Finding Information on the Open Web

I used Google. It’s my go-to for searching.

I used Boolean searching and it worked pretty well. I got some pretty good results.

The first thing I did when I came across a search result that I thought I might include I would first look at who wrote it, who published it, and how old it was. Though I found it hard to find things that were more current, most of the things I would find were between 2006 and 20010, I still think they are relevant to current time.

1.  Chai, Sangmi, Sharmistha Bagchi-Sen, Claudia Morrell, H. R. Rao, and Shambhu J. Upadhyaya. "Internet and Online Information Privacy: An Exploratory Study of Preteens and Early Teens." IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication 52.2 (2009): 167-82. Print.

I chose this information because the database that published it was credible and I found the article to be thorough.

2.  Christiana, Joe, and Richard Goettke. "Privacy and Online Social Networking Websites." Computer Science 199r Special Topics in Computer Science Computation and Society: Privacy and Technology. Harvard University, 14 May 2007. Web. 1 Aug.2012.<http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/cs199r/fp/RichJoe.pdf>.

I chose this article because Harvard University is credible and well known. I also chose this article because it was among a group of graduate papers that scored the highest in the class which tells me the students did their research appropriately.

3.  Flatow, Ira. "Protecting Your Privacy On Social Networking Sites." Audio blog post. NPR. PBS, 21 May 2010. Web. 1 Aug. 2012. <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127037413>.

I chose this because it was a radio show on NPR. Though very much an opinion show it was still very informative and the host was well educated on the topic. The host also had very good intentions when the show was taking place. It related well to what I was looking for.

4.  "11 Tips for Social Networking Safety." Social Networking Safety. Microsoft, 24 July 2010. Web. 01 Aug. 2012. <http://www.microsoft.com/security/online-privacy/social-networking.aspx>.

The credibility here should be obvious to many. I personally am not a fan of Microsoft but it is more of product reliability than how knowledgeable they are. They are all about computers and tech advancement so I feel they are a good source to use. I also feel the intent of the article is a good fit for what I’m researching.

Focus on Search Engines and Websites

The search tool that I tried that I wasn't familiar with was Bing.
It has a lot of the same features as Google.
There is a general web search tab, which is also the main page  when you first go to the site. There is an image search tab that lets you search just images. There is a video search tab that lets you search just videos. Some of the other tabs are maps for locating places or getting directions, news for getting current events, and then a more tab. When you click on the more tab it gives you much more options for focusing your search like music, math, finance, dictionary, weather, etc. When you do a search it will give you a list of related searches and it also gives you the option to link your searches with Facebook.

The metasearch tool that I used was Mamma.
It looks very simple. It only has a few tabs for search focusing; web, news, image, twitter, and jobs. After doing a search it gives a list at the side with search suggestions. This site is very simple without all the "frills" like Bing has.

The subject directory that I used was About.com. I have seen the site a couple times but had never used it. The homepage has a lot going on. It gives editors picks, the search bar, an explore tab and a browse categories tab. After doing a search it gives you the basic list of results but they are all in the About.com library. If you scroll all the way to the bottom it has a list of related searches.

Finding Articles in Periodical Indexes

I did a pretty basic search on ProQuest for privacy and personal and concerns and got some great results as well as some kind of off the wall things that weren’t related to what I was looking for. I did get lucky and found a good article for my topic. In future searches I may not be as lucky and may have to narrow my search down since it was pretty broad.

The article I chose was:

"Facebook & Your Privacy. (Cover Story)." Consumer Reports 77.6 (2012): 24. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 25 July 2012.

I chose this article because I was looking for more information to narrow my search from just privacy and personal concerns to something more interesting to my like and dislikes. I am an avid Facebook user so I thought this article would interest me.  

The scholarly journal article I chose was:

Bro, Ruth Hill. "Titanic Privacy Mistakes." Scitech Lawyer 6.2 (2009): 16-9. ABI/INFORM Trade & Industry. Web. 25 July 2012.

I chose this article because it’s about personal privacy and the internet. I feel this is a research article because it’s in a journal put out by the American Bar Association, the author Ruth Bro is a lawyer who specializes in technology law, and the author also writes regularly for several other legal journals.

The newspaper article I chose was:

Rep, Billy T., and Rep E. Markey. "How can Congress Protect Online Privacy?" Roll Call: 1. ProQuest Research Library. Feb 22 1999. Web. 25 July 2012 .

I picked this article because it is investigative reporting about a new program that Intel was going to put into new computers. I would have been a violation of personal privacy and concerns anyone who would be surfing the web.

The more I searched, more I realized my topic was too broad. I kept getting personal health articles and person body protection articles. Though interesting, they were not as interesting as personal technology protection. So when I came across a couple articles with other keywords that caught my eye like Facebook, social network, and invasion, I was able to narrow down my search to something more narrow.

Database Feature and Searching Techniques

Part 1:

Lyric change and censorship

Current economy and Great Depression

Earnings for college graduate and high school graduate

vegetarian diet or meat-based diet

natural medicine or traditional medicine

Part 2:

My topic: Personal Privacy

My research question: What things associated with personal privacy are most concerning to people?

Boolean search: personal privacy and personal concerns

Digging Into Databases and Books Summary

In this section I learned a couple key things. The first was that there was a database of technical books called ITPro. It was multi function and could benefit a student, professional, or someone just curious about things. 

Another thing I learned was from the assignment instructions. I knew about Summit but I didn't I know that they can send books to Clark for a student. This will be very helpful in future classes.

This assignment surely opened my eyes to several other resources and I think that they will all be very helpful to me at some point. As far as this class goes I will probably use a combination of Summit and Google Scholar (if allowed). 

I was surprised that Google Scholar wasn't included in this assignement. I learned about this database previously and found it very helpful when writing my research paper for English 102. 

Google Books Search

In my Google Books search I looked up  Privacy, Personal Privacy, Violation of Privacy like I did in the Cannell Library and Summit searches. 
The book that looked most interesting to me was:
Pennock, J. Roland, and John W. Chapman. Privacy & Personality. New Brunswick (U.S.A.): Aldine Transaction, 2007. Print.
Being pretty familiar with Google Books already, I use it to look for new books to read and buy eBooks there regularly, I knew to look at the About This Book link and then scroll to the bottom to find a little info on the author(s). This helps me know if the authors are credible by giving background information like their education and experience. 

IT Pro Search

I found this site interesting because it was for technical books. Though I did search for Home PC like the assignment said to, I also searched for a few things of my own. I found this site useful because I'm a computer technology major.
I liked that under advanced search I could search the full text, author, ISBN, or the notes.

The Summit Catalog Search

I used the same search terms as I did when I searched in Cannell Library so that I could Accurately compare my results.


Altman, Irwin. The Environment and Social Behavior: Privacy, Personal Space, Territory, Crowding. Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole Pub., 1975. Print.


Eighteen universities in the area have this book. I decided it was credible when I saw on Summit that many of the universities that have the book are large and credible ones. I would hope that the universities that are so well known like WSU and PSU would try to keep their books credible.
This search was different from Cannell Library search because it let me know what kind of places carry the book other than Clark College.

Cannell Library Book Catalog Search

Search Term used: Privacy, Personal Privacy, Violation of Privacy

Lankford, Ronald D. Are Privacy Rights Being Violated? Detroit: Greenhaven, 2010. Print.


This book is a hardback book located on the second floor of the library. I knew this was a credible source when I looked up the book editor and he is well known and well educated about the topic. 

Exploring Topics Summary

In this section I found several things interesting. The first would be that I have been a student at Clark College off and on for about 2 years yet had not heard about Gale Virtual Reference Library. I know that I will find it very helpful in not only this class but in many of my future classes as well.

The second thing I found interesting was in the forum. While reading what the other students had posted about how they find information, a majority of the people used Google. I am a Google user as well but didn't realize how many other people did as well.

I felt this assignment was mainly to help the students see the different sources they can find and also to give them an intro to citation. I found it helpful to refresh my current knowledge and to remind me to be careful about the sources I am looking at.

Exploring Topics Questions

1. What things associated with privacy are most concerning to people?
2. Who would benefit from invasion of privacy? protection?
3. What area of privacy concerns me most?

Exploring Topics Part Two: WIkipedia

The topic I searched was privacy
The tool I used this second time was Wikipedia
Additional information found:
-Privacy is a western concept
-There is person privacy, informational privacy, organizational privacy, spiritual privacy, and intellectual privacy.

• Page name: Privacy
• Author: Wikipedia contributors
• Publisher: Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
• Date of last revision: 29 June 2012 09:22 UTC
• Date retrieved: 11 July 2012 09:00 UTC

Exploring Topics Part One: Gale Virtual Reference Library

The topic I searched was Privacy.

The tool I used was Gale Virtual Reference Library

Keywords: 

-Employers

-Protection

-Conspiracy

-Social Network

-Bill of RIghts

-Internet

-Cultural value

-Intrusion

-Healthcare

-Ethics

-Fourth Amendment

-Right of Privacy

Privacy. William Sims Bainbridge.

Encyclopedia of Community. Ed. Karen Christensen and David Levinson. Vol. 3.  Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Reference, 2003. p1101-1104. Word Count: 2391.

Unit 2: Plagiarism

The first thing that jumped out at me while looking through the readings was that on the second page of the overview is says to memorize this "The problem of plagiarism occurs when you fail to give credit for information, such as ideas and words, that are not originally yours."

As someone who is working on their second degree I feel it should be common knowledge not to claim some ones else's work as your own, whether it be full or partial. Unfortunately, there are still many students who don't feel that way or just ignore that it's ethically wrong because they are too lazy or busy to do the work themselves. 

For me, I make sure that when I'm writing a paper I highlight what information Im using and then include where it is from. If I'm using a quote then I cite it using proper MLA format. After make it a system for myself and having various instructors engrain the consequences of plagiarism into me it is something that I avoid. If I question the possibility that it could be mistaken for plagiarizing I ask my instructor or go to the writing help center. 

Part 2:

1. Last summer, my family and I traveled to Chicago, which was quite different from the rural area I grew up in. We saw the dinosaur Sue at the Field Museum, and ate pizza at Gino's East.

I see no need to make changes. There are no citation errors since these facts are coming straight from the source.

2. Americans want to create a more perfect union; they also want to establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty for everybody.

I question where this material comes from. It needs a citation or some kind of attribution.

3. I find it ridiculous that 57% of high school students think their teachers assign too much homework.

This statistic is coming from some place and the author needs to inform the reader where it's coming from.

4. Martin Luther King was certain that nobody would want to be contented with a surfacy type of social analysis that concerns itself only with effects and doesn't deal with root causes.

This is a small summary of the original works. I do not feel it needs to be cited since the writer doesn't actually use quotes or specific details.

5. Martin Luther King wrote that the city of Birmingham's "white power structure" left African-Americans there "no alternative" but to demonstrate ("Letter from the Birmingham Jail" para. 5)

This writer quoted some one else’s work and then appropriately cited it.

6. In "Letter from the Birmingham Jail," King writes to fellow clergy saying that although they "deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham, your statement fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations."

This writer used attribution but didn’t cite. I would have included proper MLA citation to avoid any confusion or possible consequences.

7. My friend Kara told me that she loves living so close to the ocean.

This is a statement talking about a friend and what she said so I wouldn’t include citation. The writer attributed it appropriately.

8. Americans are guaranteed the right to freely gather for peaceful meetings.

This is a widely known part of the constitution but I would have included citation to clarify.

First, to sum it all up...

This assignment was to create a blog where we can share what we are learning about the class and share our assignments. 


The difference between using a digital workspace and an analogue one is that the digital way gives you much more creativity with much more ease. The analogue way is said to be more personal but I'd disagree. With the ability to completely customize a digital workspace with things like pictures and colored fonts you can give the area a more "you" feel.


I'm a very active member of Facebook. I browse friends pages and comment or post things. I have customized my own page to the full extent. Hopefully I will enjoy blogging so much that I will become just as active in my own blog :)