I often look things up on this computer. The thought came to me that it is like living in the library. Anything I want to know about is at my fingertips. The information superhighway it has been called. It is almost too much information. On subjects that are open to interpretation I can get many different views and opinions. It is sometimes difficult to pick a winner ! Should I believe this source or that source. Just which Professor is giving me the straight of it ? One question just naturally leads to another. That is why I can wind up on here for hours at a time. I ask a seemingly simple and direct question and get sidetracked. I am not complaining about it, it is a wonderful tool.
I never had this problem at the library. I would just go to the card catalogue, I still remember the Dewey decimal system, and find a book on the subject in question. If it was a reference book I would sit in the library and take notes from it. Usually one book was enough. If it was in the encyclopedia britannica that source was unfailable. There was no arguing with that source. The other books I would check out and take home. They got read cover to cover and returned. If those books were concerned with a specific event, say the American revolution, after reading that one book you felt like an expert. No need to read differing viewpoints by other authors unless you had to. If some kind of report was due in school that required that thought process a second book might be checked out.
I think the ease of retrieving information is certainly the greatest use of the internet. It was the original idea anyway.The idea was to have computers share information. That part is a huge success. The only issue being the internet is like the wild west of information. Good and Bad ! You do have to be careful where you roam. I have applied filters to mine to keep me out of the badlands I don't need to be bothered with all that. I still get pop ups and they are bad enough. When I was a kid the local library had an adult reading room. It wasn't for reading adult material however, it was just a quiet place away from us kids ! I did hear they had some books in there that were a bit racy. Virginia Woolf and Peyton Place seem to ring a bell. I confess to not having read either one. Peyton place used to be on television but Mom made us go to bed.
I must say I spend quite a bit more time in this library than I did the one on Main street. If they had had games to play, and you were allowed to chat and could have just copied and pasted material that may have been different. That library was only open at specific times and a scary older lady kept an eye on you the whole time. So quiet, with the smell of old books, it was really kinda creepy. I always felt like you had to be smart to be in there and that librarian knew who you were. You were judged by your family and just what part of town you came from. Others in the library peered over the tops of their books to see just who you were. I sure don't have that problem now and I have yet to pay a late fee.
Yes I would say putting the library in my living room is one of the great achievements of man. Just imagine if Abraham Lincoln had had access to all this. It is still true that you have to use the thing for what it was intended. It was a tool to share information. Man has found a myriad of ways to abuse it. It is even harmful at times. The internet is a wonderful thing. It is still the mind of man however that is the greatest tool. We can now gather information so much faster than in the past. The other thing is we must be moved to action. Just sitting and reading about things is not enough. Every once in a while we must leave the library. There are other things to do. You can just look it up.
I never had this problem at the library. I would just go to the card catalogue, I still remember the Dewey decimal system, and find a book on the subject in question. If it was a reference book I would sit in the library and take notes from it. Usually one book was enough. If it was in the encyclopedia britannica that source was unfailable. There was no arguing with that source. The other books I would check out and take home. They got read cover to cover and returned. If those books were concerned with a specific event, say the American revolution, after reading that one book you felt like an expert. No need to read differing viewpoints by other authors unless you had to. If some kind of report was due in school that required that thought process a second book might be checked out.
I think the ease of retrieving information is certainly the greatest use of the internet. It was the original idea anyway.The idea was to have computers share information. That part is a huge success. The only issue being the internet is like the wild west of information. Good and Bad ! You do have to be careful where you roam. I have applied filters to mine to keep me out of the badlands I don't need to be bothered with all that. I still get pop ups and they are bad enough. When I was a kid the local library had an adult reading room. It wasn't for reading adult material however, it was just a quiet place away from us kids ! I did hear they had some books in there that were a bit racy. Virginia Woolf and Peyton Place seem to ring a bell. I confess to not having read either one. Peyton place used to be on television but Mom made us go to bed.
I must say I spend quite a bit more time in this library than I did the one on Main street. If they had had games to play, and you were allowed to chat and could have just copied and pasted material that may have been different. That library was only open at specific times and a scary older lady kept an eye on you the whole time. So quiet, with the smell of old books, it was really kinda creepy. I always felt like you had to be smart to be in there and that librarian knew who you were. You were judged by your family and just what part of town you came from. Others in the library peered over the tops of their books to see just who you were. I sure don't have that problem now and I have yet to pay a late fee.
Yes I would say putting the library in my living room is one of the great achievements of man. Just imagine if Abraham Lincoln had had access to all this. It is still true that you have to use the thing for what it was intended. It was a tool to share information. Man has found a myriad of ways to abuse it. It is even harmful at times. The internet is a wonderful thing. It is still the mind of man however that is the greatest tool. We can now gather information so much faster than in the past. The other thing is we must be moved to action. Just sitting and reading about things is not enough. Every once in a while we must leave the library. There are other things to do. You can just look it up.
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