Unrestricted Web Publishing

Unrestricted web publishing through mass media does not entirely exist. That is to say, publications that choose to also carry their content in other forms of media such as the internet in addition to their print publications still bear the title of the organization in which they represent. Below is an article from Time online by Fareed Zakaria regarding the obtainment and storage of Americans’ data by the US government. At first glance, it appears as though he does not cite in the article full references. He makes mention of embedded citations within the article but no references listed in the article although other articles and reviews exist for the books he mentioned within article. After reading the article, it seemed apparent that it was an opinion piece with loosely backed information. Unfamiliar with the breadth of Zakaria’s credentials and long history in news and media, it was quickly made apparent that he was qualified to speak on such topics. Web searches for Zakaria’s works revealed his interviews with Presidents and Prime Ministers, his many scholarly publications and speaking events with international collaborators on a scholarly level.

From all appearances, it seemed as though Zakaria almost did not need to provide his sources formally to prove credibility, that it would be more of a formality and accreditation to his editing background given his long career and multiple journalism awards and prestigious interviews granted. That is, until Wikipedia reveals that he had a run-in with a plagiarism scam in the summer of 2012 in which his article published appeared too similar to another writer’s article for which he apologized profusely. While plagiarism maintains being one of the worst crimes a journalist can commit, it appears to be a tiny misstep in a long and awarded career. Zakaria’s article itself makes several claims without listing references, however a brief cross-check via internet reveals that the “public knowledge” backing he provides to his claims is found elsewhere by other sources to list as truth.

Below is the article snippet with link to full article with verbatim statements that first appear unsupported by traditional citations.

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Big Data, Meet Big Brother
If computers can now predict our behavior, should governments watch our every move?
By Fareed Zakaria

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2146453,00.html
TO READ MORE BY FAREED, GO TO time.com/zakaria

"'One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly and with a willingness to accept the penalty.'" That was Martin Luther King Jr.'s definition of civil disobedience."

"This will be the first generation of humans to have an indelible record," write Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen in their book The New Digital Age."

"In their excellent book Big Data, Viktor Mayer- Schönberger and Kenneth Cukier write about the police in Richmond, Va., who track criminal incidents against a variety of events: corporate paydays, sports events, concerts, gun shows and dozens of other possible triggers."

"Two weeks after a gun show, for example, there is always a jump in violent crime. Multiply this example by thousands, and you understand what the NSA computers are doing."

"As Mayer-Schönberger and Cukier point out, if the computers can make predictions based on data analysis, should we prevent bad actions by arresting people before they act? ...The NSA program Prism aims to identify suspicious patterns to allow the government to prevent terrorism (i.e., to act before an attack takes place). A research project at the Department of Homeland Security that tried to predict terrorist behavior based on people's vital signs--physiological patterns--was 70% accurate, according to the authors."

"As far as we know, the U.S. government has broken no laws and has followed all established procedures, and Congress approved this program, though it did so in secret, writing laws that aren't public." 

"Obama Administration officials, echoing their (slightly less transparent) predecessors in the Bush era, insist that any fishing expeditions undertaken through terabytes of collected data are highly targeted and do not involve innocent Americans."

"Maybe so, but over the past 33 years, the Executive Branch has made 33,900 requests for surveillance to a special court created to make sure there are solid grounds to grant these surveillance powers. The court has approved all but 11 of them. Is that genuine oversight? It is hard to say, for the court itself is secret. Shouldn't we know more?"

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Excerpt from Criteria to Evaluate the Credibility of WWW Resources

Verbatim criteria listed in black; Answers in orange

1. Is there any evidence that the author of the Web information has some authority in the field about which she or he is providing information? Yes, 285 Time articles on similar topics such as politics, foreign policy and government; editor at large and columnist of Time. What are the author's qualifications, credentials and connections to the subject? Richard Stengel writes, "Fareed Zakaria, one of the world's most agenda-setting thinkers, joins TIME as a regular columnist and cover-story writer" ... "As well as being an author, columnist and academic, Fareed is the host of CNN's Sunday show Fareed Zakaria GPS. Fareed's presence at TIME creates a true partnership with our sister network CNN." ... "Fareed's worldview comes in part from being a naturalized American citizen who was born in Bombay and grew up outside the U.S. in what was then decidedly a country of the developing world. His academic background — a B.A. from Yale and a Ph.D. in political science from Harvard — also gives him a set of analytical tools that few of us have."

2. With what organization or institution is the author associated? CNN, Time, Washington Post, Newsweek, Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker. Is there a link to the sponsoring organization, a contact number and/or address or e-mail contact? Some embedded links to articles. 

3. Does the author have publications in peer reviewed (scholarly and professional) publications, on the Web or in hard copy? (If an author does not have peer reviewed articles published, this does not mean that she or he does not have credible information, only that there has been no professional "test" of the author's authority on that subject.) Scholarly and peer-reviewed books (Google search), major news correspondent, international economics seminar speaker, Univ. of Oklahoma commencement speaker

4. Are there clues that the author/s are biased? Not obvious. For example, is he/she selling or promoting a product? Not speaking to sell a product, speaking on topic of government and data; article appears unmotivated by data. Is the author taking a personal stand on a social/political issue or is the author being objective? Bias is not necessarily "bad," but the connections should be clear. 

5. Is the Web information current? Article is dated 8 July 2013 (weekly publication. If there are a number of out-of-date links that do not work or old news, what does this say about the credibility of the information? It would render it irrelevant and diminish credibility. 

6. Does the information have a complete list of works cited, which reference credible, authoritative sources? No. If the information is not backed up with sources, what is the author's relationship to the subject to be able to give an "expert" opinion? He has interviewed President Obama (repeat, granted special access) on politics and foreign relations.

7. Can the subject you are researching be fully covered with WWW sources or should print sources provide balance? The subject can include print sources if relevant, however article is on data and government. Books may provide historical precedent but the latest articles on technology are going to be made available online before books to keep up with changing content. Much scholarly research is still only available in traditional print form. It is safe to assume that if you have limited background in a topic and have a limited amount of time to do your research, you may not be able to get the most representative material on the subject. So be wary of making unsupportable conclusions based on a narrow range of sources. 

8. On what kind of Web site does the information appear? Time Magazine, owner of iconic cover photos and internationally recognized timeless classic. The site can give you clues about the credibility of the source.

References

Google. (2013). Search: "Fareed Zakaria." Retrieved from http://www.google.com.

Kakutani, Michiko. 2013, June 10. "Watched by the Web: Surveillance is Reborn." [Review of ‘Big Data,’ by Viktor Mayer-Schönberger and Kenneth Cukier]. 

New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/11/books/big-data-by-viktor-mayer-schonberger-and-kenneth-cukier.html?pagewanted=all.

Montecino, Virginia. (1998). "Criteria to Evaluate the Credibility of WWW Resources." Retrieved from http://mason.gmu.edu/~montecin/web-eval-sites.htm. 

Stengel, Richard. (2013). "Richard Stengel: Voice of influence." Time. Retrieved from http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2024222,00.html. 

Wikipedia. (2013). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fareed_Zakaria.

Zakaria, Fareed. (2013). "Big Data Meet Big Brother." Time. Retrieved from http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2146453-2,00.html.