* * Information Literacy * *

. . .INFORMATION LITERACY . . .

Several conceptions and definitions of information literacy have become prevalent. For example, one conception defines information literacy in terms of a set of competencies that an informed citizen of an information society ought to possess to participate intelligently and actively in that society (from [1]).

The American Library Association's (ALA) Presidential Committee on Information Literacy, Final Report states that, "To be information literate, a person must be able to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information" (1989).

Jeremy Shapiro & Shelley Hughes (1996) define information literacy as "A new liberal art that extends from knowing how to use computers and access information to critical reflection on the nature of information itself its technical infrastructure and its social, cultural, and philosophical context and impact." (from [2])

Information literacy is becoming a more important part of K-12 education. It is also a vital part of university-level education (Association of College Research Libraries, 2007). In our information-centric world, students must develop skills early on so they are prepared for post-secondary opportunities whether that be the workplace or in pursuit of education.

^^ Search Engine ^^

SEARCH ENGINES

Search engines are very different from subject directories. While humans organize and catalog subject directories, search engines rely on computer programs called spiders or robots to crawl the Web and log the words on each page. With a search engine, keywords related to a topic are typed into a search "box." The search engine scans its database and returns a file with links to websites containing the word or words specified. Because these databases are very large, search engines often return thousands of results. Without search strategies or techniques, finding what you need can be like finding a needle in a haystack.

To use search engines effectively, it is essential to apply techniques that narrow results and push the most relevant pages to the top of the results list. Below are a number of strategies for boosting search engine performance. When a "practice" link appears, click on the link to practice the technique with AltaVista's search engine.

IDENTIFY KEYWORDS
When conducting a search, break down the topic into key concepts. For example, to find information on what the FCC has said about the wireless communications industry, the keywords might be:

History of internet

Prior to the widespread internetworking that led to the Internet, most communication networks were limited by their nature to only allow communications between the stations on the network, and the prevalent computer networking method was based on the central mainframe method. In the 1960s, computer researchers, Levi C. Finch and Robert W. Taylor pioneered calls for a joined-up global network to address interoperability problems. Concurrently, several research programs began to research principles of networking between separate physical networks, and this led to the development of Packet switching. These included Donald Davies (NPL), Paul Baran (RAND Corporation), and Leonard Kleinrock's MIT and UCLA research programs.

This led to the development of several packet switched networking solutions in the late 1960s and 1970s, including ARPANET and X.25. Additionally, public access and hobbyist networking systems grew in popularity, including UUCP and FidoNet. They were however still disjointed separate networks, served only by limited gateways between networks. This led to the application of packet switching to develop a protocol for inter-networking, where multiple different networks could be joined together into a super-framework of networks. By defining a simple common network system, the Internet protocol suite, the concept of the network could be separated from its physical implementation. This spread of inter-network began to form into the idea of a global inter-network that would be called 'The Internet', and this began to quickly spread as existing networks were converted to become compatible with this. This spread quickly across the advanced telecommunication networks of the western world, and then began to penetrate into the rest of the world as it became the de-facto international standard and global network. However, the disparity of growth led to a digital divide that is still a concern today.

The Broadmoor Hotel

The Devil Wears Prada

ในโลกแฟชั่นนิวยอร์คที่วุ่นวายจนน่าเวียนหัว โลกที่ “ไซส์ 0” กลายเป็นขนาดใหม่ของใครที่เคยใช้ “ไซส์ 2” โลกที่เพรียวลงจน “ไซส์ 6” เป็นเป้าหมายใหม่ของคนที่เคยใส่ “ไซส์ 8” แล้วถ้าวันใดผมเผ้าไม่เข้าที่แม้เพียงกระเบียด อาจจะโดนไล่ออกจากงานได้ และนิตยสาร Runway Magazine ถูกเปรียบราวกับจอกศักดิ์สิทธิ์ของพระผู้เป็นเจ้า มิแรนด้า พรีสท์ลี่ (รับบทโดย เมอริล สตรีพ) เป็นบรรณาธิการของนิตยสาร ที่กุมอำนาจเบ็ดเสร็จไว้ใต้กรงเล็บสวยเนี้ยบ - เธอเป็นเจ้าแม่ผู้ทรงอิทธิพลในโลกแฟชั่นและ Runway เป็นปราการด่านสำคัญของทุกคน ที่คิดจะก้าวเข้าสู่โลกแฟชั่น แล้วการจะทำให้ Runway ยังคงเป็นคัมภีร์แฟชั่นของนิวยอร์ค และของโลกอยู่ได้นั้น มิแรนด้าจะไม่ยอมให้อะไรมาเป็นอุปสรรคขวางหน้าโดยเด็ดขาด รวมทั้ง “ผู้ช่วย” ที่เรียงรายกันมารับคำบัญชาของเธอคนแล้วคนเล่า มันเป็นงานซึ่งคนที่ยึดมั่นในศักดิ์ศรีมีเกียรติทรนง คงทำได้ไม่ตลอดรอดฝั่ง แต่มันก็ยังเป็นตำแหน่งที่หญิงสาวชาวนิวยอร์คนับล้านคน ต่อสู้แย่งชิงเพื่อให้ได้โอกาสสำคัญนี้

งานผู้ช่วยของมิแรนด้าที่น่าเบื่อนี้ อาจจะเป็นการเปิดโอกาสให้กับเด็กจบใหม่อย่าง แอนดี้ แซ็ค (รับบทโดย แอนน์ แฮ็ทธาเวย์) เธอสวมเสื้อผ้าธรรมดาๆ ตามสไตล์นักศึกษา มากกว่าจะเป็นแฟชั่นล่าสุดจากดีไซเนอร์ดัง ทำให้เธอยิ่งโดดเดี่ยวท่ามกลางกองกำลัง “แคล็คเกอร์” ที่ทำงานใน Runway - ก็พวกสาวสเลนเดอร์ใส่แฟชั่นสุดเดิ้นที่เดินกันให้ควั่ก ในสำนักงานใหญ่ของนิตยสารฉบับนี้ในแมนฮัตตั้นนั่นแหละ แต่เมื่อแอนดี้เข้ามาทำงานที่นี่ เธอก็รู้ว่าจะแจ้งเกิดในวงการนี้ ต้องใช้มากกว่าแค่เพียงความมุ่งมั่น และการตัดสินใจที่เด็ดเดี่ยว
และบททดสอบสุดหินที่เธอต้องเผชิญหน้า... ก็สวมปราด้าตั้งแต่หัวจรดเท้าเสียด้วย!
ถึงมิแรนด้าจะสามารถปั่นโลกแฟชั่น ให้หมุนติ้วราวกับลูกบาสเก็ตบอลในมือ แต่เธอกลับไม่ว่างพอจะหาผู้ช่วยดีๆ และรั้งตัวไว้ให้ร่วมงานกับเธอนานๆ เลยสักคน แอนดี้นี่ก็ช่างไม่เหมาะกับงานนี้เลยสักนิด แต่เธอมีคุณสมบัติข้อเดียวที่ผู้ช่วยคนก่อนๆ ขาด นั่นก็คือ.. เธอไม่ยอมแพ้
การที่แอนดี้จะเป็นผู้ช่วยสุดเพอร์เฟ็คได้ เธอต้องปรับรูปโฉมให้เข้าตามิแรนด้าเสียก่อน ปรับไปมากเสียจนแฟนหนุ่ม เนต (รับบทโดย เอเดรียน เกรเนียร์) ของเธอจำไม่ได้ เธอพูดจาฉะฉานเด็ดขาด เดินด้วยท่วงท่าสง่างาม (ในส้นสูงของ Manolo ได้ไม่มีสะดุด) และไม่จำ Dolce สลับกับ Gabbana อีกเลยด้วยนะ แต่ยิ่งเธอมองวิถีชีวิตผ่านมุมมองของมิแรนด้ามากขึ้น เธอก็ยิ่งเห็นว่า โลกของ มิแรนด้าช่างอ้างว้างโดดเดี่ยวเพียงใด หรือว่าความสำเร็จใหญ่โต ต้องมาพร้อมกับการเสียสละใหญ่หลวง... มันต้องเสียสละมากมายขนาดนั้นเชียวหรือ..?

The New Open World Corporation (NOWC)

Petra

Petra (from πέτρα "petra", rock in Greek, Arabic( البتراء, Al-Batrāʾ) is an archaeological site in the the Arabah Ma'an Governorate, Jordan, lying on the slope of Mount Hor in a basin among the mountains which form the eastern flank of Arabah (Wadi Araba), the large valley running from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba . It is renowned for its rock-cut architecture. Petra is also one of the new wonders of the world.

The site remained unknown to the Western world until 1812, when it was discovered by Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt. It was famously described as "a rose-red city half as old as time" in a Newdigate prize-winning sonnet by John William Burgon. UNESCO has described it as "one of the most precious cultural properties of man's cultural heritage."[2] In 1985, Petra was designated a World Heritage Site.

^ ^ Where i Want To Go ^ ^ 01

Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu (Quecha: Machu Pikchu, "Old mountain") is a pre-Columbian Inca site located 2,400 meters (7,875 ft) above sea level.[1] It is situated on a mountain ridge above the Urbamba Valley in Peru, which is 80 km (50 mi) northwest of Cusco and through which the Urubamba River flows. The river is a partially navigable headwater of the Amazon River. Often referred to as "The Lost City of the Incas", Machu Picchu probably is the most familiar symbol of the Inca Empire. It is also one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.

It was built around the year 1460, but abandoned as an official site for the Inca rulers a hundred years later, at the time of the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire. Although known locally, it was said to have been forgotten for centuries when the site was brought to worldwide attention in 1911 by Hiram Bingham, an American historian. Since then, Machu Picchu has become an important tourist attraction. It has recently come to light that the site may have been discovered and plundered several years previously, in 1867 by a German businessman, Augusto Berns.

Machu Picchu was declared a Peruvian Historical Sanctuary in 1981 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983. Since it was not plundered by the Spanish when they conquered the Incas, it is especially important as a cultural site and it is considered a sacred place.
Machu Picchu was built in the classical Inca style, with polished dry-stone walls. Its primary buildings are the Intihuatana, the Temple of the Sun, and the Room of the Three Windows. These are located in what is known by archaeologists as the Sacred District of Machu Picchu. In September 2007, Peru and Yale University reached an agreement regarding the return of artifacts which Hiram Bingham had removed from Machu Picchu in the early twentieth century. Currently, there are concerns about the effect of tourism on the site as it reached 400,000 visitors in 2003.

Machu Picchu was constructed around 1460, at the height of the Inca Empire. It was abandoned less than 100 years later. It is likely that most of its inhabitants were wiped out by smallpox before the Spanish conquistadores arrived in the area and there is no record of their having known of the remote city. Hiram Bingham, the credited discoverer of the site, along with several others, originally hypothesized that the citadel was the traditional birthplace of the Inca of the "Virgins of the Suns".
Another theory maintains that Machu Picchu was an Inca "llacta", a settlement built to control the economy of these conquered regions. Yet another asserts that it may have been built as a prison for a select few who had committed heinous crimes against Inca society. Research conducted by scholars, such as John Rowe and Richard Burger, has convinced most archaeologists that rather than a defensive retreat, Machu Picchu was an estate of the Inca emperor, Pachacui. In addition, Johan Reinhard presented evidence that the site was selected because of its position relative to sacred landscape features—such as its mountains, which are purported to be in alignment with key astronomical events that would have been important to the Incas.

Although the citadel is located only about 80 kilometers (50 miles) from Cusco, the Inca capital, it was never found by the Spanish and consequently, not plundered and destroyed, as was the case with many other Inca sites. Over the centuries, the surrounding jungle grew over much of the site, and few knew of its existence. On July 24, 1911, Machu Picchu was brought to the attention of scholars by Hiram Bingham, an American historian then employed as a lecturer at Yale University. He was led there by local residents of Cusco who frequented the site, which was occupied by a small number of natives of a culture that succeeded that of the Incas. Bingham undertook archaeological studies and completed a survey of the area. Bingham coined the name "The Lost City of the Incas", which was the title of his first book.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machu_Picchu