I gathered information about Lance Armstrong's doping allegations from two main sources for my first two posts. I gathered the bulk of my information from the AP website along with the NPR website. I wanted to start my research at two very credible sites. As I have learned from Ballenger that the Internet can be an unreliable source of information, without proper research and knowledge of the site. As listed on the Wikipedia website, "Associated Press was founded in 1846. As of 2005[update], the news collected by the AP is published and republished by more than 1,700 newspapers, in addition to more than 5,001 television and radio broadcasters . The photograph library of the AP consists of over 10 million images. The Associated Press operates 243 news bureaus, and it serves at least 120 countries, with an international staff located all over the world." I felt that this nonprofit-unbiased site was a good credible site to draw research for my topic.
I searched the NPR website to find a picture of Lance Armstrong for my "photograph analysis post". Having only a limited amount of knowledge about NPR, I used the NPR website to research their credibility. "Since 1971, NPR and its journalists and programs have won hundreds of awards including 31 Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Awards, 56 George Foster Peabody Awards, 61 awards from the White House News Photographers Association, 24 Webby Awards (which includes 8 Webby "Peoples' Voice" awards) and 19 awards from the Overseas Press Club of America." (http://www.npr.org/about/aboutnpr/history.html). I learned that NPR is a nonprofit-unbiased site as well, so I felt NPR was a good credible source for research.
These sources are well known sources-I have hear the name AP and NPR many times and I decided that they would be good sources to use for my blog. Both sites gave me numerous articles pertaining to my topic. I felt that these sites were very helpful at: providing me with an abundance of current, credible information in just two locations.
Mark Memott, Patrick Kovarick. "If Lance Armstrong Is Stripped, No One May Get His Tour De France Titles". NPR October 12, 2012.Web. October 26 2012.
Eddie Pells, "Lance Armstrong Doping: Anti-Doping Agency Says 11 Teammates Testified Against Him In Probe". AP October 10, 2012. Web.
I'm also doing my paper on blood doping. I think that Lance Armstrong, recently being stripped of all/most of his titles recently, is a good example of how blood doping can currently affect how an athlete is received, or what can happen to them when they're found out. I think that beyond who's doing it, though, is the question of whether it should be allowed or not. I feel like I'm sort of taking a more scientifically oriented approach, but I'm basically making the argument that it should be allowed because it generally involves just injecting yourself with your own blood, and achieves the same effect as living at high altitude for a few weeks. It doesn't (always) involve the use of foreign chemicals, so an argument could be made that it's "natural." I think that there are a lot of reasons to argue that it's bad, but I've challenged myself to come up with an argument about how it's good.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to me that you wrote about dope. It seems like our class is steering away from the topic. I wonder if that is because it is a sensitive subject and people are scared of controversy and judgement or if it is because they have no interest. Lance was a well loved idle for a very long time. Maybe the enhancement drugs or vitamins he did were perfectly legitimate before advanced studies came along. Certainly most everyone has taken a supplement at least one time in their life. If Lance took the same supplement everyday to help him perform because his body is only capable of doing so much on general food and water alone is that a bad thing? Recently my sister who is training for a half marathon took a trip to the hospital for dehydration. She is a relatively healthy young woman who does not do drugs, does not smoke anything, barely drinks a healthy glass of red wine and is in training to run a half marathon. So what happened? She drinks so much water that she flushed her system. She needed to drink Gatorade or some other electrolyte enhancing beverage. I guess the questions here is... Where is the line drawn? Did Lance take some much needed smart vitamins or was he abusing the system?
ReplyDeleteI really like your idea of where to get sources and when to stay away from random internet sites and sources for I am sure the internet has many topics and information about doping and many opinions about it. But like you, I try to stay to the sources that we believe are most credible and most reliable when trying to find infomation.
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