The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Evaluating Internet Resources

2. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly:Evaluating Internet Resources Gretchen Greiner Technology Services Frederick County Public Schools

3. Why Evaluate? • Volume of resources • Anyone can publish on the net • No approval necessary

8. Evaluation is Imperative!! • Must learn to be effective CONSUMERS of information. • Must learn to REACT to Internet information, not just RETRIEVE.

9. A Word About Filtering • Cruel world • In 5 years - Internet on cell phones • If you filter you cannot teach critical thinking skills • School is only part of the students’ world • Always remember that the Web is a web

10. Criteria • Authority and Accuracy • Objectivity • Currency • Design and Style • Navigability

11. Authority and Accuracy • Author’s qualifications • Author’s affiliation • E-mail contact person • Is the information accurate? • Are there typos? • All of it is copyrighted!

15. Strategy: Learn the Structure of URL Before Search Engine Use pubweb.acns.nwu.edu/~abutz • pubweb.acns - the computer where the information is located • nwu.edu - organization operating the computer • ~abutz - personal home page of someone named A.Butz

16. Context Clue: the Tilde • ~jones = a personal site, someone’s opinion www.politicalscandals.com/~jones.html

17. Strategy: Check Out the Tilde Owner If necessary, truncate the address back to the author’s name Copy the full address (but not http://) Switch to a search engine In the search box type link://pasted URL Click on the search button Search returns any web site linked to anything the author has written

18. Strategy:Check Out the Author • Use a search engine to search for the author’s name, in quotation marks. • Find the author’s e-mail address and write to him or her. • If you can’t find the author’s name, try to find the organization • Shows how other people categorize the author or organization

19. Strategy:Identify Linked Sites • Copy the URL, including http:// • Switch to a search engine • Type link:pasted URL • Click on search button • Returns links to that document • Link strategies cause you to think

20. Context Clue: Domain Name .edu = education site (www.umd.edu) .com = profit making site (www.netscape.com) .gov = government agency (www.fbi.gov) .org = nonprofit organization (www.mpbn.org) .net = network organization (www.eclipse.net) .mil = military (www.army.mil) .fr = country domain for France (.ca Canada)

21. New Domain Names .nom = personal/individual Web sites .firm = business organizations .info = information services .int = Internet organization (www.reliefweb.int) .arts = culture and entertainment .rec = recreation sites .store = online shopping .web = Web related sites

22. Objectivity • Evidence of bias? • Electronic soap box? • Trying to change your opinion?

25. Currency • Date of information • Publication date • Date of last revision • Current, active links

29. Design and Style • User friendly • Uncluttered and clean • Basic design must reflect the content First Prize First Prize Design and Style

30. Navigation • Organization • Table of contents • Consistent buttons • Enough links • Accurate, appropriate links

31. Six Types of Web Pages • Personal web pages • Advocacy web pages • Business/marketing web pages • Informational web pages • News web pages • Entertainment pages

32. Never Heard in the Halls in Internet Savvy Schools: • “Why should I bother to check out the source?” • “But the web page looks so official!” • “It’s okay to copy anything from the Internet.” • “I read it on the Internet so it must be true.”