So much information, so little time'

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So much information,so little time.
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Why Evaluation Is Important

• No editors, no regulation, no governing body.
• Probably tens of millions of pages currently
  online
• Growing at a rate of about 7.3 million pages per
  day, doubling every 8 months.
• Growing trend of search engines listing only
  sites that have paid them to be listed.

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Information Literacy

• Extends from knowing how to use computers to the
  ability to
• Access
• Evaluate
• Organize
• Use information from a variety of sources

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Types of web pages

• Advocacy
• Democratic Party (http//www.democrats.org/)
• Business
• Amazon.com (www.amazon.com)
• Entertainment
• Top Five (http//www.topfive.com/)
• Informational
• Slingblade (http//slingblademusic.com/)
• News
• USA Today (www.usatoday.com)
• Personal
• Jenny from the Blog (http//heiferwolff.blogspot.
  com/

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Authoritative Web Directories

• Academic Info
• Digital Librarian
• INFOMINE  Scholarly Internet Resource
  Collections
• Internet Public Library
• Librarian's Index to the Internet
• Refdesk.com
• Virtual Reference Shelf

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Separating form from content

• False information can be presented in a very
  professional looking way
• Anyone can become an internet publisher
• Tendency to take web pages at face value

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Evaluation Criteria

• Authority
• Purpose and objectivity
• Content and coverage
• Currency

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Authority

• Who is the author?
• What are the authors qualifications?
• Domain name edu, com, org, gov, mil
• Link checking
• http//www.google.com/

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Purpose and objectivity

• What is the purpose of the web site?
• Education
• Entertainment
• Persuade
• Advertise
• Express an opinion

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Content

• How comprehensive?
• Is the information accurate?
• Sources provided?
• Any references or bibliographies?

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Currency

• When was the page written?
• Any dead links?
• CNN
• American Memory Project

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Librarys Databases

• Authority - Written by experts or people paid to
  do good research
• Purpose - Articles from actual journals,
  magazines newspapers
• Content - Peer reviewed/refereed
• Currency - Updated daily

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• Its not over when you get that degree or job!
• Employees are expected to
• keep up with rapid technological advances
• streamline operations
• possess the ability to solve problems
• So remember
• The Librarian Is Your Friend!