Researching
February 10, 2009
“I have no responsibility for the human consequences of my decisions. I am only responsible for the efficiency of my part of the bureaucracy, which must be maintained at all costs.”
The previous quote, Postman p. 87, stuck in my mind while doing this week’s reading. For me this one quote embodies the growing attitude among American’s today and tells of what I believe is the greatest problem with the increase of “technopolies;” our inability as a culture to see the “big picture.” Without seeing the whole, we lose sight of our importance as individuals. Instead, the bureaucracy becomes the most important, and we merely replaceable cogs. I began to wonder if the world has always been this way, or if bureaucracies developed recently. These wonderings seemed to lend themselves perfectly to our next blog assignment….researching.
To avoid any conundrum with sources for an academic paper, I have an equation: academic paper = academic database. If I know very little about the topic, I’ll Google it. Yes, I’ll look on Wikipedia. And so, I looked bureaucracy up on Wikipedia. The “Origins” section of the article further narrowed my search. A German Baron von Grimm was quoted a couple of times, once relating back to Postman’s idea. Grimm was quoted saying, “here the offices, clerks, secretaries, inspectors and intendants are not appointed to benefit the public interest, indeed the public interest appears to have been established so that offices might exist.” Though this information relates to my research topic, I know that Wikipedia is not a reliable source. I use this first stage of my research so I know what themes or main events to look for in my more academic research. I always evaluate a source’s credibility after a certain point. Basic facts, such as birthdays, I will look up on Wikipedia. Anything information beyond the basic facts I look for other websites. Scrolling down the results from the search engine, I hunt for anything ending in .org or .edu. The next phase in research was looking up Baron von Grimm….Which was completely fruitless. If Googling Baron von Grimm resulted in no relevant information, then it’s time to switch topics. I decided to stick to a more general topic, like the history of bureaucracies. Maybe someone, somewhere, can write a dissertation on Baron von Grimm, but that someone isn’t me. At this point, I start looking through academic databases for articles – scholarly or otherwise. These are the sources I will use to further develop my thesis and write my paper. The three articles I found on the history of bureaucracy that I would use for my paper are “The Ups and Down of Bureaucratic Organization,” “Some Enchanted Bureaucracy” and “Sovereignty, Interest and Bureaucracy in the Modern State.”
The internet is a beautiful and horrible thing. The beauty lies in the ability of any person, anywhere to find information on virtually any topic. The possible horror of the internet lies in the same ability. The internet, for better or worse, is not leaving and people need to learn how to evaluate a site’s credibility. Although this is taught in library skills classes, it should be taught as soon as children start writing reports. The internet is a valuable tool, but skills are needed in order to use this tool to its full potential.
Olsen, Johan P. “The Ups and Down s of Bureaucratic Organizations.” Annual Review of Political Science. Vol. 11 Issue 1, 2008: 13-37. Academic Search Premier. EBSCOhost. Oregon State University Lib., Bend, OR. 8 Feb 2009. <http://web.ebscohost.com.proxy.library.oregonstate.edu/ehost/search>
Poulos, James. “Some Enchanted Bureaucracy.” Society. May , 2008: 294-298. Academic Search Premier. EBSCOhost. Oregon State University Lib., Bend, OR. 8 Feb 2009. <http://web.ebscohost.com.proxy.library.oregonstate.edu/ehost/search>
Burns, Tom. “Sovereignty, Interests and Bureaucracy in the Modern State.” British Journal of Sociology. Dec, 2008: 13-37. Academic Search Premier. EBSCOhost. Oregon State University Lib., Bend, OR. 8 Feb 2009. <http://web.ebscohost.com.proxy.library.oregonstate.edu/ehost/search>
February 13, 2009 at 6:06 pm
I like how you compared the good parts of internet to the bad parts and how the good and bad were often the same things. It’s very true that the internet makes things easier at times and thats nice, but also sometimes it just makes things too easy and so we use it as our default and often fill our minds with poor information that we accept as fact. It’s good that you try and only to use academic data bases for academic papers, but unfortunately not everyone knows how to navigate those archives. That is something that should probably be taught more often. Also, there are some sources on the internet that are helpful that may not be found in a database. But your method does rule out the false information in general, however some scholars can still be biased so it is important, I think, to still look at their motives.
February 13, 2009 at 8:37 pm
Your insights on the use of the internet is interesting. The contrast of the internet for “good use” and “bad use” seems to be a hot topic. The internet is like an addiction for some but yet a resourceful tool. When researching for papers and other important projects I agree with your resources. I prefer academic or scholarly articles as well. I might add they are not always as “interesting” or “flavorful” but end up with the most evidential information that seems well thought out and documented.