1. Evaluating Web Sites For use by Paulding County Media Specialists

2. What is cyber literacy? Cyber literacy is the ability to look at online information with a critical eye to tell if it is reliable and accurate.

3. The Search Read a few lines of information that appear on your screen. Go to the cites that interest or concern you.

4. Look at each site Is it professional? Is it accurate? Does the data make sense?

5. How do you know the information is accurate or correct? Look for the author of the site. Is he/she reputable? Is it a reputable company or organization? Is it a government site, a university, or a professional group?

6. How do you know the information is accurate or correct? Read other web sites. Do they contain the same information? Read more reliable sources: books, magazine articles, journals Talk to a trusted or knowledgeable source: parents, teachers, etc.

7. Misleading web sites: Why are they out there? Entertainment Ignorance Hate Anger Urban Legends Advertisement Opinions Watch out! Some of these sites look very professional! Bigfoot is real!

8. What about Wikipedia? What is Wikipedia? Wikipedia is the largest multi-lingual free encyclopedia on the web. Volunteers write and edit articles. There is no guarantee the information is accurate. The links listed do not always go to reputable sites.

9. Questions to ask yourself Who would I ask if I could ask them in person? (Look for a web site that corresponds with this question.)

10. Questions to ask yourself How did you find the site? Was it linked from a reliable site? How current is the information? Is it backed up by research? How current is the research? Do other sites share the same information?

11. Questions to ask yourself What is the purpose of the site? Advertising? Opinion? (Hate sites make up information to support their opinion – even things about historical figures.) Does it tell both sides of a debate? Does it make sense? Is there bias? The famous jackelope attacks again!

12. Questions to ask yourself Does it look professional? Are there mistakes? Typos? Can you contact the site owner?

13. Who’re you gonna call? Hoaxbusters: –http://hoaxbusters.ciac.orghttp://hoaxbusters.ciac.org Scambusters: –http://www.scambusters.orghttp://www.scambusters.org Snopes: –http://www.snopes.comhttp://www.snopes.com

14. Always give credit where credit is due Gregson, Susan R. Cyber Literacy : Evaluating the Reliability of Data. New York: Rosen Group, Incorporated, The, 2008. Pictures: Microsoft Clip Art Online Bigfoot: http://search.live.com/video/results.aspx?q=big foot&form=VIRE2 Jackelope: http://search.live.com/images/results.aspx?q=j ackelope&form=IIRE0#