Evaluating information you find on the internet

1. Evaluating information you find on the internet Choose your own adventure ! NEXT

2. You are doing an essay on ‘global warming’ and have found these 3 items – which one would you look at first? • GlobalWarming.org This page created by www.globalwarming.org gives bi-weekly updates from Washington on global warming. www.globalwarming.org/ - 75k - 25 Jul 2006 2) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Established by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and United Nations Environment Programme...www.ipcc.ch/ - 38k - 25 Jul 2006 3) SpringerLink - Article Timothy M. Lenton (2006) Climate Change to the End of the Millennium. Climatic Change Anthropogenic climate change will continue long after ...http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10584-005-9022-1 12k – 25 Jul 2006 1 2 3

3. As anybody can write a web-site you need to find out a bit more about who published this information (and why!) You can find out more about a site by: 1) Investigating the web address to find out who registered the site and owns the ‘domain’ 2) Looking at the pages themselves to find out who wrote the site 3) Checking out who links to a web-site and what they say about it. 1 2 3

4. The web address (1) www.globalwarming.org This is a nice domain name and the content is about global warming, but the web address doesn’t give any clues as to who wrote it. The .org means it is a non-profit organisation (whereas .gov signifies an official government site and .ac or .edu are educational sites). NEXT

5. The web address (2) If it is unclear who owns a domain you can use the www.checkdomain.com site to see who registered the site: This gives us – Registrant name: National Consumer Coalition and contact details for them NEXT

6. Web address (3) A quick search on Google finds that: “The National Consumer Coalition is a group of industry friendly organizations that oppose government regulation and support "free market" solutions to consumer issues.” Yes I will use - this looks like a good resource Sounds a bit dubious – go back to find another resource Not too sure about this – I need to find out more

7. Who wrote it? (1) If you look in more detail at the site in the ‘About us’ section you will find it clearly states: “This web site is a project of the Cooler Heads Coalition, a sub-group of the National Consumer Coalition… The Cooler Heads Coalition formed May 6, 1997 to dispel the myths of global warming by exposing flawed economic, scientific, and risk analysis.” Yes I will use - this looks like a good resource Sounds a bit dubious – go back to find another resource Not too sure about this – I need to find out more

8. Links to A useful way to find out more about a site is, is to check who links to it and what they say about it. You can do this on Google using the prefix link: - type this in: Link to: www.globalwarming.org NEXT

9. Links to (2) This is a pretty popular site with over 9000 sites linking to it. The first few are links to itself from different pages, but then there are links such as: • Global warming - SourceWatch • Green Facts • Eco-Imperialism Yes I will use - this looks like a good resource Sounds a bit dubious – go back to find another resource Not too sure about this – I need to find out more

10. The end You need to treat the information on this site with great caution – it is from a biased organisation who openly declare their aim to “dispel the myths about global warming” Although popular, some sites that link to it do highlight its bias nature. Whilst some of their information might be interesting and could be included in an essay, you need to be aware that it will be biased and treat it as that. START AGAIN

11. The end You’re right to be cautious – this site is from a biased organisation who openly declare their aim to “dispel the myths about global warming”. Although popular some sites that link to it do highlight its bias nature Whilst some of their information might be interesting and could be included in an essay, you need to be aware that it will be biased and treat it as that. START AGAIN

12. The end You’re probably right to reject this site as it is from a biased organisation who openly declare their aim to “dispel the myths about global warming”. Although some of their information might be interesting you need to ensure you have a balanced view and authoritative research-based information in your essay. START AGAIN

13. As anybody can write a web-site you need to find out a bit more about who published this information (and why!) 1) Investigate the web address to find out who registered the site and owns the ‘domain’ 2) Look at the pages themselves to find out who wrote the site 3) Look at the information on the site to check for quality 1 2 3

14. The web address (1) The domain name www.ipcc.ch indicates that this is the web-site of the IPCC organisation. The .org means it is a non-profit organisation (whereas .gov signifies an official government site and .ac or .edu are educational sites). The .ch signifies the country it is based though – surprisingly meaning Switzerland [more on domain names ] NEXT

15. Web address (2) Although it seems clear that the IPCC owns the web-site, you can use the www.checkdomain.com site to double-check. This tells us that the site was registered by the IPPC - the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. It is worth checking as there have been a number of famous cases of people registering domain names to try and represent an organisation / person e.g. look at www.whitehouse.org – at first sight this page looks fine, but check who registered this site! NEXT

16. Web address (3) A search on Google finds that the IPCC: “ has been established by WMO and UNEP to assess scientific, technical and socio- economic information relevant for the understanding of climate change, its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation. It is open to all Members of the UN and of WMO.” [WMO = World Meteorological Organisation] [UNEP = United Nations Environment Programme] Yes I will use - this looks like a good resource Sounds a bit dubious – go back to find another resource Not too sure about this – find out more

17. Who Wrote it? The site itself clearly acknowledges the authorship of the site: “The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has been established by WMO and UNEP to assess scientific, technical and socio- economic information relevant for the understanding of climate change, its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation.” [WMO = World Meteorological Organisation] [UNEP = United Nations Environment Programme]

18. Web-site ‘quality’ Just because a web-site is from a reputable source, doesn’t mean all the information on it should be accepted unquestioningly. Ask the following questions: • Has the report / information been properly researched, or is it opinion? Are there references? 2) Who are the individual report / page authors? Are they from academia / an official organisation? (Search for them on Google to find out more about them if you are unsure) NEXT

19. Web-site Quality (2) In the case of the www.ipcc.ch site have a look at the Climate Change report 2001. • This looks very well researched. There are figures and tables, and references for each section. 2) It has been written by an extensive panel of international experts, all of whom are listed. The only question remaining is whether a 2001 report is current enough? Yes I will use - this looks like a good resource Sounds a bit dubious – go back to find another resource Not too sure about this – I need to find out more

20. The end Yes, this looks like a useful site: • It is written by an official international organisation • The content is well-researched and of high quality • There is a lot of current information, older reports from 2001 are very relevant but you will probably need to supplement this with more up-to-date information. START AGAIN

21. The end You are probably too hasty – this looks like a useful site: • It is written by an official international organisation • The content is well-researched and of high quality • There is a lot of current information, older reports from 2001 are very relevant but you will probably need to supplement this with more up-to-date information. START AGAIN

22. The end Having investigated this site, it looks like it may be very useful : • It is written by an official international organisation • The content is well-researched and of high quality • There is a lot of current information, older reports from 2001 are very relevant but you will probably need to supplement this with more up-to-date information. START AGAIN

23. SpringerLink - Article Timothy M. Lenton (2006) Climate Change to the End of the Millennium. Climatic Change Just because it’s a journal article doesn’t mean you don’t need to check this out further! Just as with web-sites you need to check the authority (is it published by somebody reputable) and the quality... • Find out about the journal – is it a quality publication? 2) Look at the article itself. Is it well-researched? Are there references? 1 2

24. Springerlink article This article is from Springer – a well known publisher. Click the ‘publication’ link and then the ‘about this journal’ link to find out more – this is: “An Interdisciplinary, International Journal Devoted to the Description, Causes and Implications of Climatic Change” NEXT

25. Also note that there is an ‘editorial board’ – articles are reviewed by the editorial board before publication. If you return to the article itself you will see that it was: • Received: 29 November 2004   • Revised: 25 September 2005   • Accepted: 23 October 2005   • Published online: 20 May 2006 This process of review by fellow experts (the editorial board) is called Peer Review and is used in academia to ensure the quality of an article NEXT

26. Springerlink article You will also see that the journal information page lists a range of places in which the journal is ‘Abstracted / indexes in’ – these are tools for finding articles on a subject and again a sign that this is a high level query. [see elibrary for a list of electronic indexes available at Birmingham] Yes I will use - this looks like a good resource Sounds a bit dubious – any alternatives? Not too sure about this – find out more

27. Quality – SpringerLink article Look at the article itself. • Note the abstract (summary) and list of references. • This is ‘an editorial review essay’ – not original research but a review of the literature and current thinking. • The author, Timothy Lenton, is from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, UK Yes I will use - this looks like a good resource Sounds a bit dubious – go back to find another resource Not too sure about this – find out more

28. Is that your final choice? A friend has been researching too and brings in an article written by Bill McGuire (a professor) called: Climate change: Tearing the Earth apart?New Scientist Would you prefer this to the Springerlink article? Take the Springer article Take the New Scientist article Find out more

29. New Scientist Article If you are on campus – click ‘institutional IP’ to view the full-text. The New Scientist is a well known publication and the article is very clear and understandable; moreover, Bill MacGuire is a professor of geological hazards at University College London.

30. New Scientist article Although the article is quick and easy to read and the written by an authority in the field, the New Scientist is not a peer-reviewed journal. Nobody has reviewed this article before it has been published and note that there are no references – the article is opinion rather than research-based.

31. The end This is a good article – you are right to choose this: • It is from a peer-reviewed authoritative journal • It is current • It is on topic and has been researched thoroughly START AGAIN

32. The end You are right to be cautious – articles like these are easy to read and can be a useful starting point, raising some interesting ideas. You shouldn’t, however, rely solely on this type of article – ensure you use peer-reviewed articles and authoritative web-sites too. START AGAIN

33. The end Articles like these are easy to read and can be a useful starting point, raising some interesting ideas. You shouldn’t, however, rely solely on this type of article – ensure you use peer-reviewed articles and authoritative web-sites too. START AGAIN