Web knowledge Discovery

The internet has changed almost every facet of daily life including the way we learn. The internet places anyone with a computer and an internet connection only seconds away from a variety of answers to any question.

It is important to remember a few things. One thing to keep in mind is that you can not believe every thing you read or see on the internet. This is nothing new testing sources has always been an important aspect of acquiring knowledge. The main difference with the internet is that anyone can put a web page and write anything they ­want. With books, the older standby of gaining knowledge it took a lot more effort. A person had to write a book, find a company willing to publish the book and then find some way to distribute or sell the book for it to find it’s way to you. These steps weeded out a lot of false or poorly researched information. It also placed a limit on the information available and on the speed at which it could be received.

With the internet one can look through a lot of differnet sources in a matter of minutes. You just choose a search engine ( for example google), type in the topic you are interested in, and then start to weed your way through the links provided. This places the weeding out step into your hands. As you look through the links consider how reliable the information appears. Sometimes this step is easy because outlandish claims are easy to spot. Most often if you are trying to discover knowledge about a topic you do not know well it will take more effort. You may have to look through several pages ­test and see what information seems to be most prevelent. If you see the same information on a lot of the pages dealing with your topic then it is more reliable. If for instance one page said something that you could not find anywhere on the other pages it would be less reliable. That does not mean it is false information but it would point towards a step of finding verification. Just go back to the search engine, type in your original topic and then add the word or phrase that you are trying to verify. This will show other pages that will have both your original topic as well as the other words you are including.