Is Associated Content the People’s Media or an avenue for biased reporting? Digg has had its day in the sun and back into shadows. Netscape’s’ new popularity rigged content is also under fire. All it takes is a ring of friends and a re-run of an episode of Survivor and you get the drift real quick. It just seems a set of ground rules should be at least understood by all the parties involve.
If it is “catch as catch can” or slamming somebody for merely asking about the process, so be it. We had a couple of mediocre students who would check out every book in the library on a particular subject when a report was due on that subject. I also found various sleazy lawyers who would mis-shelve codes and annotations on a particular area to throw off the other side.
First off there are reliable sources and they are divided into three types. A primary source is if you hear it from the person who is quoted. A primary source is also an autobiography. According to Auburn University, a primary source is sources that contain raw, original, non-interpreted and unevaluated information.
A secondary source is one that digests, analyzes, and interpret the information contained within the primary sources. They tend to be argumentative.
A tertiary source is one that compile, analyzes and digest secondary sources. They tend to be factual. Some examples of the tertiary sources are indexes, bibliographies, reference books, encyclopedias and dictionaries. http://www.lib.auburn.edu/bi/typesofsources.html
An issue came up about Denver getting the Democratic Convention. Whether Denver is the Queen City or Colorado is in the heart of the Rockies was not the issue. It comes down to citing authoritative sources and the comments that ensued. Some comments indicating that Wikepedia and Google are reliable sources for citations. See: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/122378/denver_the_queen_of_the_rockies_gets.html.
It should be noted the title is Denver Queen of the Rockies. I did not state Denver is Queen City.
Many authors do refer to Denver as the Queen City. Many businesses in Denver are preceded by the name Queen City. All one has to do is look in the Denver telephone directory. The Queen City Investigations;Queen City Architects and more.
Denver could easily be the Queen of Hearts in the Rockies because of Denver’s history. Old West stories of the Brown Palace, and the men and women who took a big chance on Denver. The comment that somehow Google and Wikepedia is the final word on Denver missed the point. Google, Ask, and MSN search are search engines.
I was not aware any of these search engines consider themselves to be the definitive source for any subject. Likewise, Wikepedia is a grass root encyclopedia which is entertaining, but not the definitive word on any subject. If any college freshman relied solely on any of these tools in a research paper the student would be laughed out of class.
According to Duke University, all students are required to support their writing with citations and references of the material relied upon. In fact the University provides various sources for how to cite the sources. http://library.duke.edu/research/citing/. If you paraphrase, synthesize or extract the words of another work you have to give credit to the author or the publication in your article. If you quote someone from another article or paraphrase the article you have to cite the article and place quotations in your article.
A reliable source about Denver or any subject can be ascertained by searching for a bibliography or an on-line index about the subject. “The Repository of Primary Sources: Western United States and Canada” compiled by the University of Idaho has all the respected sources about the West including Denver at http://www.uidaho.edu/special-collections/west.html.
The University of Idaho cites the following Colorado sources:
- Adams State College
- American Numismatic Association
- AORN
- Aspen Historical Society
- Auraria Library
- Bessemer Historical Society
- Boulder Public Library
- Cable Center
- Ca�on City Public Library
- Christian and Missionary Alliance
- Colorado College
- Colorado Historical Society
- Colorado National Monument
- Colorado Railroad Museum
- Colorado School of Mines
- Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum
- Colorado State Archives
- Colorado State University
- Colorado State University – Pueblo
- Curecanti National Recreation Area
- Denver Museum of Nature and Science
- Denver Public Library. Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library
- Denver Public Library. Western History Department
- Denver Public Library. Western History Department. Photography Collection
- Denver. Clerk and Recorder
- Dinosaur National Monument
- Douglas County History Research Center
- Fort Collins Public Library
- Fort Lewis College
- Fort Morgan Museum
- Jefferson County Public Library
- Jefferson County Public Schools
- Jefferson County. Archives & Records Management
- Longmont Museum
- Mesa State College
- Naropa University
- National Archives and Records Administration-Rocky Mountain Region
- National Wildlife Research Center
- Pikes Peak Library District
- Pueblo Community College
- Redemptorists – Denver Province
- Regis University
- Telecommunications History Group
- U.S. Geological Survey
- United States Air Force Academy
- University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center
- University of Colorado, Boulder. American Music Research Center
- University of Colorado, Boulder. Archives
- University of Colorado, Boulder. Special Collections
- University of Colorado, Colorado Springs
- University of Denver
- University of Northern Colorado
- Western State College of Colorado
This is informative and not meant as a slam about the Denver article, I have noticed other examples. It is the interpolating, it was never a question of Denver being the first choice. Whether Denver makes money or not is not the news story. We do not write press releases, we cite them.
As writers it is always good to get things out in the open. It is healthy and educational. I think we all try to do our best albeit the occasional oops is a real pain, particularly when you get the story approved and the subject of the article recants. The occasional mess up when you run it through two word checks and you still get a typo. It has been a whole lot of fun and a great ride. Thanks AC.
