FIT
100
Assignment 2:
Evaluating Web Sites
(or, Now that you’ve found it,
how good is it?)
"You may have heard that
'knowledge is power,' or that information, the raw material of knowledge, is
power. But the truth is that only some information is power: reliable
information"
~Robert
Harris~
Evaluating the Quality of
Information on the Internet: A
Checklist
http://www.virtualchase.com/quality/checklist_print.html
Many of you have done a fair
amount of browsing and searching on the Internet. Have you ever stopped to question the
content of sites you encounter when you are looking for cold, hard facts?
Anyone can publish on the
Internet and most of that content is not verified for accuracy, unlike many
print journals and other publications.
The job of fact verification is left up to you, the user. Expert searching of the Internet
for information is a valuable skill, but knowing how to evaluate what you find
is something of an art. The same
skills that go into evaluating print materials can be applied to evaluating web
content. Honing those skills until
they become second nature will make the task of wading through the glut of
information out there a little easier.
·
In a search engine, use
basic search strategies to bring back sites with information on a
topic.
·
Use evaluation techniques to
determine authenticity and credibility of web
sites.
Web search tips from Search
Engine Watch:
http://www.searchenginewatch.com/facts/index.html
List of Search Engines by
function:
http://www.searchenginewatch.com/links/
When looking at information
provided on the Internet, keep in mind the following criteria (you do NOT have
to answer the questions listed in each criteria in writing for the sites
evaluated):
o
Is the information
reliable? Free from
errors?
o
Are the sources of
information listed? Can you verify
them?
o
Is the author an expert in
the field?
o
Is the publisher of the site
reputable? What does the domain of
the document tell you? (Is it an educational institution, .edu, or a government
site, .gov, etc.)
o
Can you tell the difference
between an educational site, and a site that is simple hosted by an education
domain?
o
Do you find any biases on
the site?
o
What is the motivation for
the site? To inform? To
persuade? To
explain?
o
Is the intended audience of
the site indicated?
o
How updated in the
content? Is the date of last update
easily found?
o
Does the site contain
original information, or just a bunch of links?
o
What topics are
covered
o
Is the topic covered in
depth?
o
Is the site consistently
available?
o
How many links are dead
ends?
o
Does it cost money to use
the site?
o
Do you have to register to
use the site?
What happens when you encounter an “official” looking site? At first glance it appears authoritative and reliable. Deciding whether the information presented is accurate and objective, current and authoritative is a skill to be developed.
Web site evaluation is a contextual process. How you evaluate a site is usually dependent on your research task or information need. Are you looking for new ideas and opinions, facts on a subject, or evidence that supports your position on a topic? Answers to every question in the criteria listed above will not be found for every site. The art of web site evaluation is to obtain answers to enough of your questions that IN YOUR JUDGEMENT the site has substance, merit, reliability, authenticity, etc. for your purposes-or it doesn’t. In many cases it is your own knowledge or familiarity with some of the facts that may tip you off to inconsistencies in the web site content.
Take a look at each site
below. Select one group only to
complete the assignment
Group
1:
·
http://www.democrats.org/news/bushlite/index.html
Group
2:
·
http://www.melatonin.com/prod/melatonin/melfaq.htm
·
http://www.herbalists.on.ca/forum/melatonin.html
Group
3:
·
http://www.beefnutrition.org/ http://www.shepherds-rod-message.org/health/awake.html
·
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/business/the_economy/newsid_334000/334874.stm
Group 4:
1.
Fill out the table criteria
for EACH site in the group you choose.
Note each web page’s reliability/credibility/objectivity, etc in your
chosen group. Mark each column with
a number between 1 and 10.
1= Little or no accuracy, authority,
etc. and 10 = very accurate, authoritative, etc.
Site Name/URL
Accuracy
Authority
Objectivity
Currency Coverage/Scope
Accessibility
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2.
For each site in your chosen group, give a brief summary
(1 paragraph) of the content. [If
you are hand-writing your answers, use an extra sheet if you run out of
room]
3.
For each site in your group,
indicate if you would you use it as an objective source of information on the
topic it describes? Why or why
not?
4.
Why do you trust [or not
trust] the information from each site?
5.
How credible do you consider
each one? Why? [Think about the
class lecture on different kinds of credibility]
6.
What is the viewpoint of
each site that you should consider as you read?
7.
Who
owns the domain of each site? List
the organization and primary contact.
Use your search skills to find a WhoIs server
that will identify the owners of each website.
Internic and Network Solutions are 2 large sellers of domain
names. They each provide searchable
databases of current domains and their owners.
8.
Use the search skills gained
in Assignment 1 to do a search on a topic of interest (in other words, a topic
in which you have some previous knowledge). Evaluate 3 sites found on the topic and
reflect on how you evaluate them and what criteria influence your decision about
the validity of the site. Mark the
reliability of the site for the various criteria below.
Site
Name/URL
Accuracy
Authority Objectivity
Currency
Coverage/Scope
Accessibility
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9.
As you evaluate the sites on
your topic, answer this question:
What aspects of each website make it appear “authoritative” or
credible?
10.
Keep in mind the criteria
you read at the beginning of this assignment.
A.
Did the sites on your topic
answer most of the questions? Which questions were NOT
answered?
B.
What criteria were best
utilized on each site to make it seem more credible and believable, even if you,
as a knowledgeable searcher on the topic, knew different?
Project 1 will require you
to create a site that provides “misinformation” for the novice user. Will your site pass all, or most, of the
above criteria?
Examples of
sites that might be
information, misinformation, spoof sites, parody sites
or hoaxes. What do you think?
Antiretroviral
Drug Interactions in the HIV-Infected Patient
HIV & AIDS: Rethinking AIDS
Website
The True But Little
Known Facts About Women and AIDS
The Greening
of the Anti-Immigrant Agenda
Operation
Gatekeeper: New Resources, Enhanced Results
Illegal Immigration Is a
Crime
Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie
Real Aroma
Feline Reactions to Bearded
Men
http://www.improb.com/airchives/classical/cat/cat.html
GenoChoice
Dyhodrogen Monoxide
The Onion: News Parody
http://www.lme.mankato.msus.edu/mankato/mankato.html