Web sites:

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Web sites

• Reliability Authenticity
• Issues Resources

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I. The problem the Internet is

• Relatively new untested information and
  communication medium
• Ubiquitous pervasive in both authorship and
  audience
• Unregulated and unregulatable

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II. Examples of the problem

• New Hartford, Minnesota
• Feline Reactions to Bearded Men
• Human rights in Tunisia websites
• Amnesty Internationals (http//www.amnesty.org/t
  unisia)
• Tunisian government supporters
  (http//www.amnesty-tunisia.org/)

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III. 7 basic website purposes

• personal/vanity pages
• promotional for sales
• current or news sites
• informational (on a topic or hobby)
• persuasive as propaganda
• instructional
• registrational/data gathering

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IV. Contexts of website evaluation

• Header
• body
• footer
• navigation

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V. Five evaluative guidelines

• Authority
• Currency
• Coverage
• Objectivity
• Accuracy

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Authority

• Who is responsible for the page?
• What are their qualifications and associations,
  and can you verify them?

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Authority

• Check the footer for
• name of the web page author
• his/her credentials and title
• organizational affiliation
• Is the information verifiable?

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Currency

• Are dates clear when the website was first
  created and edited?

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Currency

• Check the footer for when
• the website was created
• when last edited
• Check the content for
• news items,
• indications the site is actively maintained,
• acknowledgements/responses to visitors

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Coverage

• What is the focus of the site?
• Are there clear headings to illustrate an outline
  of the content? Is the navigation within the
  website clear?

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Coverage

• Check the header for a clear title and web site
  description
• Check the content for headings and keywords
• Check the navigation to verify it reflects the
  content outline within the web site

13
Objectivity

• Are biases clearly stated?
• Are affiliations clear?

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Objectivity

• Check the content for
• statement of purpose
• type of web site and potential audience
• outside links external to the website
• graphics and cues for affiliations
• Check the header/footer and URL/domain
  (.gov/.com/.edu) to determine organizational
  source of website and how this reflects on
  content type

15
Accuracy

• Are sources of information and factual data
  listed, and available for cross-checking?

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Accuracy

• Check the content for
• spelling and grammar
• accuracy and consistency of facts
• Check external web site rating services as
  Britannica, Cyberlinks, et al

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Accuracy

• Compare content with
• websites external links
• your independent research
• on the Internet
• bibliographic databases electronic indexes
  (i..e ERIC)
• books
• print on-line journals

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VI. Bibliography

• Webtruthhttp//www.iss.stthomas.edu/webtruth