Evaluating Information--Part 3 Evaluating Information on the Web Authored by Pamela Eyerdam and Ken Burhanna The text only versions provide a linear presentation of the Hands-On flash modules.  The Hands-On modules often incorporate images and interactive presentations to help demonstrate and support the text.  These images and interactive features are lost in the text only format.  Users can supplement their reading of the text versions by going onto the World Wide Web and visiting the web sites and doing the searches that the text indicates.  This is most easily done by printing the text version and using it as a guide. After completing this module you will understand: 1. The Special Evaluation Challenges of the Web 2. How to Analyze URLs 3. How to Determine Authorship 4. How to Evaluate Currency 5. How to Evaluate Web Content Introduction The Web is a publishing medium with few technical barriers and low cost.  These limited obstacles make it possible for almost anybody to publish information on the web.  This lesson will consider the special problems of evaluating information on the web and consider some practical approaches to evaluating the information found there. 1. The Special Evaluation Challenges of the Web Simply put almost anybody can publish anything they want on the Web.  In the old world of publishing on paper, you either had to become a publisher (requires significant skill and investment) or you had to have your work accepted for publication by an editor.  Editors serve as gatekeepers, accepting material that meets their objectives and rejecting all the rest.  Librarians add an additional level of editorial review.  When you go to a library you can be secure in knowing that all the materials there have been reviewed and selected for their authority and value. Most of the public web has no editor, gatekeeper or librarian! On the Web, anybody with a little effort can make something absurd seem scientific and believable. Click on the link below (will open new browser) and take a closer look at this web site.  Is this for real? Feline Reactions.... As we saw from the previous example, not only can anybody put stuff on the web, they can make it look authoritative when it is not.  So while the public web lacks editors and librarians reviewing its content, the publishers of Internet content have the ability to make their content appear as if it's credible and accurate. This vulnerability of the web is why it is so much more important to critically evaluate what you find on the public web. As you approach information on the Web, keep the following points in mind: - The biggest reason for putting information on the web is to sell products or services.  You also should know that advertisers and sales people don't always tell you the facts, but instead what might persuade you to spend money. - If you're doing research for a college paper, the public web should be one of the last places to look for scholarly information. - Lots of results on the Web does not correlate to lots of good information.  90% or more of what a search engine finds for you will turn out to be garbage. 2. Analyzing URLs When you find a web site the first thing to do is examine its URL.  The URL is the web address of a site, and it can help tell you what type of site it is and who the author and/or publisher of the web site is. What type of domain does the site come from? The part of this URL underlined is its domain.               www.ulib.csuohio.edu A domain represents part of the Internet.  Domains are assigned by type, and every URL contains one. These are the domains currently in use:     .com = commercial sites     .edu = educational institutions     .gov = government agencies     .mil = military sites     .net = Internet providers and network services     .org = nonprofit organizations As we mentioned in earlier lessons, .edu, .org, and .gov domains usually provide the most authoritative content. The domain will help you determine what type of web site you are looking at. Ask yourself if the content of the page seems appropriate for the type of domain.  If they don't jive, look closer at who the author or publisher of the page is. Look at the host name and see if you recognize it. The host is the institution or person operating the web server that the site is hosted on.  The host name appears after the "www" and before the domain extension in the URL.  The host is underlined in the following URL.                 www.csuohio.edu In this case you probably recognize "csuohio" as representing Cleveland State University. When looking at the host name ask yourself: - Have I heard of this organization before? - Does the title of the site match or include part of the    host name? - Does the host have a credible reputation? If you recognize the host, the site includes information clearly produced by the host, and the host has a solid reputation, you can rely more on the information found on that site. Beware of personal pages Personal pages often include: -  a personal name in the URL -  this name often follows a tilde "~" -  or the words "users" or "members" -  also look for host names from web hosting services    like geocities.com or aol.com. The URL www.geocities.com/jadeja_jay/ is a personal page hosted by a server at geocities. Notice the name Jay Jadeja in the URL? When you identify a site as a personal one ask yourself who the author is. Also realize the person who has put the site up likely has a limited association with the host, and the content the person has published has no association with the host. Information appearing on a personal page may be very credible, but it also may be completely fictitious or even a joke.   Always verify information found on a personal page in other sources. E1.Examine the following URL: www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/welcome.html What type of domain does this site come from? A.   commercial site B.   educational institution C.   government agency   The answer is C. government agency.  This site is from the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice. E2.What type of domain does this site come from? www.duke.edu/~uday/ A.   educational institution B.   personal page using server space at a educational institution C.   nonprofit organization The answer is B. personal page using server space at an educational institution. Though this site is hosted on the servers of Duke University, the content of the page has nothing to do with the university. 3. Determining Authorship of a Web Site Determining authorship of a web site or page is a major key to evaluating the credibility of the information available there. The main question to ask yourself is: Who wrote or developed the page and do they provide their credentials? To find this information, look for the name of an author or the name of an organization who takes credit for the page.  If this information isn't present on the page, look for links that may lead you to this information:  "About Us," "About the Author," "Background Info," or "Bio." If you determine who the author is but cannot find any information on the site about their qualifications, search for other works by them.  You can do this by doing author searches on the Scholar Catalog,  Amazon.com or in an index related to the appropriate subject.   If you determine that an organization is responsible for the page in the absence of a named author, try to find out as much as you can about the organization.  Do they have other publications in other formats?  How long have they been around?  Are they suited to be experts on the subject at hand? If, in addition to a named author, you also identify an organization that is responsible for the page, try to find out as much as you can about them.  See the statement directly above. If you cannot determine who the author is or anything about them, consider this site very questionable.   Keep this in mind also:  what reputable author would not want to clearly identify themselves as the creators of a credible web page? 4. Evaluating the Currency of Web Information Because the web is such a fast moving medium, information can become out dated very quickly.   Currency is important for a couple reasons: 1. Currency has become a signifier of authority because things can become out dated so fast on the web.  Undated or outdated web pages indicate that a web page is not being maintained as an authoritative source should be. 2. Up to date information is important to researchers.  Some topics that are very current require current information.         Currency: what to look for -  a statement of "last date modified" or "last updated" at the bottom    of the web page. - dates for specific factual or statistical information presented on the site. - working links to other web pages. What if I find some good information, but no dates are given for it or for the site I found it on? Don't use it.  In all formats, research information needs to be dated.  Undated information is not to be trusted. 5. Evaluating Web Content We've covered the aspects of evaluating web information that cause special challenges.  In addition, you should evaluate the information on the web just as would you evaluate any information source regardless of format.  In part 2 of this lesson Evaluating Content, we went over questions and approaches to this.  Please review that lesson and be sure to consider web information also for coverage, accuracy, objectivity, appropriateness, and audience. This concludes Evaluating Information on the Web