How to Evaluate Web Content Stephen Perry, LIBRARIAN, AISC LIBRARY, NICOSIA, CYPRUS Thanks to many authors for their invaluable ideas

When searching the Internet, the statement below is the best guide: USE YOUR BRAIN, DO NOT AUTOMATICALLY TRUST RESULTS

“Do you want to find the Best Resources on the Internet?” “Casual users and serious researchers place their trust in the accuracy and completeness of the data on the network. They’re relying upon information of unknown pedigree and dubious quality, since precious little on the Internet has been refereed or reviewed.” Clifford Stoll, Silicon Snake Oil: Second Thoughts on the Information Highway. New York, Doubleday, pg. 125

Why evaluate? The Web is a no man’s land, where anyone with sufficient skills can publish any opinion they wish. Therefore, experience tells us that you will need additional and critical skills to locate information of real quality and value.

AUTHORITY Who or what organization is responsible for the content? Is all contact information readily available? How easy is it to reach someone if you have questions about the content or authenticity of the Web Page? Does the Web Page list information about the organization or individuals responsible for the content and design of the page?

II. ACCURACY Are all the links and information verified? Is the information cited correctly? Who publishes the content and who is responsible for updating it? JUDGE: DOES THIS SITE PRESENT ACCURATE AND AUTHORITATIVE INFORMATION?

Here is a checklist written by the UCLA Libraries with tips to help you evaluate the authenticity of websites http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/college/11605_12337.cfm

UCLA CHECKLIST: THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT WEBSITES

III. APPROACH What is the purpose of the content and why was it produced? Does the content have a goal? [Advertising vs. Educational vs. Propaganda?] How objective is the information? Is it one person’s or one organization’s point of view or opinion only?

IV. AGE ONLINE When was the Web Page last updated? Does the Web Page state explicitly “Last Updated …” How many dead links [Web Rot] are on the page? Does the page indicate a contact or an email address for additional information? Judge: Is the information timely?

V. AUDIENCE LEVEL Is the Web Page geared for a specific audience? (i.e. Children/Adults/Teens/Political or Religious Affiliation or Ideology, etc.?) Is the content generic or very specific? JUDGE: WHAT IS THE VALUE OF THIS SITE?

VI. ACCESSIBILITY How Accessible is the web site? Consider issues such as use of color, patterns, organization, whether the site offers the full text of documents listed or only a portion. Is the site or part of it under construction? For how long? Does the Web Page have a SITE INDEX for greater accessibility? JUDGE: HOW EASY IS THIS SITE TO USE?

Virtual Library: http://www.vlib.org

Pinakes: http://www.hw.ac.uk/libwww/irn/pinakes/pinakes.html

For Legal and Business Information: http://www.llrx.com

Distance Education: Quality Online Courses for Continuing Education: http://ocw.mit.edu

Reference/Fast Facts at a Glance: http://www. archives

For NGOs and Development Work around the World: www.eldis.org

Poynter Site for Journalists: www.poynter.org

A QUIZ AND A REVIEW Compare two statistical sites related to WOMEN AND AIDS: Go to GOOGLE AND TYPE IN “AIDS AND WOMEN AND STATISTICS” and compare the results and the types of web pages you retrieve. What did you discover through this exercise?

MORE REVIEWING VIA AN ONLINE EXERCISE: Search Google for information on GHANA…or …a topic of your choice. Name the top 5 web sites --using and applying the criteria you just learned. Find the Ku Klux Klan Website and discuss the problems with it. Does the site present opinion or fact? How can you tell?

AN ADDITIONAL QUIZ READ THE ONLINE ARTICLE: “In GOOGLE WE TRUST: INFORMATION INTEGRITY IN THE DIGITAL AGE” BY LEE SHAKER. FIRST MONDAY, vol. 11, no. 4 (APRIL 2006): This article available at: http://www.firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/1320/1240 What lessons did you learn from this article?

More information on how to evaluate web pages can be found through the following web sites http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/college/11605_12337.cfm http://library.albany.edu/usered/eval/index.html http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Evaluate.html http://www.virtualchase.com/quality/index.html

More Sites with Information on how to evaluate Web Sites: RUTGERS: http://newarkwww.rutgers.edu/guides/evaluate.htm ITHACA: http://www.ithaca.edu/library/training/think5.html ALBANY: A series of Internet Tutorials available at: http://library.albany.edu/usered/ A Checklist for Evaluating Information: http://library.usm.maine.edu/research/researchguides/webevaluating.html

More Sources to help you actively evaluate information: ◙ Learn to Think Critically Project: http://www.lifehacker.com/software/feature/seek-and-ye-shall-find-how-to-evaluate-sources-on-the-web-137843.php ◙ From a University Web Site: http://ejw.i8.com/webeval.htm ◙ The Web Credibility Project at Stanford University: http://credibility.stanford.edu/

A CRITICAL THINKING CHEATSHEET to distribute to students The CheatSheet is available at: https://solutionfluency.com/en/downloadables/critical-thinking-skills-cheatsheet

IF YOU MUST INSIST ON USING GOOGLE, then PLEASE USE GOOGLE INTELLIGENTLY: here are ideas: www.blueroom.com/google/index.htm

AND NOW FOR A REVIEW Let’s look at the following slides for a final review

A GOOGLE SEARCH ON “MARTIN LUTHER KING”

The site in detail: www.martinlutherking.org

More detail: from site retrieved by GOOGLE: www.martinlutherking.org

More of this web site retrieved by GOOGLE

Note who actually hosts --or is responsible for this website Note who actually hosts --or is responsible for this website? STORMFRONT

WHO IS STORMFRONT?

My point here is that Google will retrieve even racist and violent information that the average person – who believes anything Google retrieves - might accept as fact. I shudder to think that anyone would accept the information in www.martinlutherking.org as fact.

I stress this point because: Google does not evaluate any web site it brings you; it often just retrieves the most popular websites that people have looked at Please be careful in automatically accepting anything that Google retrieves; there are many guides for how to search Google carefully and there are better designed search engines. One of these is the Internet Public Library: www.ipl.org

There are many other useful Search Engines for you to try out: WWW Virtual Library: www.vlib.org Best of the Web from the New York Public Library Staff: http://www.nypl.org/collections/nypl-recommendations/best-of-web Library of Congress: Virtual Reference Shelf: http://www.loc.gov/rr/askalib/virtualref.html Annotated List of Reference Websites from the Library of Congress: http://www.loc.gov/rr/main/alcove9/ Voice of the Shuttle: http://vos.ucsb.edu

Thank You for Your Attention! The End Thank You for Your Attention! STEPHEN PERRY