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.
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.
Google Scholar
Searches library catalogs for book and monographs.
Find articles from online scholarly journals
Full access to these publications may be restricted to subscribers*
Directory of Open Access Journals
Selection
criteria are in place within these publications, consistent with
copyright, editorial review, authority, and other ideas linked with
traditional scholarly publishing (in print)
Quality Controlled
Freely Accessible
Research Oriented
(400) Journals are searchable
OAIster
A searchable directory of Open Access Initiative compatible resources includes:
Digital
Repositories (research produced by members of a scholarly community,
i.e. research publications by faculty members at a University; here is a
link to pace digital repository, the DigitalCommons@pace)
Open Access Journals
Images and other primary sources
As
well the Internet allows study group to work online, and tutorials can
be carried out as electronic discussions. In all these ways, the
Internet creates an environment where energetic discussion and debate.
Internet is faster means of acquiring knowledge to compared books.
Usefulness
of the internet to scholars depends on their competency in copying
with the technology and their ability to search effectively to select
required, appropriate information. On the other hand, Web can be
searched typically hundreds or thousands of pages with some relation to
the topic, within seconds. Some pages present news and results of the
original researches to scholars and professionals. In this manner,
Internet enhances the Academic quality of the educational activities
and researches.
Internet as a source of Information for Buddhist Studies
Buddhism is the fourth largest world
religion with around 376 million followers. Buddhism has a strong
influence primarily in East Asian religion such as Myanmar, Thailand,
Sri Lanka, South Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Lao, Japan and parts of
India. There are two major sects of Buddhism which are Theravada (124
million) and Mahayana (185 million).
Buddhism is a religion which can be
viewed from many angles and embodied with the vast primary and
secondary literature. In the past three decades, personal interest in
Buddhism has dramatically grown in the world and it has been
accompanied by an increased number of Buddhist books and scholarly
studies. As a result an increasing number of Buddhists and non-Buddhist
have become Academic scholars. In come non-Buddhist countries, there
is lack of printed information sources to disseminate the Teachings of
the Buddha. But now it is very much easy to download the required
information though the Internet sources.
Past researches revealed that in
early eighty’s humanity scholars such as Buddhist Studies scholars were
viewed as anti-machines. They did not involve much with technology.
Presently it is changed and they are adjusting to the new trend. The
Internet plays a significant role to promote all Buddhist traditions
and disseminate the Buddhist literature throughout the world. Hence,
researchers can easily browse all of the relevant and available
literature of Buddhist studies on the Internet as an endless source of
information. Internet supports the globalization of Buddhist education,
the systematic development of the Buddha Dhamma, and establishing
partnerships with Buddhist institutions and Buddhist scholars in the
worldwide. The researchers who are engaged in Buddhist Studies can
locate scholarly information on the Web through the followings.
E-Books
E-book is a type of reading material
which can be read in virtual environment. A narrow definition treats an
e-book as a digital object designed to be read on a hanheld reading
device or to be listened to a speech-generating tool. The core of this
definition is a digital object containing an electronic representation
of a book. In its digital from the content of an e-book escapes the
pages of an ordinary book because simply the content is no longer tied
physically to paper. An e-book can in principle be available anywhere
through the Internet accessed any hour of the day.
Scholars can find the vast number of
e-books for Buddhist Studies. Especially, most books can be accessed
free of charge. The buddhanet.net and urbandhramma.org have provided
the facility to access and download more than 1000 e-books related to
Buddhist Studies. Some of them are written by prominent writers of
Buddhist studies.
Online Encylopedias
An encyclopedia is a comprehensive
written compendium that holds information from either all branches of
knowledge or a particular branch of knowledge. Encyclopedias are
divided into articles with one article on each subject covered. As a
scholar of Buddhist studies you may need Encyclopedias in advance as a
reference tool. Physically Encyclopedias are heavy volumes which are
difficult to handle manually. But one can use online encyclopedias for
Buddhist Studies which helps to find terms within seconds and no need
to bother with thousands of pages too. There are many free
encyclopedias while some are offering a subscription service. The
concept of a new free encyclopedia began with the Interpedia (the first
proposals for an Internet encyclopedia). Some free online
encyclopedias will allow anyone to submit articles and that would be
freely accessible.
Unfortunately,
there is no single online encyclopedia fully dedicated to Buddhism.
Wikipedia is a comprehensive online encyclopedia which covers many
disciplines. It includes over 2,896,130 scholarly articles and many for
Buddhist studies too. It is possible to find detailed information for
Buddhism under following headings; Life of the Buddha, Buddhist
Concepts, Practice, History, Schools and traditions, Buddhist texts and
Comparative studies.
Microsoft
Encarta is another online encyclopedia published by Microsoft
Corporation since 1993. Academics can find number of terms related to
Buddhism.
Online Glossaries
A glossary is a list of terms in
particular domain of knowledge with the definitions for those terms.
Internet provides the facility of access to glossaries and scholars can
find out some terms related to Buddhism too. The seekers glossary of
Buddhism is example for an online glossary and it is a compendium of
excerpts and quotations from some 350 works by monks, nuns, professors,
scholars and other laypersons from different countries. It will assist
to find the definition of unfamiliar terms; to gain a broader
understanding of specific Buddhist concepts.
A
glossary of Pali and Buddhist terms is another glossary edited by John
T. Bullitt. This provides the facility to find some terms easily.
Represented By တကၠသုိလ္ျမတ္မင္း
(Online Research Methodology)
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