Week Eight

Searching and Finding Quality Information on the World-Wide Web

Lecture Notes:

In todays lecture I found it a bit hard to absorb infomormation. I didn't totally understand what the lecturer was saying and I was finding it hard to decide what notes to write down. The first notes that I did write down where these.
'Always check who the author of the website is. And if you can then check who that person works for or who they can be connected to.'
I think I wrote this because I remember the lecturer asking us about the Martin Luther King website from last weeks Tutorial activity, and then telling us who was behind publishing that website.
Information Quality is described as data or information that is "fit-for-use".
Fit-for-use is the information that is considered appropriate for use in one place, but maybe not another.

Tutorial Activity

Task 1:
The website ICYouSee (www.ithaca.edu/library/training/think.html) is a website that tells you how you can successfully decipher accurate information on the Internet from information that may not be as accurate or true. The website informs the reader of six steps you can follow if you are not so sure about the website. These are AUTHORITY, ACCURACY, OBJECTIVITY, CURRENCY, COVERAGE and VALUE.
These all mean:
AUTHORITY: Who wrote and constructed the web page? Do they have the authority or qualifications to be telling the things that they are in the website?
ACCURACY: Do you feel the information is accurate? Do you believe what the author is saying?
OBJECTIVITY: What is the point or information that the author is trying to portray to the reader? Is it appropriate to the purpose of the site?
CURRENCY: This is the originality of the information. When was it first published and has it been kept up to date?
COVERAGE: Is the information appropriate to the kind of information you are looking for? Is it appropriate to your research? Also, look at the type of language used in the web page. Is it to a high standard?
VALUE: Does the web site look professional? Does it have any spelling mistakes? Did it have the information you where looking for?
If you followed these simple five steps, it can be a lot simpler to find out if the information is real or not. It's all about evaluating the information proposed to you.




Task 2:
Reliving the Sixties: Website Evaluation Assignment

Kingwood College Library, American Cultural History

1. Is this site a good source for the information you need? Was the page worth visiting?
This website appears to have a lot of useful and informative information. If I was to do an assignment on this topic I would definately be visiting this site to help me out with some information.

2. Do you have good reason to believe that the information on the site is accurate? Are the facts documented?
Yes, I do feel that I can belive the information on this site because it has a list of all the references it used to get the information listed and it has links to other sites aswell.

3. Who are the authors and who is responsible for the site? What is their expertise? What is their bias?
The author's of the site are listed at the end of the page. They are, Susan Goodwin, and the site was designed by Peggy Whitley. Both of these people are connected to the Kingwood College Library in Texas.

4. What is the site's purpose or point of view?
This sites purpose is to inform the reader about all the different aspects of life in America in the 1960's. It talks about Education, Sports, Music, Art and Achitecture and many more.

5. Was this page designed for the Web, or is it something else, such as a government document or a journal article?
I think this page was designed for the web. It is connected to a Library, which, may be publishing some of it's information on the web to help students.



The Psychedelic 60's

1. Is this site a good source for the information you need? Was the page worth visiting?
This site was a good source of information, but not the information I felt I was looking for. It was still worth visiting though, otherwise you don't know if it is useful or not.

2. Do you have good reason to believe that the information on the site is accurate? Are the facts documented?
Yes, I feel that I can belive the information on this website because it was put together by people at a University in America.

3. Who are the authors and who is responsible for the site? What is their expertise? What is their bias?
It was made by the Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia. The website doesn't say what their expertise is and if they have any, but it appears that the point of view that they are trying to portray is, the sixities from people that lived through it. It appears that Proffessor's that work at this University that made this website have discussed what they thought about the Sixties and put it into a website.

4. What is the site's purpose or point of view?
The sites purpose is to inform and educate.

5. Was this page designed for the Web, or is it something else, such as a government document or a journal article?
I think this page was designed for the web, but maybe more for personal use, so the information can be used between a group of people that all have access to the Web.



Week Eight Readings

1. Thinking Critically about World Wide Web Resources.

This reading makes you think about what needs to be considered when viewing web pages. It discusses the topics of Content and Evaluation, the source of the information and when it was posted or last updated, and also the structure of the web site and its pages. By reading the information on this web page, it opened my eyes a little more to what needs to be considered when getting information off the internet, and also at the fact that not everything is true, or factual.




2. Five criteria for evaluating web pages.

This web page, which is from Cornell University Library, in New York City, is discussing differenet ways of evaluating a web site. It talks about Accuracy, Authority, Objectivity, Curreny and Coverage. When these five criteria are put together and use it for evaluating a web page you could get a page with valuable and appropriate information.




3. Evaluating information found on the Internet.

This pdf format web page offers the information also for evaluating web pages and sites on the Internet. It explains in detail and asks the reader to consider a list of things when looking at information on the web.
These things are:

1. Author?



2. Publisher?



3. Point of view?



4. Other sources referenced?



5. Curreny?



6. Accuracy of information?



7. And ways to decifer the real facts and information from the fake misleading ones.
   
   
   
   
   
   4. Evaluation Criteria
   

This web page, just like the others, is the topic of evaluating information on the World Wide Web. It expands on the five topics of, Authority, Accuracy, Objectivity, Currency and Coverage. The site gives you questions to ask yourself and to apply to the web page or site on the Internet that you want to evaluate.



5. Evaluating Internet Research Sources

This web page offers a lot of information that is useful to pre-read before you start to look for information on the web. It explains how to pre-evaluate a web page and and to test the information for quality. This web page also offers a little acronim, CARS. Meaning to check all web pages for Credibility, Accuracy, Reasonableness and Support. Of all the five reading above, I found this one with the most useful information and helpful.