In <9401142237.AA18972 at net.bio.net>
hkaplan%UDCVAX.BITNET at net.bio.net (Howard Kaplan) writes:
>Just got three messages in a row. 1. How safe is DNA? 2. Egg laying mammals
>(no text). 3. Info on wild life habbits (sic) of a parakeet. The first two
>were from eis.calstate.edu.
>Is there some way the rules of Netiquette can be re-written to prevent the Nets
>from becoming the primary source of information? Or at least to force those
>types of inquiries into more focused, directed searches (e.g. gopher) rather
>than network clogging shotgun inquiries? Am I the only one objecting to this?
This is clearly an attempt to get students interested in science and to
introduce them to the wonders of our "information highway", and in that
sense is laudible. **BUT** I agree that the way in which this is being
done is objectionable. Just as a fully trained scientist should begin
his/her search in the library, then check with local colleagues, before
going to the net with a suitably refined question, so too should these
children. From what I can see, the data-base info accessible through the
net is *very* specialized - I don't think that a gopher search would find
answers to these questions. These questions are also very broad, is there
a single location where one could find an answer to #1? Without a lot of
reading that is probably beyond the level of the children, the best place
to find an answer would be from an expert; and the best place to find an
expert is .... #2 and #3 should be easily found in the library, and
certainly should not clog the net. As per a previous lengthy discussion,
I think that the answer to #1 (does the manipulated DNA in transgenic
plants represent a health risk) is: we don't think so, but we don't *know*.
Though phrased poorly, this is (was) an appropriate question for net
discussion, but (perhaps) is inappropriately complex for lower/middle
school students. (Still, if you can explain to them why it's safe, then
maybe that will decrease future Luddite activities.)
So, while I'm not against the basic idea, I think that some "rules" should
be put in place so that questions like #2 and #3 are not asked, and so that
questions like #1 are properly formulated.
Paul
schlosser at beta.ciit.org
