@MyDtcAccount – Jonathan Crabtree
We were asked to use several different websites to perform a search of “locative art” and analyze the results. After doing the searches, it’s amazing how varied different websites can be when doing the same exact thing.
First, I went to wikipedia and searched for locative art. It brought up the page for locative media, which was not what I was looking for, but I was able to make sense of it because we had talked about it in class before. People always say that “Wikipedia is unreliable because anyone and their mom can edit it with the wrong information.” While this is true, I think that this hardly ever happens. The good people on the internet outweigh the bad.
Next, I searched the Leonardo Electronic Almanac. I had never heard of this one, so I was interested to see what it was all about. After typing “locative art” into the search box, it brought up 27 articles that I could read that contained some type of reference to locative art. For the purpose of understanding what locative art actually is, this site was not very helpful, but for more advanced students who wanted examples of what they were learning, this could supplement their existing knowledge well. As far as credibility, you were able to read about the authors, many of whom were very well-schooled and seemed reliable.
Finally, I went to “WorldCat” to search for locative art. This is WSU’s online library search engine, so it brought up three different books that I could read on the subject. Like the Leonardo Electronic Almanac, this would not be very helpful if I was looking for a quick synopsis of the term, but it would be beneficial if I was looking to supplement my learning with more in-depth readings. All these books are published and peer-reviewed, so they are fairly credible.
The main takeaway is that there are many different ways to search the internet for what you are looking for. Depending on what type of information you need, there are several websites for you. You just need to make sure you know who is giving you the information and how knowledgable they are on the subject.