Web Evaluation

Library 10 –Information Competency

Educational domains

The parent page

Educational domains (continued)

Wikipedia: The free encyclopedia

Wikipedia example 1

Wikipedia example 2

martinlutherking.org

A real life example

“To identify the external link, our Webmaster searched Google and chose one of the top results, a Website that, at a quick glance, appears to be a tribute to Dr. King with speeches, photos and a special emphasis on the holiday.”

-Hans Reimer, Rock the Vote Blog, Jan. 2007

British Stick Insect

Google “link” feature

Who is the registered owner?

whois

Evaluation example 1

Evaluation example 2

Evaluation example 3

Evaluation example 4

Evaluation example 5

Evaluation analysis

Authority

Accuracy

Content

Objectivity

Currency

Library 10 Evaluation example

Actual student response (used with permission):

From the first look at this page I can tell that most likely I wouldn't use it. It is completely unreadable, most of the space is covered by advertisement. The page is of a really bad quality. Judging by the amount of ads and banners on the Web page I can tell that the author is only looking for profit.

The link to the author’s information leads to another page, where I can see the achievements and education of the author, but the name is not stated. The author calls himself an expert and doesn’t even want to identify himself. This Web page has no authority.

This Web page is completely disorganized. From the first line it is not even clear what the information is about.

I would never use such a Web page as a source of information for my speech.

Another example

Evaluation response

This Web article would be a good resource for an academic paper because of the following reasons:

--Authority: I found the article on the Website of the National Defense University in Washington, DC. I have never heard of this school so I Googled it and it is an accredited graduate level university. I also Googled the publication information for the article and discovered that it is an article in JFQ (Joint Force Quarterly), which is an official, professional publication from the National Defense University Press. The author is a USAF Colonel, and I Googled his name to discover that he currently works at the Pentagon for the Defense Department, so he would seem to have strong military expertise.--Accuracy: A reference list is provided at the end of the article, which means that the information can be verified.--Content: I skimmed the article and it is indeed about the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. It provides a comprehensive discussion of the topic and includes statistics.--Currency: This was published in late 2009, so it is very current. This is important for this topic, because the Obama administration has recently been discussing a possible repeal of the policy.

Beware of “content farms”

• A content farm, also called a content mill, is a Website whose content is chosen specifically for its ability to rank highly in search engine results.

• The primary purpose of content farms is to generate advertising revenue by attracting “page views.”

Buzzle

About Buzzle

List of content farms

Web 2.0 and misinformation

Confirm the authority of any information you intend to use.

Snopes.com & TruthOrFiction.com

FactCheck.org

“The people peddling misinformation can be exposed more easily, if you know where to look.…But if people aren’t looking to get at the truth, they can be easily misled.”

-Eugene Kiely, Director of FactCheck.org

As quoted in: Hill, Angela. “A Know-it-all World.” San Jose Mercury News 11 Nov. 2013: A16-17. Print.

The end

The End