Cybergraphy targets content of various types
The notion of cybergraphy is not part of the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy ( RAE ). The term refers to a series of bibliographic references of electronic documents .
General characteristics
Cybergraphy, also noted as cyberography , webography or webography , is a listing of web addresses . It can be made up of different types of websites , such as portals, digital newspapers, blogs, etc.
Typically, the name or title of the article is written first, followed by the name of its author . Then you must indicate the address ( URL ) and often the date the document was consulted is also added (in case the site is updated, modified or deleted). In this way, cybergraphy attributes the corresponding credit to the information and allows the reader to verify or expand the data.
It can be said, in short, that cybergraphy details the origin of certain documentation that was accessed digitally. If the documentation in question comes from magazines, printed newspapers or books, the idea of bibliography must be used and the traditional structure regarding citation should be followed. The important thing, in one way or another, is to include the documentary source.
Alternative to «bibliography»
It is important to mention that, at an academic level, the term cybergraphy is considered valid . In any case, experts clarify that its use is unnecessary, since the concept of bibliography is sufficient to mention the link between the texts that are used as sources in a research or study, beyond their origin or support.
In any case, this is not an isolated or unique case, since in recent decades we have included more and more terms from other languages (mainly English) or we have created others that merge recent concepts (generally related to the Internet ). Although generations before the 21st century may show some resistance, this new vocabulary is normal for younger people, so its imposition is inevitable.
If we are strict, the term bibliography has in its etymology the idea of "book", so it does not accurately reflect a digital source, such as a web page. For this reason, the use of cybergraphy is more appropriate in some cases. There could even be a combination of both, if the query were carried out in both books and Internet addresses .
Advantages and disadvantages
Let's start with the advantages. Having a series of interactive links at the bottom of a document is very convenient because it directs us to the sources without major complications. For a teacher, for example, checking the legitimacy of cybergraphy indicated by his students is much easier than in the past: it is no longer necessary to visit a library or search for a rare book.
It is no longer necessary to review dozens of books
The possibility of including audiovisual material as a research source is another advantage: a simple link can lead us to any type of content, beyond textual content. Before the existence of the Internet, students did not usually have access to videos and audios when doing their work.
But cybergraphy is not always indicated in a digital document, since it often appears at the end of a printed work. In these cases, access to the sources is not so simple: if the address is too long or complicated due to its large number of alphanumeric characters, or if the author made an error , no matter how small, when writing it, visiting it can become very difficult.
On the other hand, even if there is no error in the writing, links with many subdirectories can affect the aesthetics of the text in a negative way. This does not usually happen with traditional bibliography, which consists of citing books or essays, for example, whose titles are more concise and easier to read. It may also happen that the page or even the site to which it belongs is deleted, something that would make it impossible to review the cybergraphy.