Finding information in technology - OpenLearn - The Open University

Skip to content

LearningSpace Home

Skip My preferences

Join LIB_10

Skip Learning Tools

Skip Rate and Review

Skip Alternative Formats

QuickStart

Unit tags:

more...

Skip Share this unit with a friend

Help with sending a link to this unit (new window)

Permalink to this unit:

	Time: 9 hours Level: Introductory

	Introduction Introduction Resource The internet provides a world of information, but how do you find what you are looking for? This unit will help you discover the meaning of information quality and teach you how to evaluate the material...

	1 Finding and using information – rate yourself 1.1 Assessing your current level of knowledge Resource If you explore all the resources and activities in this unit, you might need to allow between two and nine hours to complete it. 1.2 Key resources When you need to find information in technology, how confident are you that you know the best places to search (e.g. search engines, subject gateways, online databases, etc.) to find the information you... 1.3 Searching for information on technology Resource How well does the following statement match what you do when you begin a new search for information? 1.4 Evaluating information Resource How well does the following statement describe your approach to evaluating the information that you use? 1.5 Organising information Resource How confident are you that you know when it is appropriate to cite references (refer to the work of other people) in your written work? 1.6 Keeping up-to-date Resource How familiar are you with the following different ways of keeping up to date with information; alerts, mailing lists, newsgroups, blogs, RSS, professional bodies and societies?

	2 Searching for information on technology 2.1 Planning your search Resource Your approach to searching will depend to a great extent on what kind of person you are. In an ideal world, when searching for information for a specific purpose, we would all find what exactly we were... 2.1.1 Choosing keywords Resource Keywords are significant words which define the subject you are looking for. The importance of keywords is illustrated by the fact that there is a whole industry around providing advice to companies on... 2.2 Basic principles Resource Whatever resource you choose to use to find information on the internet, many of the same principles apply. Each source that you use will probably look quite different from the one you tried before, but...

	3 Resources 3.1 Introduction Resource You can find a lot of information about technology on the internet. 3.2 Search engines and subject gateways Resource Although both search engines and subject gateways will help you find the resources that you need, the types of information that you find will differ. 3.3 Books and electronic books Resource Books are a good source of information. The publishing process (where a book is checked by an editor before publishing, and often reviewed by another author) means that books are reliable sources of information,... 3.4 Databases Resource At a basic level, a database is a collection of information which can be searched. It is a way of storing, indexing, organising and retrieving information. You may have created one yourself to keep track... 3.5 Images Resource Images can also be found online. Some useful image databases are: 3.6 Journals Resource Journals and articles written by academics or experts are an excellent source of information. Journals are usually published monthly or quarterly, and contain a selection of articles providing details... 3.7 Encyclopedias Resource Encyclopedias can be useful reference texts to use to start your research. There are some available online, such as: 3.8 Patents Resource Patents are a key source of information for technology. 3.9 News sources Resource Many news sources are now available online. Searching an online version of a newspaper is easier, quicker and more effective than searching through printed indexes, microfilm or actual newspapers. 3.10 Choosing the right tool for the job Resource Before searching it is always a good idea to check what the source you have chosen covers to make sure it will unearth information that matches your search need (you will notice that all the resources... 3.11 Summary Resource There is a lot of information available on technology via the internet. Try the activities below to start exploring what is available.

	4 Evaluating Technology information on the internet 4.1 PROMPT Resource There is so much information available on the internet on every topic imaginable. But how do you know if it is any good? And if you find a lot more information than you really need, how do you decide what... 4.2 P is for Presentation Resource By presentation, we mean, the way in which the information is communicated. You might want to ask yourself: 4.3 R is for Relevance Resource Relevance is an important factor to consider when you are evaluating information. It isn’t so much a property of the information itself but of the relationship it has with your question or your ‘information... 4.4 O is for Objectivity Resource One of the characteristics of ‘good’ information is that it should be balanced and present both sides of an argument or issue. This way the reader is left to weigh up the evidence and make a decision.... 4.5 M is for Method Resource Method is about the way in which a piece of information is produced. This is quite a complex area as different types of information are produced in different ways. These are a few suggestions to look out... 4.6 P is for Provenance Resource The provenance of a piece of information (i.e. who produced it? where did it come from?) may provide another useful clue to its reliability. It represents the 'credentials' of a piece of information that... 4.7 T is for Timeliness Resource The date when information was produced or published can be an important aspect of quality. This is not quite as simple as saying that 'good' information has to be up to date. 4.8 Summary Resource In this section we have introduced you to the PROMPT checklist as a useful tool for assessing the quality of any piece of information. If you use it regularly you will find that you develop the ability...

	5 Organising your information 5.1 Why is it important to be organised? Resource 87 per cent of items that are filed into a filing cabinet are never looked at again. STANFORD UNIVERSITY 5.2 Ways of organising yourself Resource How do you organise yourself? 5.3.1 Desktop search tools Resource Finding your paperwork or electronic files can be a problem. You may find that even if you do have some sort of filing system, your structure soon gets quite large with files in multiple locations, which... 5.3.2 The 5 Ds Resource If you don’t use a system at all, then you could suffer from the effects of information overload: 5.4 Social bookmarks Resource If you find you have a long unmanageable list of favourites/bookmarks you might like to try social bookmarks as an alternative. 5.5 Copyright – what you need to know Resource An original piece of work, whether it is text, music, pictures, sound recordings, web pages, etc., is protected by copyright law and may often have an accompanying symbol (©) and/or legal statement. In... 5.6 Referencing Resource We mentioned above that we need to reference sources to ensure we abide by copyright legislation. But there is another reason we need to give accurate references to items we use – so we can share it. 5.7 Bibliographic software Resource If you are considering taking your studies further you might like to consider using bibliographic software. Bibliographic software can be used to sort references, annotate them, manage quotations or create... 5.8 Plagiarism Resource Referencing is not only useful as a way of sharing information, but also as a means of ensuring that due credit is given to other people’s work. In the electronic information age, it is easy to copy and...

	6 Keeping up to date 6.1 Introduction Resource The process of keeping up-to-date in your chosen subject area is useful for your studies and afterwards, for your own personal satisfaction, or perhaps in your career as part of your continuing professional... 6.2 Alerts Resource Online bookshops and some of the major search engines offer ‘Alerts’ services. These work by allowing you to set up a profile once you have registered on their site, and when there are items meeting your... 6.3 Mailing lists and newsgroups Resource Mailing or discussion lists are email-based discussion groups. When you send an email to a mailing list address, it is sent automatically to all the other members of the list. 6.4 Blogs Resource Technorati reports that over 100,000 new ‘blogs’ are created each day. Because these online diaries offer instant publishing opportunities, you potentially have access to a wealth of knowledge from... 6.5 RSS Resource RSS (‘Really Simple Syndication’ or ‘Rich Site Summary’) newsfeeds supply headlines, links, and article summaries from various websites. By using RSS ‘feedreader’ software you can gather together a range... 6.6 Professional bodies and societies Resource Consider joining a learned society or professional organisation. They can be very useful for conference bulletins as well as in-house publications, often included in the subscription. Don't forget to ask...

	References and Acknowledgements Acknowledgements Resource

Skip Related educational resources

Open University links

Studying this topic at the OU
Technology

OpenLearners also studied:

Knowledge Mapping QuickStart Guide
Learning, thinking and doing
Finding information in information technology and computing

Other sites

See other resources