas A&M’s database and found an article written by Ann, Blair professor of history at Harvard University. “Information Overload, Then and Now.” This article is an extremely informative piece that talks about how our information has evolved. The author’s main point is that “information overload was experienced long before the appearance of today's digital gadgets.”

She believes writing was the first culprit, it caused the rise of text beyond a single mind could process. Through the evolution of writing we have found ways to keep up with time and the amount of information that has accumulated. We tend to go to “storage facilities” that allow us to retrieve an array of information in a macro and micro sense. Blair explains it as “libraries and the Internet, and not only books and Web pages but also specific parts of them (like arguments, quotations, or facts).” Blair continues talking about this certain evolution and hoe contains “tools for searching and retrieving.” Such as note taking, the invention of paper, then printing.

In her article she gives examples of how throughout history people have some how complained differently about information. For example she talks about how in the 16^th century people complained of the overflow of books and how some were bad and some good. Out of this a solution was needed and genres came out. “My study of information management in the era of humanist note-taking and early printed reference books has left me wondering about what we risk losing in academic scholarship as we move more of our work to electronic media: Storing.” She continues talking about how information needs to be redundant and preservable in order to not be forgotten. “But computers preserve only what has been upgraded to match their ever-changing specifications.” Therefore we need to find a way to adapt to the new form of information overload and in the eyes of Blair and diminish the loss of academic scholarship.

            This article indeed gives off a great rhetorical impression because the author is an expert in the field she is talking about and gives great examples about how information has evolved and appeals to ethos, pathos, and logos throughout her article. What is interesting is that she is more informative than persuasive through her article.

For the full text visit:

http://p8331-polychrest.tamu.edu.lib-ezproxy.tamu.edu:2048/V/LKUKFJHCKEHM6RTBAJ3AE94J4CGELUUKXJR8I535IPPSDG88KD-15793?func=quick-3-full-save&doc_number=001043787&format=777&encoding=UTF_TO_WEB_MAIL 

How Reliable Is Information Today

Have you ever gone online to look up a topic for a research project and hope you find a needle in a hay stack and end up starting over because you have found out that the research you did was all bias?  How about going online to use a MLA citation processor for an English assignment and you end up loosing credit, because the format was not up to date. Well these are some examples of how poor digital information tends to affect many of us today. Therefore what can we do to prevent overloading with poor information online?

In the past before the Internet and computers came along we relied heavily on libraries and their books, and would spend hours trying to gain any sort of knowledge on a subject. Today everything has to be fast and easy, one can easily type in a word relevant to a topic of interest and find thousands of pieces of information related to that one topic, but the question is how reliable is that piece of information? Don’t get me wrong the Internet is a very handy tool, but we tend to abuse it in order to get by.  Therefore we need to reeducate our selves on how we access our information and the things we need to look for that make an online source reliable to use. If we do not change the way we look for information today, then allot of the things we may be sharing with one another may not even true or effective in a sense.