Holocaust Memorial Day

Google and Did the Holocaust really happen?

Tomorrow (27th January) is Holocaust Memorial Day and Google have been in the news recently for returning high ranking results on its search engine which promote the view that the Holocaust didn’t happen when searching for whether the Holocaust really happened.

This should be a concern, not only to the majority who accept that the Holocaust did exist (and that genocides still continue today), but also to everyone who relies heavily on using Google to search for information (and yes, librarians use Google too!).

If you think that there is an office of people at Google sitting behind their search engine, trawling the internet to find the best information they can on what you are searching for, I am going to shatter that illusion for you now. Google returns results for you using algorithms – numerous mathematical instructions that tell computers how to go and find the best information for you based largely on what keywords you’ve used before.

Google also relies on advertising income to exist and so will prioritise websites which have paid to be ranked higher. For those of you studying marketing, you will know that there is a whole art behind designing and labeling your website so it gets mentioned higher up in the Google rankings.

Google has responded to the criticism (and the results to this query now seem to have been changed), and you may argue that it isn’t Google’s job to censor information. As a student if you have to argue the case for whether the Holocaust happened or not you will need to be able to read both arguments whatever your view and make a case. However what this highlights is that internet search engines are not infallible. You need to use your critical thinking skills to assess which results are best for you and which you can trust (more on this in a future blogpost). Of course, you could always ask a librarian!

Auschwitz concentration camp. Public domain photo from www.pixabay.com

Holocaust information on the Internet

For some useful resources on the Holocaust, try some of these below!

The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust has all sorts of information on their website including a list of resources if you want to find out more about the Holocaust and other genocides (Rwanda, Cambodia), some of which are happening today (e.g Dafur). This year the theme is “How can life go on?” which has its own microsite. If you like poetry, you might like to read their featured poem Birdsong.

You can read real life stories from survivors as well as an “easy read” story from Berge Kanikanian who has learning disabilities and how he wanted to find out more about what the Nazis did to people with disabilities. Read this here.

For some images of the Holocaust, visit the Wiener Library website

http://www.het.org.uk/ is the website of the Holocaust Educational Trust.

The BBC has a number of useful resources too (e.g. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-11108059 )

Celebrating Diversity

Diversity Day

Next Thursday is the College’s Diversity Day event when everyone focuses on celebrating the variety of backgrounds and cultures within College as well as raising awareness of the 9 protected characteristics (age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation). Library+ will have a stand there so do come and talk to us and have a look at our resources and marriage ceremonies of the world quiz.

The Equality Act 2010

The Equality Act 2010 legislates against discrimination (including indirect discrimination), harassment and victimisation because of these characteristics as well as making sure adjustments are made for disabled people to ensure they have equal access to services. (Only this week, someone won a case in court ensuring that more is done to ensure disabled people are better able to use buses).

Library Resources

In the Library we have various books which cover subjects such as racism, disability, gender, marriage and partnership, religion and human rights.
The Issues series is a good starting point for a whole range of topics like these and are well used as they are a good introduction to some very current and relevant issues discussed on the news and in society. They contain a selection of articles which are short and easy to read.

Issues Online e-book

However, we not only have these in print but also have online access to these with extra material through Issues Online  from the Electronic Resources page (under Library+ on the menu bar) on Moodle. Just use your network ID and password to access these e-books or to search by subject either inside or outside College. The resource includes extra material such as videos, graphs and also curriculum/ assignment ideas for tutors.

We also subscribe to the Equality Review magazine which can be accessed online from Moodle. Login details can be found there with the relevant link.

Videos

To finish, we've found 2 videos for you.The first is a collection of snippets from BBC3 interviews with disabled people called Stupid Questions not to ask Disabled People. (There are also other similar videos available for other protected characteristics).

The second video is a more light-hearted look at the topic of gender discrimination. It is a spoof public information video (from the 1940s) by Harry Enfield. Enjoy!

"Fake news": Can you believe the news you read on social media?

"Fake news"

There has been a lot of talk about “fake news” especially around the whole issue of the US election. False stories were spread mainly through social media and some people even believe that this could have helped influence the election result!

I newspaper (which we take daily in Library+) highlights the problem of fake news in their article below from 17th November 2016:-
Don’t believe what you read: the worrying rise in fake news

Many news stories break on twitter, for example, as an immediate way of spreading details of something that has happened in the world and this can be invaluable. However, like anything, it is essential to check who initially tweeted the news. Can you find it mentioned on a trustworthy news website like the BBC news website or one of the main broad sheet newspaper websites? Do they all back up the story? If these sites don’t mention it, perhaps that means they haven’t been able to validate the story from their sources.

Photo: Peterborough Regional College

Of course newspapers (mainly tabloids) are often criticised themselves for being biased, reporting rumours and even making news up. If you are studying media, these “stories” may be of interest in themselves for your research as a way of demonstrating how the press influence society or what society is “thinking” for example. Similarly, if you are researching social media itself, the tweets/ Facebook news items may be key examples in themselves and worth quoting too, but qualify why you are using them and look at/ use them critically.

And finally to end this week…. perhaps you’d like to have a go at spotting some fake news using I newspaper's quiz....
Quiz -can you spot the fake news stories quiz?

Welcome to the Peterborough Regional College Library blog!

Introduction to the Peterborough Regional College Library blog

Welcome to our first blogpost!

In this blog we are planning to  

• keep you informed of all that the library has to offer
• share some tips to help you find the information you need
• throw a spotlight on different types of resources
• look at some academic skills such as Harvard referencing and plagiarism
• explore the area of e-safety
• focus on themes that many PRC students study (interviews, team building, health and safety).
• point you to resources on other skills you might want to learn just for fun (as learning in itself can be rewarding! ).
• tell you about special events that we put on as well (both College-wide and our own).
• feedback to you what you say in our surveys with our responses and let you know how we are performing.
• pass on anything else relevant we find that we think would be of interest to staff and/or students.
• pick up on stories in the press which show how important it is to evaluate information that you find - especially on the internet.
• review some good books.

Do let us know if you find posts particularly useful and any suggestions. Do this here or via our twitter account.