User Education

Evaluating Web Content

- Promoting Information Literacy

ThisguideofferstipsforevaluatingthequalityofcontentontheWeb.Inrecentyears,theWebhas becomearichenvironmentofWebpages,blogs,wikis,socialnetworkingsites,freeresearchservices, mediatypesandmore.Itcanbeachallengetofigureoutwhichcontenttotrust.Thisguidewillhelpyou toidentifythetypeofsiteyouarevisitingandtoevaluateitscontent.

Afewtipstogetyoustarted
HereareafewgeneraltipsforevaluatingcontentontheWeb.Checkthat theauthorhasexpertiseonthetopic.Seethenextsectionbelowfordetails. thesourceofthecontentisstated,whetheroriginalorborrowed,quoted,orimportedfrom elsewhere.MaterialimportedfromanothersourceviaRSSfeedcanbedifficulttoidentify,as thismaterialcanblendinwithothercontentonthepagewithoutbeingappropriatelylabeled. thecontentcanbeindependentlyverifiedfromothersources.Thisisespeciallyimportantifyou cannotcheckontheexpertiseoftheauthor,oriftheauthorisnotidentified. thelevelanddepthoftheinformationmeetsyourneeds. anattractive,professionallookingpresentationdoesntfoolyouintoacceptingallthematerial atfacevalue.Shoddypresentationsareeasiertorecognizeandareawarningtocarefully scrutinizethematerial. thesiteiscurrentlybeingmaintained.Checkforpostingoreditingdates. uptodateinformationisprovidedfortopicsthatrequireit. linksarerelevantandappropriate,andareinworkingorder. thesiteincludescontactinformation. thedomainlocationinthesiteaddress(URL)isrelevanttothefocusofthematerial,e.g.,.edu foreducationalorresearchmaterials,.orgforprofitornonprofitorganizations.Notethatthe domainisnotnecessarilyaprimaryindicatorofsitecontent.Forexample,someauthorspost theircontentonblogorwikiplatformshostedbycompanieswith.comaddresses.

Determiningtheexpertiseoftheauthor
OntodaysWeb,itcanbeachallengetojudgecontentbasedontheidentityoftheauthor.Sometimes theauthorisnotstated,oranicknameisused.Whenanauthorsnameisshown,hereareafewtipson checkingoutthisindividualsexpertise. SearchalibrarydatabaseorGoogleScholartoidentifyotherwritingsbytheauthor. SearchforyourauthorinGoogleScholartoseeifothershavecitedworksbyyourauthorin theirownwritings. Googletheauthortoidentifyotherwritingsbyorabouttheauthor.Sometimesanauthors participationinaconferenceorotherprofessionalactivitycanbeidentifiedinthesearch results. Ifavailable,consultanAboutpageontheWebsiteonwhichthecontentappearstoreadthe authorsselfdescription.Attempttoverifysomeofthefacts. Iftheauthorisaffiliatedwithanacademicinstitution,business,ororganization,checkthe directoryontheassociatedWebsitetoconfirmtheauthorsstatus.

WebSites
Websitesareaunifiedcollectionofpagesthatrunthegamutfromeducatingtoinformingtosellingto persuading,andmaycombinepurposes.ThecontentgenerallyoriginatesfromtheWebsiteowner,beit anindividual,organization,company,orgovernmententity;however,RSSfeedsmayintroduce importedcontent. Examples:AmericanMemory,ASPCA,HistoricalNovelSociety ToevaluatethecontentonaWebsite,lookfortheseclues: Theauthor/producerisidentifiable. Theauthor/producerhasexpertiseonthesubject.LookforanAboutorsimilarpage. Thetypeofdomain(.edu,.org,.gov,etc.),whichmayprovidesomecluesaboutthefocusofthe material.However,keepinmindthatscholarsandothercontentprovidersmaychooseto maintaintheirmaterialsonotherdomains,forexample.com. Thematerialisuptodate,andthesiteappearstobemaintained.Checkforupdatedatesonthe site. Forinformationaloreducationalsites,sourcesaregivenfortheinformation,orlinksare providedtorelatedsourcesofinformation.Youmayneedtoverifytheinformationthrough othersources. 2

FreeResearchSites
TheseareWebsitesthatprovideresearchmaterialsorlinkstothesematerials.Someoftheseservices, suchasAmazon,alsoprovidereaderreviews.Others,suchasGoogleScholar,featurelinkstoother worksthatciteitsscholarlycontent.Theyaredistinguishedbytheirabilitytoprovideorlinktoindepth informationinoneormoreareas.Whilethesitesthemselvesarefree,theymayleadtoinformationthat needstobepaidfororsubscribedto. Examples:LibraryThing,Amazon,GoogleScholar Toevaluateafreeresearchsite,considerthefollowing: Thecontentisindepthandrichenoughtomeetyourneeds. Theproviderandpurposeofthesite,andwhetherthesemighthaveaneffectonthe informationprovided. Thetypeofmaterialthatappearsonthesite,e.g.,amixtureofscholarlyandpopularmaterials, orscholarlymaterialsonly. Whetherthesiteprovidesthecontent,orpointstoothersources,whichwouldthenneedtobe evaluatedinturn. Theeaseofobtainingthefulltextofthematerial,ifitisnotavailablewithinthesiteitself(for example,theresourcesreturnedinaGoogleScholarsearch). Mostofthereviewsonthesite,ifpresent,areinformativeandwellwritten. Theidentityandexpertiseoftheauthororauthorsofthespecificcontentyouareinterestedin. Amultitudeofpeoplemightcontributeinformation/opinions/reviews,anditmightnotbe possibletogetinformationonthemortheirexpertise. DocumentRepositories Documentrepositoriesstorecopiesofscholarlyandresearchmaterialsthatareavailableforpublicuse. Theyareusuallymaintainedbyacademicinstitutions,libraries,publishers,ororganizations.Someof theserepositoriespostpapersbeforeoraftertheirpublicationinscholarlyjournals,anddifferent versionsofpapersmayappear.Repositoriesmaycontaintext,data,presentations,andmultimedia materials. Examples:arXiv.org,CaliforniaDigitalLibrary,RePEc:ResearchPapersinEconomics 3

 Toevaluatethecontentinadocumentrepository,lookfortheseclues: Therepositoryissponsoredbyareputableacademicinstitution,library,publisher,or organization. TherepositoryissearchableinOAISTER,areputableunioncatalogofacademicorienteddigital resources. Theauthorhasexpertiseonthetopic.Thiswillapplytomorerecent,asopposedtohistorical, documents. Ifthedocumentinquestionisanarticle,ithasbeenpublishedinareputablejournal.The identityoftheofficialpublicationinajournalcanhelpdeterminethecopyofrecordforthe publication. Thematerialyouareinterestedincitessourcesthatyoucanusetoverifytheinformation.

BlogsandWikis
Howtotellthemapart Beforeaddressinghowtoevaluatecontentonblogsandwikis,letsconsiderhowtotellthemapart.At times,itcanbedifficulttodetermineifyouareviewingablogorawiki. Todeterminewhichiswhich,considerthefollowing: Blogcontentisorganizedaroundnewspostingsaboutwhichreaderscancomment.Wiki contentisorganizedaroundtopicbasedWebpagesthatareusuallyeditedbygroups. Ablogusuallyfeaturesdatebasedpostingsonitsmainpage,organizedinreversechronological order.AwikilookslikeatypicalWebsite,andusuallyincludesalinkforloggingintothesitefor editorswhowishtoorareauthorizedtocontribute. Ablogusuallyallowsreaderstocommentonitsindividualpostings.Wikisoffercommentsor talkpagesfordiscussionofthecontentonindividualwikipages. Blogsoftenfocusonpersonalinsight,anecdote,oropinion.Wikicontentisusuallylesspersonal. Ablogistypicallymaintainedbyasingleindividual,whilewikistendtohavenumerous contributors.However,thisisnotahardandfastrule. Blogpostingsarewrittenbytheadministrator(s)oftheblog,andnotbythegeneralpublic. Wikiscanbeeditedbyanyone,orbytheinvitation/authorizationofthewikiadministrator(s). Visibleeditlinksareoftenavailabletoanyonevisitingthewiki.Blogsdonotallowforpublic editing.

 Thehistoryofwikipageeditscanbeviewedbyvisitors.Blogsdonothavethisfeature. Itisgenerallyeasiertoidentifythenameoftheindividualmaintainingablog.Onwikis,the identityofauthors/editorsmaybemoredifficulttodetermineasnicknamesmaybeused.

Blogs
AblogisaWebbasedjournalentryplatformthatcanacceptreadercomments.Entriesareusually presentedinreversechronologicalorder. Examples:AltSearchEngines,Instapundit.com,TechCrunch Toevaluatethecontentonablog,lookfortheseclues: Mostblogpostingsfocusonadiscussionofissuesratherthandaytodaypersonalor recreationalactivities. Blogpostingsaresignedbyanidentifiableauthor. Theauthorhasexpertiseonthetopicoftheblog. Commentsonblogpostingsemphasizesubstantivediscussionoftheissues. Blogpostingsarecitedonotherblogs.AblogsearchenginesuchasTechnoraticanhelpto determinethis,andgeneralsearchenginesarealsouseful. Linkstotheblogoritsindividualpostingsaresavedonsocialbookmarkingsitessuchas Delicious. Newblogpostingsappearfairlyregularlythougharchivedblogscancontainusefulmaterial.

Wikis
Awikiisapublishingplatformonwhichmanypeoplecancontributenewcontentandreviseexisting content.Thecontentbenefitsfromthecollectiveknowledgebaseandthedynamicnatureofthe contributions. Examples:Wikipedia,wikiHow,WikimediaCommons Toevaluatethecontentonawiki,lookfortheseclues: Thesponsorshipofthewiki.ThismaybeexplainedonanAboutorsimilarpage. Thewiki,whetheracademicorpopular,suitsyourneeds. Theidentityofthosewhoareabletoeditoraddcontent.Ifitisaselectgroup,trytodetermine iftheyhaveexpertiseinthewikistopic.

 Changestothepageappearreasonable. Thematerialyouareinterestedincitessourcesthatyoucanusetodoublecheckthe information. Thereareguidelinesforcontributorstofollow. Thereismonitoringofcontentbythoseresponsibleforthewiki,andyoucandeterminewho theseauthorsare(oftenyoucant). Thecurrencyoftheedits.SomewikiplatformsofferaHistoryorsimilartabthatallowsyouto viewasequentiallistofchanges. Socialnetworkingsites Socialnetworkingsitesareonlinecommunitiesinwhichmemberscaninteractinanumberofways. Fullfeaturedcommunitiesoffertheabilitytoshareapersonalprofile,initiatecontactswithfriends, formgroupsofmemberswithsimilarinterests,contactgroupmembersdirectly,engageindiscussions, sharemediaorphotos,anddiscoverothercommonconnectionsthroughonescontacts.Somesocial networkingsitesallowmemberstocreateinteractivesoftwarethatfunctionswithinthecommunity. Othersallowinstitutionsorcompaniestomaintainprofilesorpages.Thesitesmaybefocusedona specializedinterestormaybemoregeneralinnature.Whilesocialnetworkingsitesareoftenusedfor recreation,theycanalsoserveasameansofcommunicatingaboutacademicorprofessionalinterests. Examples:Facebook,MySpace,Ning,TripAdvisor,Twitter Toevaluatethecontentonasocialnetworkingsite,lookfortheseclues: Theidentityofthesourceofsharedinformationcanbeverified.Thiscanbedonebyexamining theprofilepageifmadepublic,verifyingthenamedsourceoftheinformation,andsoon. Informationontheprofilepageoftheindividual,institution,company,orlibrarycanbeverified. Theindividual,institution,etc.contributinginformationhasexpertiseonthetopic. Informationpickedupinasocialnetworkreceivesfavorablecomments,canbeexternally verified,ormeetsyouneeds. Theinstitutionsorcompaniesofferingcommunitybasedapplicationscanbeidentified.Youcan alsocheckforreviewsoftheapplicationorseeifanyofyourfriendsareusingit.

Socialbookmarks
SocialbookmarksarelinkssavedonWebsitesthatallowuserstoannotate,tag,andsharethemwith otherusers. Examples:Delicious,CiteULike,Connotea 6

 Toevaluatethecontentonasocialbookmarkingsite,lookfortheseclues: Thepurposeofthebookmarkingsite.Forexample,CiteULikeandConnoteafocusonscholarly paperswhileDeliciousismorebroadlybased. Bookmarksofinteresttoyouhavealsobeenbookmarkedbyothers. Thequalityofthebookmarkeditem.Determiningthiswillbethesameasdeterminingthe qualityofanyWebresource. Theindividualwhobookmarkedthesitehasexpertiseonthetopic.Thisoftencannotbe determined,asuserstendtoemploynicknamesastheiridentities.

Multimedia
Multimediaencompassesnontextualpresentationssuchasaudio,video,andFlashformats.Youmight encountermultimediafilesanywhereontheWebaWebsite,blog,wiki,repository,orasitedevoted tomediasuchasYouTube. Terminology:AvarietyofterminologyisusedtodescribemultimediaontheWeb.Thesetermsarein flux,andcandependonthetypeofmedia,itsdelivery,andwhetherthebroadcastisliveorrecorded. Forexample,prerecordedaudioorvideopresentationscanbedistributedthroughanRSSfeed.Inthis case,theyarereferredtoaspodcasts.(SomepeoplerefertoaudioonanRSSfeedasapodcast,and videoonanRSSfeedasavideopodcast.)Alivevideopresentationisusuallyknownasawebcast.A variationonthisisawebinar,aseminarbroadcastontheWeb. Toevaluatethecontentinamultimediapresentation,lookfortheseclues: Thepresentationissponsoredbyareputableinstitution,organization,oridentified individual(s)whoseexpertisecanbeverified. Ifindividualsappearorspeakinapresentation,theyareidentifiedandtheirexpertisecanbe checked. Thepresentationoritsaccompanyinginformationincludescontactinformation. Commentsthatmayaccompanythepresentationevaluateitsquality(evenifyoudontagree withwhatothershavetosay). Ifpreviouslyrecorded,thepresentationcanbeidentifiedbydatesothatyoucandetermine thecurrencyoftheinformationprovided.