© Tefko Saracevic, Rutgers University 1 evaluating information on the web Tefko Saracevic School of...

© Tefko Saracevic, Rutgers University

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evaluating information on the web

Tefko SaracevicSchool of Communication,

Information and Library StudiesRutgers University

http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~tefko










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evaluating internet resources

• impossible? not really• hard? very• help? exists if you persist• LECTURE TOPICS:

– how to go about it?– what are the main criteria?– where to verify?


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the web

• fastest growing technology in history• explosive growth of WWW provided

– ubiquity of information and access– but also information chaos & anarchy

•growing difficulty in identifying, searching, retrieving and EVALUATING

•metaphors: ‘lost in an ocean’ ‘finding pearls in garbage dumps’ ‘needle in haystack’


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web is value neutral

• all kinds of information can be found– misinformation

•deliberate, just plain wrong or plain stupid

– disinformation, censored– hate information– propaganda, spin doctored information– questionable, inaccurate, – harmful, objectionable, insulting


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value neutral ...• but information that is also

– valid, reliable, useful, relevant, accurate, factual, timely, credible … •to a high degree• appropriate to many problems & tasks

– otherwise hard or impossible to find, retrieve & access

– from sources that are trustworthy


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prerequisite knowledge

• to evaluate web information needed knowledge about – web structure & mode of operandi of

the internet & domain name system– notion & characteristics of cognitive

authority– criteria adapted for the web


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evaluated


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cognitive authority

“influence on one’s thoughts that one would consciously recognize as proper”

Patrick Wilson

• related to assignment of credibility– two components:

competence & trustworthiness

• ascribed to particular individual, institution, organization, action


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problems

• on the web– traditional authority indicators

difficult to attribute - often absent•authorship? title? version? place of

origin?•author qualification? credentials?

– no filtering– vanity publishing


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problems ...

– sometimes even attribution difficult•identity? reputation? qualifications?•can be published by anyone•anyone can claim to be somebody

else

• assigning credibility to Web information a BIG problem


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solutions

• rigorous evaluation– more detailed than print sources

• depending on known authority sites, authors, organizations

• following many sites that did evaluation already


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evaluation criteria

• many traditional criteria remain but with new interpretations

• a number of new criteria have emerged specific to digital nature of resources & access

•many are stated & can be found on the Web e.g. library sites


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web & cognitive authority

need to carefully asses (always, web or no web):

document, author, institution & affiliation

on criteria of: authorityaccuracy currencyobjectivitycoverage


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specific evaluation criteria

•what & why? - documents, objects

– content? purpose? scope? viewpoint?

•by whom? - creators, authors, institutions

– identity? authority? credibility? reputation? qualification? refereeing?

•where? - affiliation, connections

– identity? overt? covert? authority? credibility? reputation?


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criteria ...• for whom? - orientation

– intended audience? needs satisfied? fit with user community?

•when? - timeliness

– currency? up-to-date? revisions? persistence estimate?

•how? - treatment, coverage

– accuracy? credibility? objectivity? style? clarity? organization? usability?


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criteria ...• in what way? - presentation

– format? layout? interface? search capabilities? access?

• how much? - economics

– effort? price? cost-benefits? license?

• in comparison to? - competition

– other similar resources?


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model for evaluating information on the

web• INPUT: filter & assessment for

– document– author– institution– affiliation

• OUTPUT: combined assessment & ascription of cognitive authority


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model ...

input from the web

ascription of cognitive authority

assess document

assess author

assess institution

assess affiliation

filter


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examples

• newspapers– New York Times; many others

• governments– in the US: Census Bureau; State

Department; Nat. Inst. of Standards

• organizations– www consortium (w3c)


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examples ...

• international– UN, European Union agencies

• professional– Assoc. for Computing Machinery

• health– Mayo Clinic; Rx list for

pharmaceuticals


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examples ...

• science– national academies of many countries

• commercial– encyclopedias, reference sources– Britannica has evaluated web sites

• publishers– evaluated sites e.g. Choice


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libraries & web authority

• emerged as an important sourceemerged as an important source– many provide evaluated sites & linksmany provide evaluated sites & links

• judicial judicial & trusted selection: trusted selection: – a ka key value-added contribution by

libraries internationally – trust extends to digital collections– makes all the difference between a

library & other collections


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library examples

• national libraries: many links– Library of Congress; UKOLN (UK)

• academic libraries: great many– U of Michigan: law– U of California Berkeley: many domains– Virtual Library (Switzerland)– etc. etc. etc. GREAT sources!


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reference, journals

• elaborate online reference sites– Martindale’s reference desk– some commercial e.g. Ask Jeeves– reference questions answered online

• pathways, guides• publications - some free other

licensed - licensing now a big deal


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specialized

• digital libraries emerged in great many domains, fields– history, national memories– arts, museums, music, poetry ...– science, technology– geography, climate, weather– cooking, stamp collecting, sports ...


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conclusions

• web sources HAVE to be evaluated• many evaluations follow traditional

criteria e.g. as for news accounts• many new criteria evolved• many tools already there• hard but possible!


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sources

• URLs for the mentioned & many other sites can be found on:

http://scils.rutgers.edu/~tefko/D-Lib_Edu/













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Date post:	20-Dec-2015
Category:	Documents
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© Tefko Saracevic, Rutgers University 1 evaluating information on the web Tefko Saracevic School of...

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