8.4: Types of (free) web resources
- Page ID
- 186014
\( \newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } \) \( \newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash {#1}}} \)\(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\)\(\newcommand{\AA}{\unicode[.8,0]{x212B}}\)
One cool thing about the internet is that it has helped equalize the publishing playing field. Anyone with an internet connection can publish information - no printing press, agent, editor, or advertiser needed! The free (i.e., non-password or paywalled) internet is an accessible publishing platform for voices that previously did not have a platform to be heard.
Why might a voice not be heard? Many reasons. Lack of money, lack of "formal" education, lack of access to publishing channels, lack of perceived "legitimacy," fear, oppression, and/or disenfranchisement are a few broad reasons that come to mind. The accessibility and anonymity of the internet lessen those barriers to having a voice. Of course, the internet helps amplify already-dominant voices, too!
The internet has introduced new types of resources to the publishing lexicon(opens in new window). Below is a non-comprehensive list. (Help build this list - let me know what types of web resources are missing!)
|
Type |
Definition |
Characteristics |
Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blog | A website similar to a diary or journal. Entries, called posts, are published regularly; visitors can leave comments. | - Anyone can create one on any topic - Authors can be individuals, groups of people, and/or anonymous |
- Clackamas Community College Blog(opens in new window) (CCC's blog) - Cake Wrecks(opens in new window) (time suck blog) |
| Government publication | Publications authored, sponsored, and/or funded by United State's federal and local governments. There are tons of types of government docs, including data and statistics, reports, court decisions, statutes, treaties, white papers, and historical primary sources. | - Author is somehow connected with a level of US government - Domain will end with .gov; state-level domains can include or.us (Oregon), wa.us (Washington) |
- Clackamas County's website(opens in new window) - Oregon forest fire statistics(opens in new window) (Oregon Department of Forestry) |
| Infographic | Visual representations of information, data or knowledge. Infographics use images and graphics to make complex information easy to understand. They do not usually contain a lot of text. | - Graphics and images - Minimal text - Good ones cite their sources! |
- Media Bias(opens in new window) - Behind the Internet Curtain(opens in new window) - Battle of the Bonds(opens in new window) (James Bond) |
| Message board / internet forum | Website where users can have online conversations and interactions, essentially. Visitors can post questions, comments, or other content about any topic under the sun. Users can reply to other users' postings. | - Authors can be anonymous - May or may not need to join the message community to post/comment |
- Reddit(opens in new window) - Craigslist(opens in new window) - Quora(opens in new window) |
| Online newspaper / magazine/ journal articles | Remember print newspapers and magazines? (Me neither.) It's worth noting that the "traditional" rules of publishing still mostly exist for this genre of web resource. Open access(opens in new window) online publishers are working to eliminate those traditional barriers. <3 | - Authors are often staff or somehow publisher-affiliated - Not really free... you either get tons of advertising or encounter soft paywalls(opens in new window) |
- Oregon City News(opens in new window) (newspaper) - Catster(opens in new window) (magazine) - Dancecult: Journal of Electric Dance Music Culture(opens in new window) (journal) |
| Podcast | iPod + broadcast = podcast. Basically, podcasts are online audio (and video) stories about every topic and theme imaginable. Podcasts can be one-offs or episodic; you can "subscribe" to them like you might a magazine; visitors can leave comments. | - Anyone can create one on any topic - On demand; playable anytime and downloadable |
- Welcome to Night Vale(opens in new window) - Code Switch(opens in new window) |
| Tweet | A post made on the social media platform Twitter. | - Authors can be anonymous, celebrities, presidents, or bots! - 280 characters or less |
- Thoughts of Dog(opens in new window) - Clackamas Community College(opens in new window) |
| Webpage | Most of us use "webpage" as a catch-all name for a lot of online content that doesn't resemble a "traditional" format of published content. Technically, a webpage is a single HTML(opens in new window) page on a website. Multiple webpages make up a website. | - Contains lots of information (text, pictures, videos, links, files) - Every page has a unique URL (web address) |
- A webpage about quokkas(opens in new window) (part of a zoo's website) |
| Wiki | A website that allows collaborative editing of its content. Access and editing can be open or restricted. | - Contributors can be anonymous - Editing can be done without special software or programming knowledge |
- Wikipedia(opens in new window) - Wikileaks(opens in new window) - Wookieepedia(opens in new window) |