INFO 521 - IPL Final Project Report - Christy Curro - 1

INFO 521 - IPL Final Project Report - Christy Curro - 1

Question #1: I need to know how to do at least 1 of the following videos.

Response I sent to the patron:

Greetings from IPL2!

Thanks for your question about how to perform certain magic tricks you've seen on the internet! It was really interesting and fun for me to research your question.

The main answer is that most of these magic tricks require specialized props in addition to sleight of hand. However, I was able to find some information about how some of these tricks really work “behind the scenes.”

In researching your question, I was most fascinated by the “Electric Touch” trick, and found several relevant websites.

I started my search at

where I did a search for <”electric touch” magic trick>

Here is a page where you can buy the Electric Touch device, through a company called Penguin Magic. The description and the comments talk about the device, how it works, and some problemswith it.

Here are three links to internet discussion forums, where several magicians discuss the Electric Touch device, how it works, and how to attach it to the body.

This link is quite long and could break, so here is a shortened version for your convenience.

A community of users maintains or edits these sources. Because membership in these communities may include non-experts, information taken from these sources should be verified using other, more reliable sources.

I've chosen these sources because these internet discussion forums are places where magicians gather to discuss their trade, and because they are places with lots of information on the topic of magic.

While looking up information on the third video link you posted (the card trick with the color-changing card), I went to the IPL2 home page:

and searched at the top for <card trick>. I found a website called Card Trick Central which has information about lots of magic tricks done with cards.

Additionally, regarding the third video, I clicked on the link in the video description. From this link, I learned that this family of card tricks is known as “Ambitious Card”, and did a search for this term at

I was curious as to whether I could find anything about the particular trick in the video, with the deck of cards that changes colors, so I did a Google search on <”Ambitious Card” color change>. According to the original YouTube link, you can buy a kit here:

but I wanted to see if there was any way to do it without buying that specific kit. From that search I found a blog called MagicOpen, which has several videos of “Ambitious Card” tricks being performed:

I chose this blog as a source because it has a good variety of videos which illustrate how to do tricks similar to the card trick you asked about.

Finally, I searched the IPL2 website

again with the term <magic secrets>, to see if I could find any more relevant information for you. The first link in the list of results was called the Abracadabra! Magic Library:

I hope that these resources will help you find the information you're seeking. If you have any more questions or need more information, please don't hesitate to write back. Thanks for visiting the IPL2!

Feedback I received for this question:

Hi Christy,

Nice Job with your first question!

I like the fact that you greeted the patron, rephrased the

question and offered a number useful links where the patron can

locate some of the materials and information that he is searching

for. It was impossible for you to have answered all of the

patron’s questions for as you said this was ten questions in one.

All in all, I think that you provided the patron with a good

starting point. You also remember to provide the patron with

tiny URL’s and you encourage the patron to return if they had

further questions or required additional information.

Great job! : )

- Montserrat

Sources I consulted and strategies that I used:

After watching the first video, I Googled <bowling ball magic trick revealed> to see if I could either find an explanation for the trick, or find out any other information about it. A cursory Google search and resulting Wikipedia link informed me that this trick was performed by a contestant on a reality TV show, and that it's known as the “Bowl-a-Rama” trick. I Googled this new term.

I watched the second video and clicked on the link in the video description. I note that this trick requires the special “trick” drawing board, and, while this is probably not what the patron wants to hear, this is “how to do” the trick in the video.

As for the third video, I clicked on the link in the video description. I learn that this family of card tricks is known as “Ambitious Card”, and Google this term. There's a Wikipedia page on the topic and about a billion hits on it. However, the particular trick he was asking about involved the Ambitious Card and a color-changing deck, so I Googled <”Ambitious Card” color change>. According to the original YouTube link, you can buy a kit for the trick, but I wanted to see if there was any way to do it without buying that specific kit. During my cursory Google search, I found nothing pertinent.

For the “Broom Thru Body Illusion” I Googled the term and watched a YouTube video on the subject,

and formed the hypothesis that the special broom used in the routine is somehow magnetic and/or in two separate pieces. I kept on with the Google search and found several message board posts about the trick.

I went to the IPL and did searches for <magic>, then <magic trick>, and found the web site:

. On that site, I searched for <broom> and found a relevant web site. Through the IPL I also found which was pertinent to the card trick above.

After looking at the “Electric Touch” website, I Googled <”electric touch” magic trick> and found several web sites.

I briefly looked at the last three tricks the patron had listed but didn't do anything with them.

Time spent on this question: About 4.5 hours total

How satisfied I was with this answer:

I was pretty satisfied with it. It was a hard question and my first question, and I gave a thorough answer. Answering this question was frustrating at times, both because it was my first question and because it wasn't the type of question that has just one answer that can be easily verified via reputable sources.

What I'd have done differently:

I think that I would have watched all of the videos before choosing only one or two magic tricks to research in-depth. It was hard to answer this question since it was, essentially, eight questions in one. Additionally, I feel as though the response is poorly-structured. I would have structured my response differently, as someone stated in class-- first presenting each URL and then explaining how I found it.

Question #2: Im curious on how a language is made, for example how do they

explain what some things mean if they dont have the words to say

it means that yet :o?

Answer submitted to patron:

Greetings from the IPL2!

Thanks for your question as to how languages come to be. It was an interesting question for me to research. I have found several different web sites on which you might find more information. Human beings have an inborn tendency to communicate and use language, even from a young age. I found some information about how children learn language, and how people communicate when they speak different languages.

I did an internet search using the phrase <how languages are born> on the web site

In the results of that search, I found this web site about how apes use gestures and vocalizations to communicate:

This link is quite long and could break, so here is a shortened version for your convenience.

This article may give you some insights into how language first came to be.

After that Google search, I went to the IPL2 homepage:

then did a search for the phrase <language origins> and found this link:

This site, which is sponsored by the National Science Foundation, has lots of information about languages and how they grow and change.

Also from that search of the IPL2, I found this website:

which is a list of many links related to language. You might find some of them interesting.

Again, from that same IPL2 search, I found the link:

I clicked on the “Languages” link on top, then on “Linguistics,” and on that page I found this link, which contains lots of essays by a university linguistics professor:

A couple of the essays might be interesting to you, as they deal specifically with acquiring language. First, this essay on how children learn language and how to put sentences together:

Second, on Deaf children creating their own language of gestures:

Additionally, you might be interested in learning about “pidgin” languages. Pidgins are what happen when two people who speak two different languages have to communicate with each other. Knowing more about these languages may provide you some insight on how languages, as a whole, are formed.

In order to give you some information on this, I went back to

and did a search for <pidgin language>. From that search, I found several web pages on the topic. First, from about.com:

This web site has a good definition of “pidgin”, and has several other useful links. However, this source is maintained by a community of users. Because membership in this community may include non-experts, information taken from this source should be verified using other, more reliable sources.

Additionally, more information can be found on the Wikipedia page about pidgin languages:

Again, a community of users maintains or edits this source. Because membership in this community may include non-experts, information taken from this source should be verified using other, more reliable sources.

I hope that these web sites help you find information that satisfies your curiosity. Please don’t hesitate to write back or visit us again if you need any more information. Thank you for visiting the IPL2!

Sources I consulted and strategies that I used:

I Googled <how languages are born>, then went to IPL and searched for <language origins>. I found several interesting sites from both of these searches.

I realized that the patron might be interested in something on the topic of pidgin languages. I searched IPL for <pidgin> and didn't find anything useful.

I took a look through the list of non-Google resources given to us in class. I then tried looking up “pidgin” in Encyclopedia Britannica, but it only had the first 100 words of each article outside of the paywall. Discouraged, I went to Google and searched for <pidgin>, attempting to find some resources on the topic that would be accessible to someone who wasn't a linguistics student! I realized/remembered that there is an Internet chat program called Pidgin, which took up most of the top results, so I switched my search term to <pidgin language>. From that search, I found several useful websites.

Time spent on this answer: About four hours.

How satisfied I am with my answer: I'm pretty satisfied with it. It was hard to find resources on the topic that were accessible to a person without a background or deep interest in linguistics. I was also pretty pleased with how well I did in trying to explain the concept of “pidgin languages” to this person.

What I’d have done differently: I think that I might have given the patron less information- the amount of information might have seemed overwhelming to the patron-- though I am not sure which parts of the answer were less important or less worthy of inclusion. If I would have had time and resources to do a reference interview, I would have asked the patron more about his interest in how languages are born, and tailored my search strategies accordingly.

INFO 521 - IPL Final Project Report - Christy Curro - 1

Question #3: How can you tell a female and male kangaroo apart?

reason: I am in 5th grade an i am doing a research project on

kangaroos

Answer submitted to patron:

Hello!

Thanks for your question about how to tell boy and girl kangaroos apart. I did some research, and I have found some sources that I think you will find helpful.

1. The first website I found is from an Australian toy company. It has a lot of information about kangaroos in general:

On this site I found out that there are several different types of kangaroos. For Western Grey Kangaroos, you can tell the males from the females because the males have a strong, bad smell, and females don’t. In Red Kangaroos, males are much larger than females. Also for Red Kangaroos, females have blue-grey fur and the males have red fur. I found this web site by going to

and doing a search for “male and female kangaroo” (without the quotation marks).

2. I also found another way to tell male and female kangaroos apart. This is from a website where questions from students are answered by science teachers and scientists.

This science teacher tells us that only female kangaroos have pouches to carry their babies.

I found that website by going back to

and doing a search for “does a male kangaroo have a pouch”, without the quotation marks.

3. This website, from National Geographic, also talks about how male and female Red Kangaroos are different colors:

This link is quite long and could break, so here is a shortened version for your convenience.

This website also has lots of other information about kangaroos which may be useful in your report. I found that website by going to

and searching for “information about kangaroos for kids”, again without the quotation marks.

4. Finally, I did a search of your local library’s catalog. I didn’t find any non-fiction books specifically about kangaroos, but I did find out that your library has a book called “Encyclopedia of Animals”. It’s in the adult section, but it’s a good book for both kids and adults. It’s about all kinds of animals, but does have information about kangaroos.

To find this information, I went to your library’s web site.

[…]

On the right hand side, there is an option to “search for books.” I clicked on that link, then on “keyword” at the top, and did a search for “animals children”, without the quotation marks.

I hope you have found this information useful. If you need more help, please write back or visit our website again. Thanks for visiting the IPL2!

Sources I consulted and strategies that I used:

I went to the IPL’s “for kids” section, searched <Kangaroo>, and found nothing pertinent. I expanded my search to include the entirety of IPL, not just the kids’ section, and found interesting information on kangaroos, some of which would be suitable for kids, but nothing about sexing. I then did a Google search on <kangaroo sexing>. From that result, I found the page which informed me that there are several different species of kangaroo. I learned that, in Eastern Grey Kangaroos, males are twice the size of the females, which would be an easy indicator of sex. However, the pages on the Western Grey Kangaroo and Red Kangaroo don’t give any information about how to tell the sexes apart. This search also pointed me to the Wikipedia page on “sexual dimorphism”, which didn’t actually say much about kangaroos.

I went to the patron’s local library webpage and did a keyword search in the catalog for <kangaroo>, but their library didn’t carry any juvenile nonfiction books about kangaroos. However, doing a keyword search for <childrens animals> told me that they have a book called “Encyclopedia of Animals”, which would be suitable for kids even though it’s in the adult section.

I consulted the “research beyond Google” link that we received in class, and didn’t find anything pertinent in that list.

I went back to Google, and this time searched for <kangaroo gender>. This also didn’t give me anything helpful, so I tried <male and female kangaroos>. This gave me many results, but I kept searching for something more reputable.

I tried another Google search, for <telling male and female kangaroos apart> just to see if the diction choice would change anything. From that search, I found two pages by an Australian tourism company, which were somewhat helpful, but again, I wanted more authoritative results.

I tried askkids.com, but didn’t come up with anything useful.

I Googled <information about kangaroos for kids> which gave me the following useful website:

I was curious whether male kangaroos have pouches, so I Googled <does a male kangaroo have a pouch> and found this page, where questions are answered by scientists and science teachers.