Read
Read ‘3. Evaluating’ to find out how you can determine the academic value of a source.
NOTE: In this course you don’t learn (yet) how to also use reading strategies to assess the value of the source.
To do
Choose a minimum of 2 books and 2 articles from your Zotero list you have compiled for the weekly assignments and assess their academic value using the following questions:
Questions
Check information on the author:
Who is the author, what is the affiliation of the author?
Is the author an academic or trained as an academic?
Is the author a beginning academic or a (well known) professor?
Does the author work in an academic context?
Check book reviews:
Has the book been reviewed?
Is the review published in an academic context?
Is the reviewer an academic?
Check the journal in which the article is published:
Does the journal work with a peer-review system? (This information is usually provided in the 'About' section on the webpage of an academic journal).
What would be serious indications that a publication lacks academic value?
To do
Go to Zotero
For each publication whose academic value you doubt, add a remark in the ‘note’. Briefly explain the doubts. If you haven’t added a note to a publication yet, create one.
Add author information to the ‘note’ of at least two books and two articles on your list by providing a short bio about the author (25 words max) that indicates the disciplinary background and affiliation of the author (working in what field/domain, which institute or organisation, what function or position). Make sure the information is up to date. If you haven’t added a note to a publication yet, create one.
Add a brief remark to the ‘note’ of at least two books indicating if the book has been reviewed or not. If there is a book review, provide a link. If you haven’t added a note to a publication yet, create one.
Add a remark to the ‘note’ of at least two articles indicating if the article has been peer-reviewed or not.
To do
Look for information about the following examples of (alternative) literature and new media objects:
The comic book Ergens waar je niet wil zijn by Brecht Evens
The poem Carnival of the Animals written by Julia Uma Deere for the Expanded Field journal
An e-mail from art critic Josephine Bosma (J. Bosma) entitled “net.art and art on net” from March 1997 on the Nettime mailinglist < https://nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-9703/threads.html>
The Telegram mobile app for Android version 9.0.2
Photoshop version 3.0 for the Macintosh
Interview of Mary Lee Berners-Lee in the IEEE Women in Computing Oral History Collection
The video game 140 for the Nintendo Switch platform
Now check how to reference each of these objects according to the Chicago Manual of Style by using Kate L. Turabian’s A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations or the online Chicago Manual of Style (log in with your Solis ID).
Pick at least 2 of these objects and create an item for them in your Zotero library (NB: click on ‘item type’ in Zotero to select the right type of item), by manually adding all the required bibliographic information.
If time: brainstorm on the example you would like to discuss in weekly assignment 4 and repeat the process of collecting and storing the bibliographic information needed to accurately reference this item in your portfolio.