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Session 8: Evaluating and Validating Web Sites

Session 8: Evaluating and Validating Web Sites. Focusing Question. How do you evaluate information found on the Internet?. Instruction. Framing Our Work. In our previous session, we looked at how being able to “decode” a web address was helpful in evaluating a website.

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Session 8: Evaluating and Validating Web Sites

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  1. Session 8: Evaluating and Validating Web Sites

  2. Focusing Question • How do you evaluate information found on the Internet?

  3. Instruction

  4. Framing Our Work • In our previous session, we looked at how being able to “decode” a web address was helpful in evaluating a website. • We heard the story of Zack, the student who wrote a paper saying that the Holocaust didn’t exist because he read it on a university website.

  5. Framing Our Work • We learned that a web address can offer us important clues as to the bias and content of a site.

  6. Framing Our Work • However, often deconstructing the web address is not enough. It doesn’t provide us with enough information. • So now we’re going to look at some additional strategies that we can use to evaluate a website.

  7. Evaluating your source of information has always been an important skill http://www.askmen.com/money/professional/20_professional_life.html

  8. Today, when more people are relying on the Internet as their primary source for information, it’s become even more critical.

  9. “A 2002 study directed by BJ Fogg, a Stanford psychologist, found that people tend to judge the credibility of a Web site by its appearance, rather than by checking who put it up and why.” “But it is much easier to produce a professional-looking Web site than a credible-looking book!” From “The Nation: Course Correction; Teaching Students to Swim in the Online Sea” by Geoffrey Nunberg, Published: February 13, 2005 in The New York Times

  10. The Internet is used to….

  11. Inform…

  12. Misinform …

  13. Misrepresent…

  14. Preach hate…

  15. Promote violence…

  16. What criteria should we use for evaluating a website?

  17. When evaluating a website, look at: • the web address (URL)- the content- the author • the links

  18. Is it REAL?

  19. Read the URL

  20. What did we see that made us dubious? Examine the content “Columbus returned to Spain in 1939… He appeared on Larry King live and became quite famous around the world.”

  21. Examine the Content What are some evaluative criteria to use when examining content?

  22. Examine the Content Guiding Questions • Is the information on the Web site useful for your topic? • 2. Are additional resources and links provided? Do the links work? • 3. Is the site current? Do you know when it was last updated?

  23. Examine the Content 4. Do you think the information is accurate? 5. Does the information contradict information you have found elsewhere? from Alan November http://anovember.com

  24. Examine the Content How to check when a site was last updated (for currency): Go to the site you want to check Erase the URL in the address bar Type in these words javascript:alert(document.lastModified) press enter

  25. Examine the Content Erase the URL in the address bar

  26. Examine the Content Copy the text into the address bar

  27. Examine the Content A box will come up in the middle of the screen and give you a date and time of the update

  28. Examine the Content Caveat! This does not tell you the date that a particular page within the site was updated The difference in currency between the site update and a page within the site can be dramatic

  29. Examine the Content You can check the history of a site by going to the Internet Archive http://www.archive.org/ Sometimes this can provide you important information about the site

  30. Examine the Content The history of the harrypotter.com site

  31. Examine the Content The site in 1999 with information on the publishers of the book worldwide

  32. Examine the Content The site today – owned by Warner Brothers

  33. Ask about the author To find out the author, publisher or owner of a site, use the site Alexa.com http://alexa.com

  34. Ask about the author The martinlutherking.orgsite

  35. Ask about the author Using Alexa.com, type in the URL of the site you want to check out Click the web search button

  36. Ask about the author Click on the overview

  37. Ask about the author Scroll down the page and you’ll see the contact information the person or organization that registered the site

  38. Ask about the author If it’s an organization, you can go to its website to get more information on what it does.

  39. Look at the links Two types of links to examine: Internal Links External Links

  40. Look at the links Guiding Questions: Put your mouse over any link and look at the bottom left hand corner of your computer screen; the URL of the link will appear.

  41. Look at the links Internal links connect to other pages within the same URL. This can show you that the author is trying to keep you within his/her site.

  42. Look at the links External links connect to pages on other Web sites with different URLs.

  43. Look at the links Anyone in the world can add a link from his/her site to any other site. Seeing who has linked TO a site can provide information on the validity of a site.

  44. Look at the links GuidingQuestions

  45. Look at the links How to check who links to a particular site. Use theLink:command in AltaVista, Google or another search engine.

  46. Look at the links We’ll be usingAltaVista In the search box, typelink: and then type in the URL (no spaces) link:http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/

  47. http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus AltaVista

  48. Guided Practice • Today we’ll be practicing these three evaluation strategies: • Ask about the author • Check for updates • Examine the links

  49. Guided Practice • I’m going to take you through this using this WTO site: World Trade Organizationhttp://www.gatt.org/

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