Advantages Disadvantages Of Internet For Research Purposes Information Technology Essay

The Internet is a very powerful worldwide instrument, which serves as a good source for research work and learning. It generates current information, facts-finding, and is the most outstanding invention in the area of communication in the history of human race.

The Internet has been very useful to mankind in the aspect of learning and research development. In due course, this essay emphasizes on details of advantages and disadvantages of the Internet in relation to research work.

Advantages:

Easy Communication:

The Internet eases of communication to the researchers; because it serves as a guidance and original source of information. It is very easy to access and at the same time saves time thereby allowing an individual to manager his/her resources better and effectively. Additionally, the Internet is very convenient because an individual can easily carry out a research work at home with much comfort and convenience. The internet is a valuable search tool and has been informative for academic research, as it helps significantly to improve research skills, and makes learning visual and easy to follow. [1] 

Comparatively Inexpensive and Quick Dispersion of Information:

The Internet creates a comparatively inexpensive avenue for releasing information and articles. Subsequently, several organizations and individuals can now circulate information to millions of users. In due course, researchers could assess and make use of this circulated information and articles for their work, thereby giving them a broader idea and knowledge in their work.

Additionally, there is a spontaneous dispersion of information to various users of the internet when such information is being added to a web site. As regards this, millions of users including researchers would browse through these information and subsequently use them for their work. Hence the web is then regarded as a paragon medium for disseminating information because it removes the time wasting in between publishing content and making it available to users.

Wealth of Information:

Furthermore, the Internet is a wealth of information and very advantageous in various reasons; students delve into the Internet to gather lots of very useful academic information for research purposes; and the information contained on the Internet can be useful for academic research. It is a potential research tool and opens up a new and comprehensive source of information.

In another development, information is probably the biggest advantage internet is offering to the users. The Internet is an apparent treasure trove of information. Any kind of information on any topic under the sun is available on the Internet.

Sending E-mail Messages and Receiving Feedbacks:

With the help of the Internet the user could send e-mails to colleagues, friends, co-workers etc, either to get more information from them or pass on the acquired information to them. In view of this the Internet could be regarded as a powerful content publishing tool because there are some application software embedded in the Internet that enable such transmission and transfer of information from one user to another. Consequently, these applications will allow and assist the researcher to develop content for the World Wide Web by simply saving as an HTML file.

Disadvantages:

Having discussed the advantages of the Internet for academic research it is worthy to mention some of its disadvantages. One of the disadvantages of the Internet is that it provides a huge amount of information thereby causing information overload. In due course, one can easily get confused with this infinite amount of titles, texts and abstracts. And because of the overwhelming information available on the Internet, one must be cautious about information obtained.

Ziltrain points out that, an access provider with much less emphasis on specific content and services, retaining customers will become harder and this will adversely affect the system’s utility for others. [2] 

There are no standards, that is, no process to check information accurately. Most information in the Internet does not go through a review process. Anyone can publish on the web, without passing the content through an editor. Pages might be written by an expert on the topic, or even a child, or a disgruntled contributor. Therefore, getting information from book or from various other printed sources in the library can guarantee that it is of high standard and peer reviewed.

Additionally, it can be observed that with a large amount of information freely available on the internet, theft of personal information and misuse of this information is in abundance. In this regard from time to time people use someone’s information and research materials and pass it off as their own work. Also, Spamming, which is the process of sending unwanted or junk e-mails in bulk, which provide no purpose and consequently hinder the entire system. This in due course is regarded as an illegal activity resulting to frustrate people. As regards this, a researcher could check his e-mail to obtain some materials for his work; only to get disappointed when noticed that the e-mail was a junk. The issue of spamming extends to commercial advertising, frequently for dubious products, get-rich-quick, or semi-legal services. In due course spamming costs less to the sender but more to the receiver. In any case, spam can be prevented or stopped by installing spam filter software such as Mailwasher, McAfee anti-spam software, as well as firewall.

Furthermore, another disadvantage of the Internet is virus threat. In this regard, Virus is a program that interrupts the normal functioning of the computer systems. Computers that are attached to internet are more likely to be attacked by virus. In due course, this attack could result to hard disk crashing, thereby causing a big disaster on the computer. On the other hand, some unprincipled individuals have been successful in creating viruses and links that once clicked can automatically transmit ones personal e-mail addresses and other details to certain parties and even the person’s bank account details in some extreme cases.

Additionally, another disadvantage of the Internet for academic research is that, it is not arranged according to system and no index format. Information on the Internet is not organised; for example too many web pages for any single directory services and fees are often charged for access to specialised information.

Hence, Robling indicates that focusing strictly on tight access controls, whether through strict limitations on the number of users or through the imposition of ‘per access’ fees that could effectively exclude the majority of users, for example students who cannot afford it, without considering the purposes of education and research. [3] 

Conclusion:

In conclusion, irrespective of the fact that the Internet has some numerous disadvantages, it can be understood that it is still very useful to mankind as in helps in medical research works and subsequent inventions, as well as produce some good interactive entertainment and multimedia. Hence, man needs the Internet to keep life going.

Man asserts that, the Internet is considered not simply as a technological tool, but as a wholly new constructed environment with its own codes of practice. [4]