Buddhist World For All Being to be warmly welcome Here, Gift Men Seize Time And Work As Their Opportunity, They made Them Great And Crown

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Internet as a source of information for Academic purpose with special reference to Buddhist Studies (part One)



Internet as a source of information for Academic purpose with special reference to Buddhist Studies (part One)



The purpose of this research is to explore the information source available on the internet for the Academic destination which helps the successful completion of research on Buddhist Studies and life-long learning.
         
In the world of today information plays a vital role in the field of research and day to day life. All resources related to research have increased dramatically over the last several years with reference to the demands of the information and the technology. Developments in the system of computer technology provide the means for the production and storage of ideas, thoughts, research, methodological research and experiments in digital form.
         
Among the available information channels the internet has become a popular resource and it is increasingly used as an alternative to printed resources. The book production process has been changed and largely digitized. Nowadays, readers heavily depend on e-versions. The dissemination of information through this medium has three main advantages over publication in the traditional manner, as cost, speed, and ease of access. Other advantages of an electronic medium include keyword searching and the use of multimedia and hypertext formats. The Library professionals have identified the new trend and started to acquire the e-resources to cater to their patrons effectively.

Nature of Internet
         
The internet is a global system of computer networks. It began in the late 1960s. It is becoming increasingly widespread. The Internet contains a wealth of information on a variety of subjects and it allows rapid transfers of data, messages, documents, sound, and images. The Internet consists of huge information as an encyclopedia of whole branches of universal knowledge. The volume of information you will find on the internet is amazing. Mostly sources on the Internet are often more up-to-date than sources in paper format. Sometimes, user has ever wondered at the information available on the net in many different perspectives on a single topic. It is visible that some particular topics or key words on internet are enriching with accurate, applicable, and informative information while some are overwhelming with inapplicable information. The reason for that is anyone can publish anything on the internet without considering their capabilities or code of ethics. Hence user must assess the validity of the information available on the internet.

Why people use the Internet?

There are number of reason such as:

To find general information
To find information for a particular subject
To conduct surveys
To conduct research
To correspond with far away friends (e.g. e-mail)
To meet people, virtually (e.g. facebook)
To discuss their interests with cyber friends (e.g. chatting)
To have fun (e.g. games)
To learn (e.g. online courses)
To read the news
To find software (e.g. virus guard)
To buy and sell things

Information seeking via the Internet
         
Proliferation of information resources coupled with a lack of Internet skills leads some users into difficulties when attempting to search and retrieve useful information. But the Internet is an attractive medium for seeking and obtaining information, for the following reasons:
The Internet is accessible throughout the day.
The end-user (reader) does not have to visit a library.
It is possible to find and obtain information relatively, quickly and conveniently.
The end-user can choose between saving, printing or reading information from the computer screen.

          One of the great things about the internet is that it puts information at finger tips, but it is not easy to access information which user need and available elsewhere. The Internet provides access to unlimited sources of information and search engines are continuously being upgraded to provide efficient way to help users to find what they want.

Internet usage for Academic purpose
         
Obtaining and handling information efficiently is one of great importance to Academics to do a research proficiently. Researchers follow different ways and means to obtain and handle information efficiently. To success this process mostly they get help from libraries and computers. Now computers have become an integral part of the lives of scholars and researchers. Especially Computers with internet connection have changed the information seeking behavior of Academics in advance.
         
Internet is an information source which is used as a vehicle for higher education, to seek information by Academics. It has become an integral element of Academic research and study. Internet has radically changed the global availability of scholarly publications. Today, a substantial part of the resources accessible for researchers and university students are offered through electronic sites and supply of easily obtainable information larger than ever. It is open twenty-four hours of the day and communication can be carried on at all hours without considering the distance. Modern today, internet is very much popular as an excellent research tool.
         
The most important form of education is the exchange of ideas and opinions between students and lecturers, and among researchers. Internet makes a great contribution to success of this process. It enriches with more scholarly information generated by Academics. Further it can be found that there are a number of digitization projects of historical, primary documents on the Web, many of them sponsored by Academic institutions.
         
Sometimes, a large amount of information is available but it does not have systematic editing or expert review of web-published material. Academic user must be aware of this and need to critically analyze the retrieved information before applying it in any way, in particular for research or any other Academic purpose.
         
Academic can locate “scholarly information” on the Web through the followings and the facilities available under those sites are listed.