Alkek Library News

Scary Things on The Internet: Spies, Robots, Hacks and Other Internet Deceptions

Periodically, we at the Alkek Library like to pass on what we know about the nature of information on the web. 

So here is a linkfest for you:

You know those link bait "news stories" on the homepages of Yahoo, AOL, MSN and more? Here's the musings of a former link bait writer, confirming that the writers work under deadline and often don't know anything about those subjects.

Here's another recent story: remember, not everyone in the comment section of your favorite internet page is who they say they are. Here is a great list of giveaway behaviors that suggest you're not interacting with an ordinary person.

In addition, an increasing number of news stories are written by computers using an artificial intelligence program.

My favorite example of internet duplicity is when celebrities actually try to anonymously comment on critical articles on themselves! Scott Adams of Dilbert fame was busted doing this.

Here's a list of other famous/rich people concealing their identities in comments sections. Yes, it's a Wikipedia link, but they do include sources for these examples.

Bottom lines:

1. Break the web habit and stop treating the open web as an authoritative source.

2. Learn to Think For Yourself, even when you perceive your own views to be unpopular (they may not be).

 

Use Startpages to Organize Your RSS Feeds & More

One of the coolest new tools I've been using lately is NetVibes startpage. A startpage is a personalized web homepage. Others include: iGoogle, Pageflakes, and MyYahoo. I've chosen Netvibes because you also have a public version you can share with others socially. (Pageflakes also has this feature.) Here is my Netvibes public page. Notice the different tabs .

On both the private and public page, you can choose what modules and widgets to add.  Netvibes already has many to browse and choose from. If you already have a delicious, facebook or flickr page you can have them fed to your startpage. See the larger view of the image by clicking on it.

You can also create different tabs to organize your feeds. I have one for blogs, database & journals feeds, and one I have created for research feeds for a presentation I am giving.  Tabs help to organize your RSS feeds according to how you want to view them.

On the private page, you see the same modules as on the public page plus you can add a widget to monitor your email from your different accounts in one place, have a calendar, weather widget, and more. Its as easy as clicking the "add content" button, pasting the RSS feed URL into the box and adding it to your page.

Most databases will allow you to subscribe to a search query or the latest articles from a particular journal. Use the databases help feature or look for the RSS image to find out how.

Here is a nice comparison of different startpages that discusses the different features of each one. At the bottom of the post is a chart that puts all the features together for easier comparison.

Watch the library workshop page for future workshops in late summer or the fall semester on setting up personalized startpages. Or follow the links above to create your own startpage now.

An Interesting Web 2.0 Blog....

Web 2.0 is a term used to describe user-generated or web-based services or applications. It fosters a sense of collaboration among users.  While preparing for a workshop about Web 2.0, I came across a well laid out information blog called iLibrarian.  Although the blogs audience is primarily librarians or information professionals, it is a very informative and helpful place to learn about Web 2.0 and the tools, websites, and add-ons to make anyone's life easier.

One thing of interest is the post about creating better presentations.  "4 Ways to Spice Up Your Presentations." It offers links to good examples of engaging presentations, advice Websites, and even tools to add charts or "on the fly" generated images.

I also liked her 3 part entry "40 Useful Firefox Add-Ons for Librarians." Anyone who uses Firefox knows there is a lot of extensions you can use to customize the browser to fit your needs.  I especially like the  screengrab extension. This add-on allows you to take a screenshot of a webpage (or region of a page) and save it as an image. It is similar to SnagIt. For those who use Twitter, Meebo or Facebook, there is an add-on that integrates these applications with Firefox. So you can Tweet, have a sidebar view of your buddies, and have Facebook running all from within the same browser.

There is more to this blog worth checking out. Note the "Most Popular Posts" and  the "Categories" to find out more.