Discussion Week 5

              DO EMPLOYERS USING FACEBOOK FOR BACKGROUND CHECKS FACE LEGAL RISKS       

                                                                                                                                By Carolyn Elefant

Q1. What steps would you take to determine whether Elefant’s information is accurate?

The first steps, in which I would take in order to determine whether Carolyn Elefant’s information was accurate, would be to do a follow up on her information with a research of my own. This would include researching the sites in which Elefant had listed in her blog as supportive references to her claim, than comparing them to my own findings and evaluate each fact stated, to the information in which I find.

Q2.How could you determine whether Elefant is respected in her field?

The way, in which I determined that Elefant was respected in her field, was by interpretation of her earnestness in the way she openly considered the prying of employers into their employee’s social networking profile to be one of interest, as long as the employer make his intent known to the applicant during the interview process and that this intent would be in no way a determining factor into the applicants decision for employment.  

Q3. Is Elefant’s blog written for an audience that is knowledgeable about her subjects? How can you tell?

Elefant’s blog was written for an audience that has little to no knowledge about her subjects to which is acknowledged in the way Elefant blog was written in an informative manner, giving to the reader information to question and facts to research in order to better equip their understanding of employer/employee relationship.

Q4. Do you think this blog post is a suitable research source? Why or why not?

I think this blog posted by Elefant does indeed make a suitable source for research, not only is the blog filled with important and informative information, Elefant’s point of delivery is very persuasive at gaining the interest of the reader to seek further knowledge on the subject.

Q5. What insights about this blog post do the comments that accompany it give you?

The insight I get from the accompanying comments posted in response to Elefant’s blog, is that some of the viewers had knowledge of Elefant’s subject and was willing to share that knowledge in support of Elefant’s blog by strengthening her research through research of their own along with their understanding of the social networking of Facebook in concern to employer/employee relationship.

     

Analyze the ad

With global warming starting to set in more and more, the only thing we can blame is our government and ourselves. With the government building and destroying our land and nature, it is causing a lot of problems for our planet. We were expected to not live past this year due to everything that we have done to pollute the earth. The more buildings that are built, the less land we have for our nature resources to come from and we are surely running out. Since they are desperate for a quick buck, everything is being made cheaply whether or not it harms the planet. As long as they get paid, they don't care. Oil spills, gas leaks, cars letting out fumes and smoke, trash building up on roads and things that are made that are not easily broken down to get rid of. Trash companies burning trash and polluting our air with the ungodly smell or trash and smoke. Chemical being made that kills the very things that make our world go round. Last I heard, the atmosphere is getting quite thin and will soon sprout a hole which will slowly kill everything we don't appreciate at this point in time till it is gone. This ad say a lot just by a couple of words and a few pictures. It truly means a lot to the people willing to understand it and possibly do something about it. Soon we will all die and this ad will be an "I told you so" memorable statement.

Do employers using facebook for background checks face legal risk?

1. What steps would you take to determine whether Elefant's information is accurate?

Well just by reading it you can tell that she has a survey that was conducted which helps with an explanation. If you know facebook then you should know how it runs. There are also comments posted by people who included their thoughts on it and they are all agreeing with her.

2. How could you determine whether Elefant is respected in her field?

By reading the comments. A lot of good things about her and everyone agrees with her speech.

3. Is Elefant's blog written for an audience that is knowledgeable about her subjects? How can you tell?

Yes. I can tell by the way it is written. She explains her theory as if she is speaking to a crowd of people who have profiles on facebook. She expects that her readers have a profile or else they wouldn't be reading her blog. If they don't then it is quite easy to find out more about facebook just by going on there and looking up a random person.

4. Do you think this blog post is a suitable research source? Why or why not?

Depending on what exactly you are researching, yes. It has fact as well as opinions and I believe when you research something that pertains to someones life, (Getting a job in this case), then you need the opinion of people who have or are going through the experience in order to get a better understanding of what is going on. You can't determine everything in life by research only, you need the opinion of the victims whether it's good or bad.

5. What insights about this blog post do the comments that accompany it give you?

That the author is well liked and respected. A lot of people seem to agree with her ad thank her for posting it. They also add their opinion which help in the researching part.

Discussion post: Wiki page

Wikipedia pages have a habit of being misleading or having bits of information that is untrue, that is why it is always important to check the reference section of each page. Although, it seems that if it is a high profile page, such as a professional sports team, the errors are kept to a minimum or having no errors at all. One page like that is the Tampa Bay Lightning page.
The Tampa Bay Lightning are an NHL team out of Tampa, FL. Their wiki page is spot on accurate from the provided franchise history, color commentators, franchise records, and to the current roster.
Being a rather obsessive fan of the team myself I have gone over the history of the team multiple times and it is safe to say that all of it is here. They detail the team’s formation accurately and continue that accuracy all the way up to the present day in the history section.
The miscellaneous information, such as the commentators, stations games are carried on, mascot name, etc are also very accurate.
The provided roster is up to date as well as the list of former captains, record holders, award recipients, first round draft picks, and individual franchise leaders.
They even have an accurate list of all the NHL awards the team has won as well as the individual NHL awards individual players have won during their tenure with the team.
The entire wiki page for the Tampa Bay Lightning is incredibly accurate and there isn’t an error to be found in the entire entry.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tampa_Bay_Lightning

Discussion Post: Analyze the Ad

The argument the ad is proposing is that economic progress may be harming or killing the planet. There is some basis to the argument as the more advanced civilization becomes and the larger the population becomes it will need access to a larger quantity of scarce resources.
The main one it hints at in the ad is oil. The picture of someone filling their car up at the gas pump makes people think about oil and how it is indeed a scarce resource. It can be replenished but scientists aren’t fully sure on how long it actually takes for natural crude oil to form in the Earth’s crust.
Another image that is shown in the ad is one of a handgun. It is mainly used to symbolize the killing of the Earth as it’s pointed at a map but it also subtly refers to heavy metals. Guns are made up of various combinations of heavy metals such as aluminum, steel, and iron. These are all resources that are found naturally on Earth, but much like crude oil, it takes an indeterminable amount of time for them to actually form naturally. Other things that are made with these materials are cars, buildings, phones, computers and certain kinds of appliances. The larger the planet’s population becomes the more the demand for these resources will rise meaning the scarcer they will become. The scarcer the resources become the more mining companies will dig or mine to find them causing more damage to the planet as a whole.

Agenda Week 5

Practical Argument Readings:

• Chapter 8: “Evaluating Sources” (219-247)
• Chapter 13: "Causal Argument" (353-383)

Presentations:

• "Introduction to Causal Argument" (University of Louisville)
• Tyree Library - "Accessing Library Databases from Off Campus"

Resources:

"Evaluating Sources" (Lakeland Community College)
Tyree Library - "Finding Articles"
Tyree Library - "Is It a Popular Magazine or a Scholarly Journal"

Discussion Questions:

• Post links here to two sources about the same subject - one bad, one good.  Use the accuracy, credibility, objectivity, currency and comprehensiveness criteria to explain how you evaluated each source.
• As you probably know, most instructors (including me) discourage students from using Wikipedia as a source of information.  (Though I should note that the links in the footnote and resource sections at the bottom of the page are usually great sources of information.)  Read "The Top Ten Hoaxes in Wikipedia's First Ten Years" and then set out to find a Wikipedia page on a subject you know a lot about.  Post a link to the page here and assess the page's accuracy.
• Read "Do Employers Using Facebook for Background Checks Face Legal Risk" (PA 244-46).  Answer the five discussion questions that accompany the reading.
• Analyze the ad at the end of this section.  What is its causal argument?  What does it identify as main causes?  Does it identify contributory causes?
• "Contemporary media is encouraging children to grow up too fast."  Create a causal chain that either supports or refutes this statement.

Assignment:

Essay 5, due Monday, June 25 at 11:59 pm.
The assignment sheet will be posted to the Lessons page of Angel as Essay 5: Causal Argument - Research.

Remember that your essay must be posted before midnight, or the dropbox will close.

Essay 4

Hi All,

I hit a couple of major roadblocks this weekend and, as a result, probably will only have about half of the essays returned tonight and the remainder tomorrow.  As a result, I would like to give you one more day to finish your essay.  That means the essays won't be due until tomorrow - Tuesday - at 11:59 pm.  You may, of course, post them earlier, but that is now your deadline.