Everything I need to know, I learned from Youtube

Or from the internet, that is. I remember one time, our PC crashed and I got so pissed because I thought I would lose all the songs saved in my Itunes (and consequently, it would erase all the songs in my Ipod once I update it). Just when I finally reached the “acceptance” phase of my grievance, I decided to “google” the phrase “how to transfer songs from ipod to pc” and, lo and behold, I found the solution to my problem. It turns out that the songs are actually hidden in a secret folder inside my Ipod and each of them are encrypted in 4-letter words (e.g., “Fireflies” is encrypted as “BGDF”, “Horse with no Name” is encrypted as “DGRT”), well something to that effect. If I understood it right, the rationale behind such complicated mechanism is that Apple does not want its Ipod to be used as sort of a flash disk, which can be an instrument of piracy, illegal downloads, etc. I learned a lot of other things from the net which I wouldn’t have learned had I not searched online like music sheets/chords (may songhits pa ba ngayon?), recipes, how to repair stuff and other useful and useless info (I learned that the song “Brick” is all about abortion). On a more serious note, the internet has been a very efficient source if I need specific laws and jurisprudence to support my pleadings. When I fail to watch the news, I also read the news online

With the proliferation of all types of information in the internet also comes the proliferation of problems and issues. Take for example, Wikipedia. For many, it is a great source of information on almost every kind of topic. But due to the anonymity of the contributors and the fact that everyone can be a contributor/editor to its contents, the reliability of its contents will be always questioned (what’s weird though is that I’ve read a particular case in SCRA wherein the ponencia used Wikipedia as reference to define a particular term, if I remember it right, it’s the case of Cagandahan, a transgender).

This scenario is not exclusive to Wikipedia. A lot of unreliable information is also being displayed on youtube and on different forums. I remember watching a talk show where one of the guests said she learned how to inject collagen implants into her lips from youtube. She followed the instructions of the so-called “expert” and of course, the result was disastrous. So I guess it’s up to the internet user to be wary of all the information he/she gets from the internet. In a way, this scenario is analogous to the term “caveat emptor” in the law of sales. In the world wide web, research is at your own risk. A good balance between being resourceful and being a skeptic should be struck. That way the internet will be a friend instead of a traitor.

(Twelfth entry)

Image from:
http://megl.deviantart.com/art/Laptop-girl-32676635