Discussion One :)

For our blog assignment we were told to write about the different types of reading and I have chosen to write about Reading For Information.

Below is my sample of reading for information and it was taken from Wikipedia.

URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salsa_(dance)

"Salsa is a dance for Salsa music created by Spanish-speaking people from the Caribbean and their immigrant communities in the US. Salsa dancing mixes African and European dance influences through the music and dance fusions that are the roots of Salsa: SonGuaguancó, Rumba,Boogaloo, Pachanga, Guaracha, Plena, Bomba, ^[1].

Salsa is normally a partner dance, although there are recognized solo forms, line dancing (suelta), and Rueda de Casino where groups of couples exchange partners in a circle. Salsa can be improvised or performed with a set routine.

The name "Salsa" is the Spanish word for sauce, connoting (in American Spanish) a spicy flavor^[2]. Salsa also suggests a "mixture" of ingredients, though this meaning is not found in most stories of the term's origin. (See Salsa music for more information.)"

Reading for information as far as I can tell is reading to acquire knowledge about a certain topic. However in this context reading for information online does make this web-based learning. How? well the general public is able to excess search engines such as "Google" for example to search for information on any topic, Salsa for example. The knowledge gathered is deemed information and it is through this information that readers learn.

Does the general public require knowledge about how to use the internet in order to learn via web-based learning? 

Well yes, I do believe so, but only a limited amount is required. This is because websites like Wikipedia are considerably user friendly and easy to navigate through. With links that can be found all throughout websites readers are able to explore these websites and learn more and more information on the subject at hand. This I believe proves that indeed web-based learning can be said to be more effective than learning in the form of reading from books. This is due to the fact that books or information in written form can share knowledge but only on a very limited basis, where else in the case of websites, links are able to offer additional facts about other things related to the subject that is being researched.

Making the search for information much easier.