How to be the smartest
Because really, isn't that what we all want? It's what I want, anyway.
I must admit something shameful to you. I realize that I got a degree in The Internet and everything, but I think all that time I spent swooning over British accents and baby lambs may have scrambled my brain. So now, when people ask questions, I frequently go mentally dead and reach for Google and Wikipedia without stopping to think about where I could get better/more relevant/more reliable answers rather than wading through lists of crap like some kind of rank amateur.
Today I read a post over at Scholastici.us called Beyond Wikipedia: 20 References You Can't Do Without. I am grateful for articles like this, which remind me that I am supposed to be an information professional, who uses the Internet in a streamlined, sophisticated, dead sexy way which possibly involves wearing brick-red lipstick and smoking a cigarette afterward.
So check this list out and I bet you'll find some yummy stuff. Some sites, like JSTOR, are meant for those who have access through an academic library or similar, but most are for the average brilliant Internet user who just wants to be better than the mouth-breathers.
Enjoy!
I'm Steph, a librarian and mom of 3 (not sure how that happened). Let's chat books, food, Sumptuous Literary Adaptations, poop, knitting and maybe some crazy Mormon Feminism.
7 comments:
Ooh, yay! I need these when I tutor online. Turns out tutor.com doesn't exactly care for Wiki and I have the hardest time knowing where else to find stuff.
When I am writing journalistic stories for magazines, newspapers and news Web sites, I would never dream of using Wikipedia (unless it was a story ABOUT the site). And my husband would never cite it in his research. Can you imagine submitting a paper to a scholarly journal and having a Wikipedia reference? They wouldn't take you seriously...
Miranda, I don't use Wikipedia as "The Source." But it's a good way to get an overview of a subject and find out what the most relevant publications/sites/authorities are. That's how I explain it to people, anyway.
And there are some subjects that are too new or obscure to have had books and loads of scholarly articles written about them yet (this was the case with my dissertation topic). In that case, Wikipedia was one good way to see how topics were related and who was working on/writing about them.
What I mean to say is that Wikipedia can be a valuable starting point for research if someone isn't sure WHERE to start.
You know I'm a geek because I immediately thought "I love JSTOR". Yes, I sometimes browse JSTOR for interesting stuff to read. Because I am that nerdy.
I often use Wikipedia for quick overviews of things, like when I'm wondering what the capital of Burma is, etc. It's certainly not the best source for most things.
I really like the Wiki.
I particularly enjoyed reading about The Beatles recently, and the Let It Be and Abbey Road albums in particular. I learned answers to questions I've had for many years, such as which was the last Beatles album and why is there that strange bit of a song at the end of Abbey Road.
Here's a thought on Wikipedia and yes I completely agree with him:
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/10/the-wikipedia-g.html
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