Easy to Find, But Is It Accurate?

By:  Mary G. Persyn

Associate Dean for Library Services

In 1931, legal educator and Philosopher Karl Llewellyn wrote an essay on research in which he described the threat of the available. According to Llewellyn there is an “almost inevitable tendency in any thinking, or in any study, first to turn to the most available material and to study that – to study it exclusively – at the outset; second, having once begun the study of the available, to lose all perspective and come shortly to mistake the merely available, the easily seen, for all there is to see.”[1] One of the recurring discussions among law librarians today is the tendency of students to rely entirely on easily-accessed digital materials for their research.

This is not to say that digitally available information is bad.  For those of us who grew up with only paper resources, this brave new world of electronic information is wonderful.  Sources that once took hours to search can now be investigated in seconds.  However, digital information is seductive.  It is so easy to search online, even if the search is not properly conduced, or the information that you find is not accurate, it is easy to believe that what one has found is all that there is to find and that it meets one’s needs for accuracy.

Example – A law student needs to check a piece of biographical information and turns to Wikipedia, the ubiquitous online encyclopedia that is created by volunteers, because it is easily available.  The student ignores the fact that there is no authority behind the information she finds except the presumed expertise of Wikipedia authors.  A reader who disagrees with the first author can sign on to Wikipedia and change the information.  The student has two problems 1) the original information may not be correct; and 2) the information on Wikipedia may be different the next time the student checks the same link.

The difficulty with Wikipedia seems to be most acute when dealing with living public figures.  There have been several widely-publicized events in which libelous information has been posted on Wikipedia, perhaps the most famous that of John Seigenthaler Sr.[2] In April 2009 Wikipedia adopted the following statement “Wikipedia articles can affect real people’s lives. This gives us an ethical and legal responsibility. Biographical material must be written with the greatest care and attention to verifiability, neutrality and avoiding original research.”[3] However, no one is following all articles on Wikipedia to see that they are accurate.

If you want to use an online encyclopedia, try the Encyclopedia Britannica Online (http://search.eb.com/), an encyclopedia with over 200 years of authority behind it.

The same question as to accuracy of information can be made for any information found through Google or another online search engine.  Consider that first page placement on Google is a function of popularity and payment for placement.  Also investigate the background and possible bias of the creators of a web site before you rely on the information from the site.

When doing research remember that the most easily available information is not necessarily the information that will provide the best answer for your client.  Before you complete your research ask yourself whether you have found the best answer to your problem or whether you have succumbed to the threat of the available.

FOOTNOTES:

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1 Karl N. Llewellyn, Legal Tradition and Social Science Method-A Realist’s Critique, in Essays on Research in the Social Sciences 89 (1931).

[2] http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2005-11-29-wikipedia-edit_x.htm

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Biographies_of_living_persons

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Dean Persyn can be reached atMary.Persyn@valpo.edu.

By:  David Johnson

Managing Editor

Bartonville State Hospital, located close to Peoria, Illinois, was a mental health hospital opened at the start of the 20th Century.  Ultimately, it was abandoned in 1973.  The hospital still stands as a feature of Bartonville skyline, but the building is clearly a ghost of its former self.
The history of the hospital is interesting.  Opened in 1902, the hospital offered some of the most progressive treatment available at the time to the mentally ill.  Most accounts say that the staff and doctors were quite kind to the patients.  But kindness doesn’t make for a good ghost story.  Hence, rumors of deaths, abuse, and unorthodox experimentation are abound.  Whether or not they are true is unlikely, but it has been over a century since the clinic first opened its doors.  As an interesting side note, the site still has four cemeteries on the premises.  However, like the building itself, these cemeteries have fallen into disrepair; victims to both time and vandals.  It is not surprising, then, that the adventurous have reported ghosts all over the hospital property.
Ghost stories for the hospital tell of “Old Book.”  Book was a patient who dug graves for the institution until his own death.  One legend says his spirit is still seen wandering the graveyards, from time to time.  However, another tale says that, upon Book’s death, he took on the physical form of an Elm tree located in one of the cemeteries.  For years the tree has stood on the hospital property, and for years ominous feelings of dread and despair have emanated from it.  These ghosts are not limited to only patients, although many ghost hunters speculate the vast majority of the paranormal activity present at the hospital comes from these spirits.  Perhaps the only way to know for sure is to go investigate.  You had better hurry though, the hospital is bound to be demolished any time now.

David Johnson is a 2L and can be reached at forum@valpo.edu.

By: Mike Duffy

In a July 9, 2009, interview with the New York Times, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg advocated for Medicaid funding for abortions and indicated that she “thought that at the time Roe [v. Wade] was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don’t want to have too many of”.

What exactly was Justice Ginsburg talking about? Was Roe really about population control and, more importantly, which groups of people, according to Justice Ginsburg, are too populous?

On September 30, two student groups, the Black Law Students Association and Jus Vitae, co-sponsored a screening of the recently released documentary Maafa 21: Black Genocide in 21st Century America. Maafa is a Swahili word meaning tragedy or disaster and is often used to refer to the “African Holocaust” or “Holocaust of Enslavement”. The film addresses, at length, the racism at the core of the eugenics and birth control movements of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and investigates their roots, development, and aspirations.

Among the documentary’s many revelations is the fact that Margaret Sanger, the founder of what would become Planned Parenthood, was very much an advocate of eugenics. She promoted the sterilization of those she considered “unfit”, believing that doing so would be the “salvation of American civilization”. Sanger stated that “[e]ugenics seems to me to be valuable in its critical and diagnostic aspects, in emphasizing the danger of irresponsible and uncontrolled fertility of the ‘unfit’ and the feeble-minded establishing a progressive unbalance in human society and lowering the birth-rate among the ‘fit’”. As explained in the film, eugenicists often disguised their actual goal of eradicating African Americans by claiming their targets to be the “unfit” and “feeble-minded.” No doubt eugenicists believed African Americans to be unfit and feeble minded, but still felt that euphemisms made their work more palatable to others.

The documentary concluded by highlighting the devastating legacy of eugenics, birth control, and abortion among African Americans. In reality, Planned Parenthood—the nation’s number one abortion provider—has 78 percent of its offices located in minority communities and while African Americans constitute 12 percent of the U.S. population, they constitute 35 percent of U.S. abortions. Approximately 1,452 African American babies are aborted every day, meaning that at least 13 million have been aborted since 1973. In fact, as explained in the film, abortion has killed more African Americans than have cancer, diabetes, heart disease and gang violence combined.

Now it seems a little clearer as to whom Justice Ginsburg was referring.

For more information about the film, visit Maafa21.com.

Mike is a 3L and can be reached at forum@valpo.edu.

Greener Pastures?

 

By:  Nathan Vis

 

Meeting for the last time this semester, and perhaps for the final time in its tenure at the University, the Conversations Project addressed the future of American environmental policy, in an event entitled “Greener Pastures: A New Era of Environmental Policy?”

The three panel members brought a wide variety of views and backgrounds to inform the audience. Dana Dobosz, a current Valparaiso Law School second year student, started the conversation by discussing her view of environmental policy through her experience as a park ranger in the Indiana Dunes. “I came into the service with high hopes of utilizing the national park as an educational tool for its visitors,” said Dobosz, “but instead I found it to be more concerned about financing state-of-the-art bathrooms and the newest vehicles we could buy. Environmental policy shifts only work if people are educated at a local level, if changes are made at a local level – we need to move beyond dropping Twinkie wrappers wherever we please.”

Kim Ferraro, the Executive Director of the Legal Environmental Aid Foundation, agreed with Dobosz that education and action at the local level was key, and added that strong federal measures were needed. “I believe that a strong federal comprehensive agenda needs to be set, to ensure decisive action.”

Mary Irwin, the appointed Director for Indiana’s Center for Coal Technologies, cautioned a hastened approach to more stringent federal regulation. “We have come a long way in cleaning up the air in America – anyone that has lived in a major city for a period of time can attest to that.”

When asked about their approaches to cleaning and greening the environment – each of the three had a different idea. For Dobosz, “It’s not enough to say we are going green. For too many folks it becomes hip to do, we feel good about going green in a certain area of our life, and we feel out duty is done.”  Irwin asked back, “What more can we do to turn coal, a dirty black rock, clean?  We need it and its energy to fuel steel mills and other industries to create photo-voltaic cells for solar power and to create and transport wind turbines– is the expenditure of more energy to create these sources of energy really enhancing air quality?”  Ferraro replied that they did indeed enhance the environment, “for these are sources of renewable energy which over time do not contribute to carbon pollution of the environment.”

The Conversation Project, a collaborative effort between the Valparaiso University and the Law School, designed to address issues of our time and foster civil discourse, has been in existence for over five years.  Professor of Law Jeremy Telman has led the group’s successful efforts over the past five years, and recently announced that he was stepping down from chairing the group, leaving open the leadership position to someone new to carry on the tradition of intelligent discourse and simple conversation.

 

Nathan is a 2L and can be reached at Nathan.Vis@valpo.edu.

By Jon Morris, News Editor

The high expectations for modern day presidents by the public are similar to those of a super hero, making it nearly impossible for a mere human to ever live up to such expectations.  These “public expectations have pushed the president to have more powers and abilities” says Dr. Jennifer Hora, an assistant professor of political science at Valparaiso University, and contributor to the book Homer Simpson goes to Washington: American politics through popular culture.//

Homer Simpson Goes to Washington is a collection of essays that attempts to teach concepts in politics and government by using popular television shows, movies, music and books.  Hora was asked by the book’s editor, Joseph J. Foy, to write a chapter focusing on the popular political drama The West Wing, and how the fictional President Bartlett’s portrayal as a go-it-alone hero compares to real presidents and the way they make decisions.  As a fan of the television show and a presidential scholar Hora accepted the opportunity and contributed to the book.//

Hora’s writing captures the realities of the American president in contrast to those portrayed on television.  On the West Wing “President Bartlett makes it seem as though our president acts alone without asking for advice from his cabinet, and if he does ask for advice he rarely listens,” said Hora, but in reality, “the president relies heavily on the advice and the suggestions of his staff.”//

Collectively the book challenges current assumptions about politics, government, and how the United States democratic system operates.  The collection of essays, although written by different authors, like Hora, are conveying a common message delivered in terms of popular culture of which most people can understand and empathize.  The message is founded on the premise that public interest, dialogue, and civic engagement are the essence of democracy in the United States.//

Being so close to our next presidential election, Hora’s writings, and what she regularly teaches her students, is even more applicable and interesting.   With so many problems in our political system she focused in on democracy and our voting system.  The biggest problem plaguing democracy and our system of voting today is “attempting to balance being an inclusive and simple system and yet being accurate in terms of applying the rules of voting,” said Hora.  Although more people vote for American Idol than the president, some of those people are voting more than once, and they can easily vote by text message, a system like this wouldn’t be accurate enough for a presidential election.  While a much simpler and more accessible system is needed, accuracy is of the utmost importance.//

The demise of our civil liberties and our democratic system could have something to do with the movies, music, television, radio, Internet videos, and other media to which our society is constantly exposed.  Hora said, “Much of it has to do with public opinion.”  And because public opinion can be largely swayed and developed by media particularly during election season, “if people think they need more government assistance, the government is pushed to do something.”  Unfortunately, the more we expect from our government, the more power and authority we will pass into the hands of our president, our congress, and our supreme court.  And as George Washington said, “Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.”//

People are interested in pop culture.  In a society where more people are interested in voting for their favorite American idol than their next president, it is essential to have increasingly more literature and entertainment that is both interesting and educational.  If it means using the words “Homer Simpson” in the title to gain people’s interest, that is precisely what needs to be done.//

Jon is a 2L and can be reached at jonathan.morris@valpo.edu