What's not on the web

The author points out that students are quick to look to the web instead of referencing print.  They are also eager to get the results of a search quickly and without hassle.  What does this mean for the student research?  It means that things can be overlooked.  The writer brings about an example of how a student researched how Hitler's rise to power was made possible by his personality although neglected to note Mien Kampf and The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich in his research.  The missing element is perhaps, according to the author, a lack of human interaction.  Students are quick to ask the web for all the information that is needed for research although are quick to pass by the chance to ask a person that is perhaps already knowledgeable on the subject.

The author goes on to point to a few examples of how the Internet misses the whole picture and that if you look at the Internet only and not also "in the stacks," a student will be left lacking complete information.  A list is even created noting what you will miss when you only look to the "Free" Internet for references:

• High quality reference books.
• Full-text nonfiction.
• Any book still under copyright.
• Comprehensive journal, magazine and newspaper indexes.
• Magazine articles written before 1990.

I find it humorous that the author references Yahoo, AOL Search and Excite when referencing dependencies on 'ease of search' options that a parent should watch for.  

The author even uses a librarians testimonial to speak to what one will miss when they only search on the web.  Here it is... are you ready...

"The only way to tell if you have found [high-] quality information on the Web is to first conduct research in the traditional way - in your library, in reference books and print materials"

So what do I think of this article?  Well, much in the way that I choose not to use an abacus for arithmetic, I don't use a library for research.   The article brings about some great points... for the time that it was written.  The article was created in 2001.  Much has changed in the last decade.  Not only can you find credible information on the web, but you can take classes on the web.  MIT and other colleges even offer full video recordings and syllabuses for their classes on the web free of charge.  I would argue that information coming from institutions such as MIT are in fact very credible.  So I now am left thinking.  Is there any relevance to this article?  Much as the abacus went, and eventually the need for a library (under many circumstances), this article too has past its useful time.  It had its place; in 2001.  In 2011, the Internet, though still a medium for a lot of incorrect and useless information, is a place that one can obtain all they need to create a school research report.

There was time and a place for this article.  I believe it was quite relevant and accurate to the time it was created, I just firmly believe that that time has past.

As should go without saying, being that the time of relevance has past on this article, I believe that I would not share the information contained in a classroom.

References
Valenza, Joyce. "What's Not on the Web." Learning & Leading with Technology. 2001: 5. Print.