SLR Season

by Jenny Paguntalan

Holiday season is over. The time for joyous gatherings and celebrations has passed. I am now entering my SLR season, i.e., the period of frenetic toil to cram a sem’s worth of writing work into 14 days, all the while hoping that I’ll be able to make something decent and “scholarly” out of the pile of research matter that I have accumulated for several months. It is during moments such as this that I stand in deep gratitude for the internet and the profusion of information that it holds.

My research topic concerns tobacco industry tactics, one that is not commonly found in text books and resource materials in the library. Moreover, most of the references and documents that I need are from the US and other foreign countries, e.g., tobacco documents that were released by the tobacco industry as a result of the Master Settlement in the U.S. and research from the WHO on tobacco legislation. Traditionally, I would need to go to Massachusetts and to wherever these documents are available for me, to have a veritable output. Which means that I would to give up on my topic since this feat is an impossibility for me. But because these documents as well as a whole array of research papers and articles from creditable law journals are now available in the web, I could sit in the comfort of my room (or in any caf with free wi-fi) and browse through the references that I need.

The ease in accessibility of information in the web results in the exponential growth of knowledge and education. A paper published today, not delimited by territorial boundaries and physical distance, could reach a much wider audience -- a scenario much different had the paper been circulated decades ago. This benefits both the sender/author of the information and the recipient/audience. On one hand, the advocate will be able to disseminate his ideas to a virtually limitless market freely and more easily; on the other hand, the recipient/audience (which includes a cramming researcher like me) could have ready access to more information and ideas. Of course, this cyber agora of ideas has its downside and all the information peddled therein come with a caveat. As any internet user ought to know, there’s also an abundance of useless and bogus materials in the web. And it lies on the user/researcher to exercise prudence in perusing through and using all these information.