Copyright  2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Internet Marketing Intelligence by Edward Forrest 11-1 Chapter 11 Web Sites, Sources and Data—Reliability and Validity Internet Marketing Intelligence

Copyright  2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Internet Marketing Intelligence by Edward Forrest 11-2 Objectives Compare online and offline information and the advantages and disadvantages of accessing information on the Internet Review ways to cope with information overload. Provide an understanding of the need to evaluate information on the Internet. Give insight into the varying quality of information available and the lack of filtered information.

Copyright  2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Internet Marketing Intelligence by Edward Forrest 11-3 Advantages of Information on the Internet Wide variety is available Speed of access Access is cheap Often more timely Updated on a regular basis Access to more information

Copyright  2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Internet Marketing Intelligence by Edward Forrest 11-4 Disadvantages of Information on the Internet Lack of skills and knowledge Information overload Quality and stability Reliability and validity Not informally cataloged No central control Constantly changing Easily deleted

Copyright  2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Internet Marketing Intelligence by Edward Forrest 11-5 Web Site Paradigm The 5 W’s 1. Who? 2. Where? 3. What? 4. When? 5. Why? Source: Adapted from Lauer, Diane, 1999, ‘The Five W’s of Web Site Evaluation’, (

Copyright  2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Internet Marketing Intelligence by Edward Forrest 11-6 Source and Data Evaluation Paradigms The 10 Cs 1. Content 2. Credibility 3. Critical Thinking 4. Copyright 5. Citation 6. Continuity 7. Censorship 8. Connectivity 9. Comparability 10. Context Source: University of Wisconsin—Eau Clare (

Copyright  2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Internet Marketing Intelligence by Edward Forrest 11-7 Source and Data Evaluation Paradigms (cont.) AOC Criteria Authority Accuracy Objectivity Currency Coverage Source: Alexander, Janet & Tate, Marsha A., 1996, ‘Evaluating Web Resources’ ( Library/webevaluation/webeval.htm/)

Copyright  2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Internet Marketing Intelligence by Edward Forrest 11-8 Who/Credibility/Authority Can author on a web site be identified? What is their level of education or training? What is their level of responsibility? URL extension indicates type of organisation: Corporate (.com) Government (.gov) Non-profit (.org) Educational (.edu)

Copyright  2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Internet Marketing Intelligence by Edward Forrest 11-9 Where/Comparability/Connectivity Comprehensive How in-depth is the coverage? Consistent and Comparable Are the figures and information consistent? Does the information receive expert evaluation?

Copyright  2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Internet Marketing Intelligence by Edward Forrest Where/Comparability/Connectivity (cont.) Evidence Are the points documented and referenced? Are there a wide variety of sources? Support Are the original documents cited? Is there a bibliography?

Copyright  2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Internet Marketing Intelligence by Edward Forrest What/Content/Objectivity Tone Is emotional language used? Purpose Is it designed to educate, inform or persuade? Plausibility Is this page mostly fact or opinion?

Copyright  2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Internet Marketing Intelligence by Edward Forrest When/Continuity/Currency When was the information written? When was the document first published? When was the document last updated?

Copyright  2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Internet Marketing Intelligence by Edward Forrest Why/Context/Critical Thinking/Coverage Does this web site provide valuable information? Should I keep researching? Is this new information? Is it something I have not yet discovered? Can I confirm its reliability?

Copyright  2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Internet Marketing Intelligence by Edward Forrest Meta-information Definition Information about information Two Forms Evaluative: evaluates and judges the information bases on a set of criteria Summary: provides content summaries or abstracts indicating what the source contains

Copyright  2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Internet Marketing Intelligence by Edward Forrest Meta-information (cont.) Functions Copes with information explosion Reduces search and evaluation time Summarises information Indexes information

Copyright  2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Internet Marketing Intelligence by Edward Forrest Summary Anyone can post anything, anytime on the Internet. With no formal or even informal review procedures, it is necessary to evaluate the validity and reliability of any information used from the Internet. The 5 Ws, 10 Cs and AOC paradigms can serve as checklists when evaluating Internet information/data.