What is geoKnow.net?
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geoKnow.net is your daily one-stop website for all that’s geography! It brings together the best geography news and websites on the Internet into one location. Ideally, news articles will be updated daily with older news articles gong to the GeoNews page. This allows users to look back over the year to see what was topical. It also allows you to follow stories as they develop. But geoKnow is more than just news. The GeoLaunchPad is the core of the site with its dozens of Topic Pages. That’s where you will find articles, maps, illustrations and opinions from all over the web around specific topics important to geographers and geography students - ideal pages for launching your research into a topic.
Why do you use so many BBC articles?
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While there are a number of news-gathering organizations to choose from, for objectivity in story writing and coverage on a global scale, there is no parallel to BBC. Although adverts are found on international versions of BBC web pages, it is not a commercially-driven machine which allows it more editorial flexibility. Furthermore, BBC has a plethora of background articles to help explain the mechanics of various phenomena and the historical context of events.
Why do you link to Wikipedia articles? Aren’t they unreliable?
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Wikipedia has quickly become one of the most helpful places on the Internet for well-written and illustrated overview or background articles. While it is recognized that Wikipedia articles may be edited by anyone with an account and can be targets of malicious hacking, studies have clearly shown that the error rate for science-based articles in Wikipedia is on par with expensive and “professionally-written” and edited encyclopædias. Furthermore, Wikipedia continues to work very hard with its writers to ensure the validity of what is presented. As well, at the end of the more academic Wikipedia articles is a list of references that are helpful stepping stones to further knowledge.
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Nothing is written without human subjectivity or, worse yet, bias, so you must question all sources of information! If anything written in any article from any source seems wrong or questionable, check the references and the author - what might their agenda be? Too many Wikipedia-skeptics, accept without question unreferenced articles from other sources such as magazines and newspapers. There are preciously few news organizations free of politics and bias – just check the affiliations of their Boards of Directors and Editors and what role their advertisers and supporters might play!
Who is working behind the scenes at geoKnow.net?
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The person who has been running geoKnow.net since its creation in 2005 is Terry McDonald. Having taught secondary school Geography in Canada, Tanzania and England and as an early proponent of the Internet as a learning tool, Terry found a gap between the amazing resources available on the ‘Net and the ability of users to find those resources amongst the thousands of hits a search might turn up. geoKnow.net is dedicated to assembling the best resources found on the Internet for students and teachers of Geography at all levels of learning.
How can I help?
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There are five specific ways you can help make geoKnow.net the most complete Geography Resource on the ‘net:
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✓when you come across a particularly good resource on the ‘Net, let us know – email the link to us;
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✓make geoKnow.net your homepage and the homepage on computers used by Geography students at your school, college or university;
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✓add geoKnow.net as a link on your Geography web page;
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✓send us an email to tell us who you are and that you are using geoKnow.net;
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✓make a donation towards helping with our costs - we are determined to keep geoKnow.net free of ads and free to use.
Most importantly, keep using geoKnow.net!
