ENGG1003

Digital Literacy

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Digital Literacy
 Information retrieval

 Citation management

 Copyright management

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Data World Netizens

Embrace Data
Locate
Retrieve
Prepare
Process
Present
Interpret

Digital Data

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Information Growth
 Try searching digital literacy…

 Are you able to skim each and

every result?!

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 What is
"zettabytes" ?
Information Growth

Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/871513/worldwide-data-created/ retrieved on 23 Aug 2021

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 Information Overload
 Information overload is when you
are trying to deal with more
information than you are able to
process to make sensible decisions,
otherwise, you will
 Delay making decisions
 Make the wrong decisions
Decision
accuracy

overload
Amount of information
http://www.infogineering.net/understanding-information-overload.htm 7
 Causes of Information Overload

 More information than we can process

 Bombardment of unsolicited information
 Speed of new information accelerates
 Value of information plummets
 Amount of Contradiction Increase
 Our Information Needs Increase

http://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/126101/computers/information_overload___6_primary_causes.html 8
Fake
News
What can we do?
 Read faster?
 Work longer?

 We need a smarter solution

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A Better Solution
 To develop the skills and
understandings to:
 find digital information
 effectively use the information
 evaluate the information

 This is called digital literacy

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 The Big6 Model

1.
1. Task
Task Definition
Definition

2.
2. Info
Info Seeking
Seeking Strategies
Strategies

3.
3. Location
Location &
& Access
Access

4.
4. Use
Use of
of Information
Information

5.
5. Synthesis
Synthesis

6.
6. Evaluation
Evaluation
NOT necessarily in linear order
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Information Seeking Strategies
A. Determine all possible sources
 Brainstorm any possible information
sources to answer your questions in
(1)
 Books, newspapers, TV, radio,
magazines, encyclopedias, websites,
human experts, e-mails, …

 Distinguish between primary and

secondary sources

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 Primary vs Secondary Sources
 Primary source is first-hand information
or data on a topic
 Newspaper articles, diaries, autobiographies,
movies, statistics and surveys, …

 Secondary source is information that

reports or comments on primary sources
 Reviews, commentaries, magazine articles,
textbooks, encyclopedias, …

What are the merits or demerits of primary

and secondary information sources?
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Information Seeking Strategies

B. Select the best sources

 Will you find the latest stock price in a
book?
 Timing is important!

Courtesy of CUHK Library 15

Evaluating Information Sources
 Authority: is the author mentioned? Is
(s)he reputable in the field?

 Currency: when was the information

published? Does the time frame suit your
needs?

 Accuracy: can you verify the information?

 Objectivity: is the information biased?

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 Evaluating Information Sources
 For web resource, the URL provides
some clues (only) for its usefulness
Domain Intended use
.com Commercial organizations
.edu Educational establishments
.gov Government entities
.mil Military
.net Organizations involved in networking
technologies (loosely enforced)
.org Non-profit or public organizations
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Domain Name whois
 Domain name and IP ownership check

 Examine DNS registration records

 WHOIS (behind) CUHK?

 https://www.whois.com/whois/cuhk.edu.hk

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Location and Access
A. Locate sources
 Web URL, library, e-mail address,
phone number, …

B. Find information within sources

 E.g., find the appropriate chapter of a
book
 If the exact location (e.g., URL) is not
yet known, you need to search them
using keywords

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 Internet Search Engines
 Quickly gives you lots of Internet
resources
 Almost all search engines use a
"Boolean conjunction" model
 E.g., information technology Search
Searc
h
result

Pages containing Pages containing

"information" "technology"

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Properties of Search Engines
 Case insensitive
 [ information ] is the same as [ InFoRmAtIoN ]

 Generally, punctuation marks are not

needed
 [ e.g. ]
 Exception sometimes: [ C++ ]

 Generally, prepositions, pronouns, etc.

are not needed
 [ to ], [ at ], [ he ] don’t make much sense
 Exception sometimes: [ to be or not to be ]

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Internet Search Engines
 Sometimes you get too many results

 How can we narrow down the results?

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Narrowing Down Results
 Phrase search (" ") and more terms

"concave mirror" physics

 Exclude terms (-)

"mobile phone"

"concave mirror" physics

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 Broadening Results
 Combining search results (OR)

Note: usually,
OR has to be
in capital
letters
"concave mirror"
Search result

"error"
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Library Search
 CUHK has several libraries on campus

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 Library Search (library.cuhk.edu.hk)

Search terms are case-insensitive

Choose whether to search only Choose material types

CUHK library collections or HKALL (e.g., books, articles,
exam papers, etc.)

Advanced Search offers additional search

options. E.g., by fields (title, subjects, etc.), by
language, use of logical operators (AND, OR, 26
Library Search
 Each item in the library collection is assigned a call
number
 Books are shelved by the call number assigned
 For example, the call number:

QA76.A594 1996

 Please refer to the “How to”s in the LibGuides page:

 https://libguides.lib.cuhk.edu.hk/Howtoguides

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Citation Management

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Citations
 Give credit to the original author(s)
 Add credibility to your arguments or facts
 Allow others to locate the source
 Avoid being accused of plagiarism ( 剽竊 )
 Find out more on the proper way to cite
various kinds of materials in the Library:
https://libguides.lib.cuhk.edu.hk/Howtoguides

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Citations
 Usually contain the author(s) and title of the
information source
 Book/journal: year, page numbers, publisher
 Newspaper: name of newspaper, section, date of
publication
 Website: URL, date of retrieval

 Different citation style may use in different

discipline
 https://libguides.lib.cuhk.edu.hk/Citation_Styles

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Citation Management Tools
 Create a personal library of references and documents in
one place and organize them by topic, project, etc.
 Store abstracts, annotations, and notes with your
references.
 Easily locate your collected research references and
documents.
 Cite your resources and provide a bibliography while you
write.
 Easily change your citation style to match your need or
the requirement of publishers
 CUHK library supports different citation management tools
 https://lib.cuhk.edu.hk/en/research/citation/tool

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Citation Management Tool
 ProQuest RefWorks
 https://libguides.lib.cuhk.edu.hk/refworks
 A cloud-based collaboration platform

Click this to login/ sign up

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Citation Management Tool
 You need to use your CUHK @link email to sign up.

 You will receive an activation email and follow the

instructions to complete your sign up.

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Citation Management Tool

 Using RefWorks, you can

 Save references on the web
 Cite in Microsoft Word and Google Docs
 Create bibliographies
 Get information automatically
 Read and annotate documents
 Share and collaborate with others
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Copyright Management

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 What is Intellectual Property?
 A group of separate intangible property
rights
 Value of intelligence and artistic work
comes from creativity, ideas, research,
skills, labor, non-material efforts, and
attributes the creator provides
 IP appears everywhere:
 Brand-name logos on your T-shirt, newspaper
articles, TV programmes, pop songs, movies,
fashion designs, …

Source and copyright owner:

Intellectual Property Department, HKSAR Government 36
 What is Intellectual Property (IP)?
 These rights include:
 Trademarks ( 商標權 )
 Patents ( 專利權 )
 Copyright ( 版權 )
 Designs ( 外觀設計權 )
 Trade secrets ( 商業秘密 )
 Layout design of integrated circuits
( 集成電路布圖設計權 )
 Plant varieties ( 植物品種保護權 )

Source and copyright owner:

Intellectual Property Department, HKSAR Government 37
 What is Protected (by Copyright)?
 Copyright protects the expression of ideas

 Copyright does not require application

 A work is automatically under protection when
it is created

 Copyright lasts for a limited time only

 E.g., 50 years after the creator dies
 The work is in the public domain afterwards
 Anyone can freely copy and use it

Source and copyright owner:

Intellectual Property Department, HKSAR Government 38
 What is Protected (by Copyright)?
 Copyright holders have exclusive rights
to:
 Make copies
 Produce derivative works (e.g., translations
into other languages or movies based on
books)
 Distribute copies
 Perform the work in public (e.g., music, plays)
 Display the work in public (e.g., artwork,
© movies, computer games, video on a Web site)

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Challenges of New Technologies
 Digital technology and the internet make
copyright infringement easier and cheaper

 Compression technologies make copying large

files (e.g., graphics, A/V files) feasible

 Software tools allow easy editing of graphics, A/V

files to make derivative works

 Scanners/cameras change the media of a

copyrighted work, converting printed text, photos,
and artwork to electronic form

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 Copyright Law of Hong Kong
 Copyright Ordinance ( 版權條例 ) came into effect
in 1997
 Amendments in 2001, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2009, …

 Tries to maintain a balance between the rights of

copyright owners and society as a whole

 Also covers works on the Internet and softwares

 Works are protected through:

 Civil Remedies ( 民事補救 )
 Criminal Sanctions ( 刑事制裁 ) by Customs and
Excise Department ( 香港海關 )

Source and copyright owner:

Intellectual Property Department, HKSAR Government 41
 Any Copyright Exemptions?
 “Fair dealing” ( 公平處理 ) exemptions:
 Have to consider all of the following:
 Purpose and nature of the dealing (non-profit
or commercial purpose)
 Nature of the work
 Amount of significance or portion used
 Effect on the potential market and value of the
work
 Not all factors are in equal weight
 Parallel to “fair-use” doctrine in USA

Source and copyright owner:

Intellectual Property Department, HKSAR Government 42
 Fair Dealing: Yes or No?
 A student copying a small portion of
copyright work and incorporating it in his
project for illustration with
acknowledgment of the source

 A student copying a large portion of a

textbook because the textbook is too
expensive

 Note: copied made under “fair dealing”

must not be sold, lent, or hired to others!

Source and copyright owner:

Intellectual Property Department, HKSAR Government 43
Responses from the Content Industries

 Expiration dates within a software

 Software protection dongles
 Activation or registration codes
 Banning and suing
 Issues "takedown" notices to video
sharing websites (such as YouTube)
 Digital Rights Management (DRM) to
inhibit copying

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New Business Models
 Organizations are set up to collect and distribute
royalties, such as IFPI, HKRIA, CASH, etc.
 Users need not find individual copyright holders
 Sites provide legal means for selling and distributing
music, video, image, game, etc. in digital form
 Revenue sharing allows content-sharing sites to
allow the posting of content and share their ad
revenues with content owners
 Examples: iTunes Store, Google Play, Spotify,
YouTube Music

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Free Software
 Free software allow people to copy, use, and
modify them

 “Free” means freedom of use, not necessarily free

of cost

 Open-source vs proprietary softwares

 Well-known free softwares:

 Linux kernels, Android, OpenOffice, Firefox

 Concepts such as “copyleft” and GNU General

Public License (GPL) provide means to fit in the
current copyright legal framework

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 ©
Copyleft
 Under copyleft, the developer copyrights
the program and releases it to allow
people to:
 Use, modify, and distribute it,
 Or distribute any program developed from it,
but only if they apply such same agreement to
the new work

 Copyright ©: “All rights reserved”

 Copyleft ©:© “All rights reversed”
 Public domain: “No rights reserved”

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 Creative Commons (CC, 共享創
意)
 Inspired by GPL, CC developed a
spectrum of licensing agreements for
creative works (not just softwares)
 Replacing “all rights reserved” with “some
rights reserved”

 CC provides many options

 Allow copying for non-commercial use;
 Require a specified credit line with use;
 Allow use of entire work with no changes; etc.
 Try: https://hk.creativecommons.org/

Creative Commons: https://creativecommons.org/

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Using Internet Contents
 Make sure you use Internet resources legally!
 E.g., extracting the whole or large part of a news
article for personal use is generally illegal, even if you
cite the article source

 Some content sharing websites provide resources in

public domain or under CC license:
 Wikipedia:
https://www.wikipedia.org/
 Wikimedia commons:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/
 Public Domain Images:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Free_media_r
esources/Photography
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Conclusion
 Digital literacy is a set of life-long, basic, essential
skills which are applicable:
 At school, personally, or at work
 To all subject areas
 To solve a problem, make a decision, or complete a task

 More information in CUHK Library:

 ResearchSmart website ( https://smart.lib.cuhk.edu.hk/ )
 eLearning Resources website (
https://elearning.lib.cuhk.edu.hk/?literacy )
 Library’s General Study Guide
( https://libguides.lib.cuhk.edu.hk/generalstudyguide )

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Disclaimer
 The “Big6™” is copyright © (1987) Michael
B. Eisenberg and Robert E. Berkowitz.

 Using Big6 for educational, non-profit

instruction is permitted
 For more on Big6, visit: www.big6.com

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