Happy Easter!

Hello all,

I just want to say...

Buona Pasqua (Italian) :)
Vrolijk Pasen (Dutch)
Joyeuses Pâques (French)
Frohe Ostern (German)
Καλὸ Πάσχα (kalò Pàskha)(Greek)
E ʻôlelo mâlie (Hawaiian)
Boa Páscoa (Portuguese)
¡Felices Pascuas! (Spanish)
IPhasika elijabulayo (Zulu)
復活節快樂 (fùhuójié kuàilè)(Chinese Mandarin)
ਈਸਟਰ ਖੁਸ਼ਿਯਾੰਵਾਲਾ ਹੋਵੇ (īsṭar khuśyāṅvālā hove)(Punjab)
Христос воскресе (Xristos voskrese)(Russian)
Geseënde Paasfees (Afrikaans)
عيد فصح سعيد (Arabic standard)
शुभ ईस्टर (śubh īsṭar)(Hindi)
イースターおめでとう (īsutā omedetō)(Japanese)
สุขสันต์วันอีสเตอร์ (Suk-sənt-wən īs-toer)(Thai)
Heri kwa sikukuu ya Pasaka (Swahili)
חג פסחא שמח (chag pascha same'ach)(Hebrew)

Just a few of all the wonderful languages all over the world!

OMG!
I ate too much...My mom and my aunts do not understand the words NO, THANKS - NO, I'M FINE - THAT'S ENOUGH! - I'M BLOWING UP!

BTW,I just want to post a link to an interesting .pdf on 'personal learning environment'. I found it using Google Scholar and I'm going to analyse it using what we've learned on reliability. I'm going to bookmark it too.

Have a nice day!

Bye
Giorgia
(photo source)

It's a Carbon Copy!

Today in class we talked about plagiarism and IPR (Intellectual Property Rights).
Every time somebody invents a new tool, makes a discovery or produces an artistic work, such as a book or a picture, he can protect his production through laws. These laws are called IPR; they are legal property rights and the common types are:

• trademarks,
• copyrights,
• patents,
• trade secrets.

Obviously, if you don’t respect the IPR, you act illegally; therefore, you can be sued by the rights’ owner. One of the most common illegal act is that of copying someone else’s production (e.g. words, music or invention) and pretending that you thought it or created it; this act is called plagiarism.

Plagiarism and any other illegal act linked to the improper use of something covered by IPR are particularly increased with the wide-spreading of Internet. Since Internet allows almost all computer worldwide to connect, publish and exchange information, it’s easy to meet with the above mentioned problems.

We all know how huge is the net and how difficult is to find all the needed information on the reliability and the right to use that information (see my post on images and reliability)…So, let’s all be careful about these issues!

Bye
Giorgia

Don't Judge a Book by its Cover!

We were asked in class to write down a list of questions we usually ask ourselves when judging the content of any source (i.e. website, book, blog).
Thinking about my third-year thesis and all the academic papers I prepared during my university path, it came up that I focused especially on authors’ credentials and content reliability:

- who’s the author? Is s/he well-known? Is s/he considered authoritative in his/her field of study?
- Is it the content reliable? Does any other website/book/blog report the same information about this topic (CROSS-REFERENCING)?

I think I use these questions especially when taking information from the Internet, rather than from a book: I’m used to thinking that if something has been published it should be authoritative.

However, I discovered in class that my questions are only a little part of the numerous ones I have to ask myself when using any kind of source. I just want to point out here some of the criteria that I never thought about ‘till now:

- when was the information provided? (i.e. think about stats and surveys; it is important to know if the data are still valid at the time you’re using them);
- why was the information provided? (i.e. think about the intended audience, purposes, perspectives).

I found that the tips on sources’ evaluation from San Diego University are very useful. The website gives a clear and detailed list of questions. It takes time to analyse a source through all those criteria, but in the end it is worth it, you will feel more secure and confident on what you write using that analysed source…And if there would be any mistake you can blame the source, not you!!! :)

Talk to you soon!
Giorgia