Web Citations

[Ross Koning]

At 6:26 PM -0500 2/18/97, farishg at CC4.ADAMS.EDU wrote:

>One concern that I have regarding www use and citations of information
>from the web is the transient nature of web pages.  Some will remain
>unchanged for years, but others change almost daily or disappear altogether.
>How can I evaluate a reference that I cannot find, or that might be different
>than when the author of a paper accessed it?  It's not that far-fetched,
>I've already had it happen.

Guy,

I think we faced this same situation when we went from
clay tablets to paper...which is why the phrase "engraved
in stone" is still in use.

While this volatility is a potential curse of the medium,
it is also its blessing.  Information on the WWW should
improve as people comment on it.  I know that my own
pages have improved each time I have received a comment.
I APPRECIATE it when I get constructive criticism, and
I'm sure other WWW "authors" feel the same.  You don't
have to wait for a whole new edition...only the latest
one is "out there!"

The MLA citation method that someone else posted to the
group includes two dates: one for the origin of the page
(if known) and one for the access date.  This gives you
some idea of the time-frame that the student was using.
Certainly the time between student reading and faculty
reading is not too great, so for that short-term there
is less chance for significant change.

ross

_______________________________________________________________
Ross Koning                 | koning at ecsu.ctstateu.edu
Biology Department          | http://koning.ecsu.ctstateu.edu/
Eastern CT State University | phone: 860-465-5327
Willimantic, CT 06226 USA   | fax: 860-465-4479
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