Assessing Web Reliability

Don’t believe everything you Read…
Evaluating internet resources

What can the URL tell you?
Is it somebody's personal page?
Read the URL carefully:
Look for a personal name
following a tilde (~)
percent sign ( % )
the words "users," "members," or "people.”
Example http://share.umasd.org/~khokanson

Who PUBLISHES the site
Does the publisher of the site make sense?
The server is usually named in first portion of the URL (between http:// and the first /)
Example: http://umasd.org/

Domain Reliability
Extensions can possibly indicate reliability
Does it have an appropriate domain extension?
a .edu extension indicates a college or university
a .org extension indicates an organization
a .gov extension indicates a governmental entity
a .com indicates a commercial enterprise

Techniques for Web Evaluation
Scan the page perimeter & look for:
About us, Philosophy, Background, Biography
Truncate back page for more about the author
Is there contact information / email?
Look for the date "last updated" (BOTTOM)
Check the date on all the pages on the site.
What are the author's credentials on this subject?

Is this quality information?
Are sources documented (footnotes or links)
Are there links to other resources on the topic?
Are the links well chosen?
Do the links work?
Do the links represent other viewpoints?
Do the links indicate a bias?

Why was the page put on the web?
Inform, give facts, give data?
Explain, persuade?
Sell, entice?
Share?
Disclose?

Try it out…
Visit this list of websites to evaluate:
http://www.diigo.com/list/khokanson/web_evaluation
Fill out this web evaluation form for one of the sites listed
http://snipurl.com/web-eval

Assessing Web Reliability

by Kristin Hokanson

Accessibility

Upload Details

Usage Rights

2 Embeds 17

Statistics

Assessing Web Reliability Presentation Transcript

http://www.umasd.org	13
http://www.edmodo.com	4