http://paulrallison.blogspot.com/2007/08/databases-and-research.html The issue is, of course, complicated. The only way to keep this information locked and expensive is to claim that it is special, but I still need that to be demonstrated. Is it really true that the information in these databases is significantly more complex, thorough, considered than can be found elsewhere? What about http://FindArticles.com? Also, we need to consider how much an adolescent can comprehend in evaluating resources. I like the direction Susan Ettenheim was taking at the end of Teachers Teaching Teachers #66, where she tried to get folks to describe what it is in these databases that is unique. Oddly the response was a story about how someone (from Georgia?) had started calling them empty containers. Freeing the databases is important, but getting rich statistics, peer-evaluated articles... (and this is the list that I think needs to be developed) ... to our students is even more important, and may or or may not be related to the "free the databases" movement.
Posted by Paul Allison |
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