First practical experience with turnitin and a fruitful holiday

I am writing this entry during a mid semester holiday.  Despite having the whole week as a holiday, I am so busy with academic work.  I am not going to class but I have several assignments that I have to submit by 25th of this month. 

I am doing a research essay on the credibility of information transmitted via the social media as compared to information transmitted via conventional sources of information. during periods of crises. So far, my findings are that during periods of crises, people do rely on both, information transmitted via conventional sources of information and social media. Though conventional sources are seen as more reliable, there is a degree of interdependence between the two categories of information sources.  I have noted that during periods of crises, social media transmit information which could be regarded as either reliable or unreliable depending on who posts that information.

You may wish to know dear readers that I have had the first opportunity this week to submit my assignment to turnitin and I am amazed to see how magical this software is. I had heard about it but I never knew that it would reveal all the information that I copied on the Internet. I would say I am so impressed with this turnitin because it is there not to frustrate me but to improve my writing skills as a postgraduate scholar in this prestigious department of Library and Information Science.

Despite being on holiday, I am not having a chance to chat with friends because of how busy I am with the assignments. 

  Finally, I wound like to state that it has been a holiday well made use of.

Many ofices have such sign posts this week at 
University of the Western Cape.

E-books: an initiative behind fast, convenient and efficient access to information?

I sat calmly, I listened attentively, I followed with kiln interest, and I knew the unknown – the eBooks. This is what happened when a guest lecturer, Ms. Renee Reagon, Director of Technical Services and Electronic Resources Management at Stellenbosch University made a presentation on eBooks on Tuesday, 13th March, 2013 at the University of Western Cape.

By critically analyzing the rich content of a well prepared and logically delivered lecture by a well knowledgeable   library professional, I join the other experts who are advocating for the full adoption of eBook technology to effectively meet the information needs of our library and information centers clients.  

The presentation enlightened me on several eBook issues with the major ones being opportunities and challenge; coincidentally, this was also the title of the lecture.

 

Being efficient, effective and convenient, coupled with advanced, sophisticated, user friendly and customizable soft wares and platforms, I find the eBook technology as an innovation that has a potential to make the job of a librarian easier, pleasant and inspirational. With the advocate for virtual libraries reaching a center stage, the eBook technology fits well because the books will no longer be housed and locked in a building limiting access to information seekers. For academic libraries, students will no longer scramble for most valuable books as they can access them anytime.

Picture courtesy of Technical Services and Electronic Resources Management: Stllenbonch University.

An early bird catches the worm.
 

The picture shows Stellenbosch University students at the library entrance waiting for the library to open so that they can scrable for the most valuable book in the library. The eBook technology is being touted to be a solution to such a problem. 

 However, I would like to warn librarians about some risks associated with the eBook technology.  Not all books are released in digital format upon their release, a situation that may deny library users an access to latest books.  Concerns on Digital Rights Management and ownership issues need an urgent attention before we can fully adopt this technology. 

 

As a lecturer at the only library school in Malawi, I am convinced that I have to liaise with colleagues in the department to incorporate the eBook concept either as a course or as a topic in one of the courses.

Open Access: for everyone, everywhere, any time! Turnitin: a cure for plagiarism?

As the journey in search for more advanced ICT knowledge continues, it would be unfair for me not to put on record the amazing knowledge I have accumulated this week.  

I have just noted that Open Access (OA) is for everyone, everywhere and with no attached cost, provided those willing to access the resources have the necessary skills, ability and computer hardware and soft wares.  Just to share with you dear readers, Open Access is where the well done research articles are uploaded online for free access by everyone, regardless of their location, field of study, economic status, level of education, etc. The process also involves converting print academic research articles into digital format for uploading on the online database – a process called digitising.    

As a prospective librarian, I am now knowledgeable that there are many advantages associated with the initiative of Open Access.  As someone in the teaching profession where academic publishing is prerequisite for promotion and building self ego, I find the OP the only initiative that opens opportunities for prospective researchers in developing countries that struggle to subscribe to most prestigious journals which have their prices unattainable. Speed of access, twenty four hour access, permanent availability/preservation, inclusion of interdisciplinary literature, visibility, usage and impact of research are some of the factors that I have noticed make this initiative helpful hence, a must have.

It is important for me to mention here that the major problem associated with the OA initiative is copyright. Copy right issues have stirred a hot debate among scholars and prominent researchers on how they should be taken care of. Many feel that making research articles accessible for free snatches them the right to be rewarded financially.   

On a lighter note, for the first time this week  I was introduced to an amazing software, indeed, a software that did not only amaze me, but even my fellow classmates. It is the Turnitil software. It is software that detects if the academic. work was plagiarised or not – probably another sophisticated technological development by human kind in the academic world.  The conclusion could be that this software is the cure for plagiarism which is a crime yet, very common in the academic arena.

Twitter: The Modern Versatile Communictaion Tool

This week marked another mile stone in as far as my understanding of the Twitter is concerned. The participatory kind of lecturing delivered by a competent ICT Developments & Applications in LIS lecturer enriched me with more knowledge on the use of Twitter.

I now know that Twitter can be analyzed from four different perspectives. Firstly as a form of social network, secondly as part of the blog, thirdly as part cell phone and finally as an Information Management tool.

Previously, I used to have problems in sharing websites with long URLs on Twitter because most of the URLs had characters exceeding 140 characters yet Twitter accommodates only 140 or less characters. This is no longer a problem because I have learnt how to shorten such URLs using Google URL Shortener and I am already benefiting from this facility.

I also learnt that registered members of Twitter can enjoy the following services:

·   post massages (tweets) as well as other users’ massages (re tweets) that they find interesting and want to share with their friends and followers;

·   read their follower’s tweets and re tweets;

·    send  private massages to any of their followers and

    use Twitter or search engine to find tweets that have been grouped using hashtags eg. #sScescal2014”

Apart from learning  how Twitter symbols such as @ and # are used, I explored that Twitter is being used in various fields of study such as in libraries, media, politics and in Churches. All these use Twitter for various purposes but I noticed that the major purposes is for current awareness i.e. communicating breaking news before other media channels. No wonder millions of people re tweeted a Tweet by Barrack Obama after claiming victory in the 2012 US election. 

As a librarian, I have been  very interested in knowing how this versatile facility could be made use in a Library environment and I discovered that it could be used as a tool for instructing and making announcements to clients among others.

I, therefore, wish to emphasise that I find the course worth doing and interesting though the content is overwhelming and so demanding but I feel as a postgraduate student, this is the way to go, after all, I have to show that I am different from a an undergraduate student by being confronted with such tough tasks.