Thursday, November 20, 2014

Choose five topics that you think are potential research topics for your paper and briefly (in 2 to 5 sentences) explain why these topics are of interest to you.

1. Racial Discrimination is a topic that ticks me off a lot because there are many people in this world being treated unequally and unfairly because of their race. People cannot have certain jobs or do certain tasks because of their skin color or ethnicity/nationality. This is something that needs to end sooner or later because it is driving the world to go worse than it already is with social issues and discrimination.
2. Alcoholism is another issue that interests me because I know so many people who have had alcoholic problems and did whatever they could to solve it. Alcohol is a major crisis because it causes people to become very violent and can make them commit many crimes, assault being #1. It is important for people to take care of themselves and be responsible for their actions and to know their limits.
3. Another major concern of mine is identity theft. I am mostly concerned about this one because when someone has your identity, they have all of your records and personal information. It can cause major problems for you and make you want to jump off the empire state building.
4. Another major concern of mine is child labor because many young kids are being forced to go to work and not getting the proper education they need and deserve. This is especially in china where child labor is very high. They make a few of our clothes that we have here and it is the adults that should be responsible. 
5. One more thing that concerns me is medical marijuana. This concerns me because it will help save a lot of lives of people suffering many diseases. This includes glaucoma, cancer, epilepsy, anxiety disorders, etc. It could also boost the economy because it will affect certain debts and imported/exported goods. 
Make a list of four or five things that "tick you off." Explain why. (Choose significant things that others might experience as well. For instance, your little brother might tick you off, but there is little chance that this annoyance will yield a possible paper topic). It is possible that one of these annoyances can be transformed into an interesting, engaging, and researchable project.

1. Not being able to solve certain problems or situations ticks me off because I feel that I need to solve everything that heads or comes my way. If a problem occurs, I need to solve it.
2. Another thing that ticks me off is rape because I feel that rape is some act of assault and violating personal rights of others and it makes this world look a whole lot worse, it also increases the crime rate in each city depending on the rate.
3. Another thing that ticks me off is war in this world over small things and making it into a huge crisis. Such as trading and not agreeing with another nations views or beliefs on certain aspects of society. I feel that each country shouldn't affect or be affected by another countries culture and we should all mind our own business.
4. One more thing that ticks me off is child abuse because it is a very violent and unreasonable crime and it ruins certain people through certain aspects of life and the person who committed the abuse will have people look at them in a different way than a normal person because of the violence and crime they committed. All of this is certainly unnecessary and unreasonable and should definitely be punishable.


Thursday, November 13, 2014

                                                                Wikipedia Story

  1. What did wiki software allow Web users to do that the Mosaic browser did not? It allowed us to access more information and different web literacy links.
  2. What do blogs and wikis have in common? We use them both for making posts about everyday topics and have an account of our personal information and we share what we want to share.
  3. What problem did a young Jimmy Wales find with the World Book Encyclopedia? It was missing access to the topics he wanted and there weren't a lot of sited sources.
  4. How was Jimmy Wales inspired by the World Book Encyclopedia to create Wikipedia? He felt he needed to use that encyclopedia information and use it in sited sources for people to view.
  5. How have encyclopedias inspired you in your own life? It gave me a lot of information on facts I always wanted to know and with linked sources.
  6. Why did Nupedia fail? It didn't have the right material to the information needed for certain aspects and sources.
  7. How did wiki software change the ideas behind Nupedia? It used information from different sites and sources besides Wikipedia.
  8. What is “crowdsourcing?” Using sources of different encyclopedias and putting it all into one.
  9. What do you think about the concept of “any fool in the world” being able to write articles for Wikipedia? It could be true because Wikipedia is accessible to edit and you could just click the link up top and provide info that could be incorrect.
  10. Do agree with the idea that “total idiots” could edit Wikipedia and of that being a good thing? Explain. No, because you could put wrong info purposely and try to fool other people, affecting their knowledge and the topic they are trying to learn about.
  11. Why do you think Wikipedia grew so fast and became so popular in such a short amount of time? Because it is extremely helpful in gaining info from the encyclopedia.
  12. Do you believe Sanger’s elitist attitude was a good thing or a bad thing for Wikipedia? Good, because it rose the level of knowledge for many people.
  13. What did you learn from the anecdote about the Wikipedia article on Einstein going to Albania for a passport in 1935? He took a cab to a pizzeria and had 3 buffalo slices.
  14. Explain this quote from the article: “I can’t imagine who could have written such detailed guidelines other than a bunch of people working together...It’s common in Wikipedia that we’ll come to a solution that’s really well thought out because so many minds have had a crack at improving it.” This is saying that Wikipedia could not be made by one person but a bunch of people working together. 
  15. The author of the article states that Wikipedia “grew organically.” What does he mean by that? That he wasn't the one providing all the info but the people using the encyclopedia.
  16. How has Wikipedia “been the greatest collaborative knowledge project in history? It provides all accessible info you want to know and with the proper linked sources they got the information from.
  17. Based on your own opinion and experience with Wikipedia, do you agree with the above statement or disagree with it? Explain. I agree because I have used Wikipedia a whole lot during my life and I have found it to be extremely helpful.
  18. What does the author mean by “wiki-crack?” That it is a key to hidden sources or things you are having a hard time finding.
  19. Based on the article, do you believe Wikipedia is a reliable source of information? I feel that it is because it is mostly true and provides the link to where they got the info from.
  20. Do you believe its possible for a 16-year-old from New Jersey to write “insightful” Wikipedia articles? Yes, because insight is an easy topic to write about and she would already have or get all the info from the encyclopedia.
  21. How do you feel about basing your own research on something a 16-year-old wrote on Wikipedia? I would feel OK as long as she puts the links to the sources she got her information from.
  22. What does Jimmy Wales mean by this mission statement: “Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge?” He means that imagine if we could gain all the knowledge in the world just by using linked sources.
  23. Do you agree or disagree with this mission statement? I agree because qwe would all be a lot smarter and much more intelligent.
  24. Do you think Wikipedia has succeeded in its mission? Yes, because it is extremely helpful to provide info and has plenty of sited and linked sources.
  25. Do you agree or disagree that ordinary people, people without degrees, can “be part of the process of creating and distributing knowledge?” Yes, because they just might've had trouble in the past.
  26. Based on your reading of the article, would you yourself use Wikipedia for your academic research? Yes, because it is all true and accurate as long as they site the source the person got their information from.
  27. Would you yourself like to write and/or edit Wikipedia articles in order to be “a part of the process of creating and distributing knowledge?” Why or why not? No, because I don't have sources to where I got my information from and I may not be completely accurate in the info in which I am giving.