Thing 18 Reflections on Thinking Critically

Things 14- 18

I was going to give this badge a miss but have said I might as well go for it as I've done all the others.

Thing 14

Personal Information Management was not what I was expecting. I thought it would be about managing your personal data online. It was however about managing information you need for projects online. I was familiar with the name evernote before now but never tried it. I am currently researching a historical project in my spare time so I set up an evernote account for holding links to articles and bibliographies and indexes I need. It certainly makes it easier to get back to websites and pages I need and the notes I can make along the way means I attach relevance to each source and reference. 

Remember the Milk  I looked at too but I probably would not use. Its another log on to memorise and to be honest if the tasks are just for me I don't think its necessary a foolscap sheet on the fridge will do. If there is a large group of people in the team then its a nice and simple site over others than do something similar.

Thing 15

Evaluating Information was a very challenging and interesting read as were the tasks. Wikipedia is own experience sniffed at certainly and not trusted. Librarians and information professionals seem to blanch when someone uses it as a source. It can be however a good starting point well written pages give long lists of citations. I like the idea of using it as a teaching tool, going finding the problems out there can only be good getting hands on useful skills. 

The criticism aimed at Wikipedia that it is too male can be leveled at many online tools and websites. Youtube is another male dominated information territory. 

Dr O'Neill raises the question are minority groups interest being represented on wiki pages enough? Is this true or does it reflect their numbers in society? Or are people just more interested in writing about their hobbies than about issues that affect their section of society? I don't know. As a disabled man I don't expect there to be much interest in famous disabled people.

I looked at the tasks that accompanied this task and they were probably the most difficult of Rudai23 so far. I looked at Option B and found I knew very little about the citations being looked for. I did a search for my hometown and did find a mistake there on the page but I did not correct it as I feel uncomfortable doing that. I would much prefer it if instead of overwriting people work you could just tell them "that's wrong by the way" in a note or something. 

Thing 16

I've heard Brian Hickey speak about Online Security at several seminars and conferences and he always scares the hell out of him. The ease at which your data is spread and shared between companies who don't have your best of intentions at heart is terrifying. I have always been cautious in what I download and what I upload from my phone and laptop. I have always been wary about posting things online photos etc. I never ever check in anywhere. That's the plan anyway it doesn't always work out. I recently got my first google phone and found that photos were uploaded to google drive and I was being checked in to airports without my knowing. 
I do try to keep my posts civil my tweets are mostly retweets which are generally pictures or articles I like. My Facebook is now just used for happy birthdays. I do not buy anything online or use internet banking. This however is soon not going to be an option as more banks go without desks or counters. After several scares in hacking banking details I really don't want to do it.

Where I fall down is changing my password often and using alpha numerical password. I tend to use long semi sentences that mean something to me. I hope they are hard to break! I have made a effort to switch to duck duck go instead of google but what I find is the acceptance of people (mostly younger) who don't care about privacy. They don't ask they post stuff with you in it so even of I am trying to be safe I'm still screwed.

Thing 17

Sharing your work 

I hope I don't have to complete each task to get the badge. I have no presentation worth sharing in any format with online tool. Sorry Kris! The last presentation I did was seven years ago and it wasn't very long 5 minutes of pictures which would mean nothing without the dialog that I had to give with it. 

I have slideshare before and its a handy website for inspiration for a presentation. I am hoping to write something for a local historical journal I have the notes and sources so now its time to put it together and get it down. I will if successful get it published if not I might put it up as a blog post on a historical website. 




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