Evaluating Web Resources

Types of pages

(Tate & Alexander. Evaluating Web Resources)

• Advocacy pages: influence public opinion / sell ideas
1. American Smoker's Alliance (http://www.smokers.org)
2. U.S. Metric Association (http://lamar.colostate.edu/~hillger/)
3. The National Anti-Vivisection Society (http://www.navs.org)
4. Refuse to be a Victim (http://nrahq.org/safety/rtbav/)
• Marketing pages: promote or sell products
1. Ask Dr. Weil: Vitamin Adviser (http://cgi.pathfinder.com/drweil/)
2. Nabisco World (http://www.chipsahoy.com)
3. Jelly Belly (http://www.jellybelly.com/)
• News pages: current information
1. Philadelphia Online (http://www.phillynews.com)
2. Wall Street Journal (http://www.wsj.com)
3. Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com)
4. CNN Interactive (http://www.cnn.com)
5. USAToday (http://www.usatoday.com)
6. BBC World Service (http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/)
7. Time.com (http://www.time.com/time/index.html)
• Information / reference pages: factual information (dictionaries, thesauri, directories, schedules, calendars, statistics, reports)
1. National Center for Health Statistics (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/releases.htm)
2. NASA (Http://quest.arc.nasa.gov)
3. Kepler Mission: A Search for Habitable Planets (http://www.kepler.arc.nasa.gov)
4. Thomas: Legislative Information on the Internet (http://thomas.loc.gov/)
5. Buddhist Studies WWW Virtual Library (http://www.ciolek.com/WWWVL-Buddhism.html)
6. Scientific American (http://www.sciam.com/)
• Personal home pages: individual
1. Timothy Burke's Home Page (http://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/tburke1)
2. Rob's Granite Page (http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~rmr/)
3. The Official Home Page of Ken (http://www.personal.psu.edu/staff/k/j/kjr106/index.html)




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Traditional print evaluation criteria

Authority

• writer qualifications
• "publisher" reputation

• Accuracy

 
• reliable
• free from error
• comparison to other sources
• checked by editors

 
• Objectivity

 
• point of view
• minimum bias
• how much is an attempt to persuade

 
• Coverage

 
• scope
• depth

 
• Currency

 
• information up to date
• publication date labeled

Judging web resources

Adapting traditional criteria to web resources

(checklists from Widener University that can be adapted for children)
 
• Authority
• hard to determine author or qualifications
• no publisher
• URL may provide clues
• Accuracy
• little editorial control
• anyone can publish, little editorial control
• verify by comparison to other sources
• examples for authority and accuracy:
1. OncoLink (http://oncolink.upenn.edu)
2. Tobacco Control Archives (http://www.library.ucsf.edu/tobacco/index.html)
3. The Smoking Section (http://www.smokingsection.com)
4. No Smoke Home Page (http://www.smokefreekids.com/)
5. The True but Little Known Facts About Women with Aids, with documentation (http://147.129.1.10/library/research/AIDSFACTS.htm)
6. Mankato, MN (http://lme.mankato.msus.edu/mankato/mankato.html)
7. Drudge Report (http://www.drudgereport.com/)
8. Tornado Project Online (http://www.tornadoproject.com/)
• Objectivity
• objective of site may not be clear
• may be to make a point or advertise
• examples for objectivity:
1. The National Right to Life Committee (http://www.nrlc.org)
2. NARAL (National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League)
3. (http://www.naral.org)
4. Consumer Reports Online (http://www.consumerreports.org/)

Refuse to be a Victim (http://nrahq.org/safety/rtbav/)
• Coverage
• hard to determine
• may view single page out of context
• instability of sites
• Currency
• may or may not include date
• not clear on meaning: first written, placed on web, last revised??
• examples for currency and coverage:
1. USA Today (http://www.usatoday.com)
2. History of Space Exploration (http://www.hawastsoc.org/solar/eng/history.htm)
3. Roget's Thesaurus (http://humanities.uchicago.edu/forms_unrest/ROGET.html)
4. Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (http://humanities.uchicago.edu/forms_unrest/webster.form.html
5. CNN (htp://www.cnn.com)
   
   
• Additional factors affecting web sites:
• marketing orientation
1. determine if information and advertising are from same organization
2. examples:
1. Jelly Belly (http://www.jellybelly.com/)
2. Southwest Airlines (http://iflyswa.com)
3. Melatonin Central (http://www.melatonin.com)
• mix of entertainment, information, and advertising
1. examples:
1. L.L. Bean (http://www.llbean.com/) -- outdoors online
2. Chips Ahoy (http://www.chipsahoy.com)
3. CourtTV (http://www.courttv.com)
4. HastaLaVista Search (http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Alley/7028/hasta.htm)
5. Welcome to the White House (http://www.whitehouse.net)
• hypertext links
1. quality of linked pages may vary
2. evaluate each page independently (watch URL for site change)
• instability of sites
1. pages move or disappear
2. look for pages from major organizations
3. document fully
• alterability
1. accidental or deliberate
2. verify information in other sources
• software requirements may limit access
1. Java, Javascript, ActiveX, RealPlayer, QuickTime
2. browser may vary appearance
3. version of browser
4. examples:
1. Federal Tax Forms (http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/prod/forms_pubs/pubs.html)
2. Coca Cola (http://www.coke.com)
• search engines may retrieve pages out of context
1. try to return to home page for source
   
   
• Steps in evaluating
• Determine if web is logical site for researching this topic; best to use variety of resources
• Identify type of page located
• Use appropriate evaluation criteria

Sample checklists and evaluation criteria

• QUICK (http://www.quick.org.uk/menu.htm)
• Website Investigator (http://istweb.syr.edu/AWArds/tool/index.shtml) - a site for elementary children
• Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators: Critical Evaluation Surveys
• The ABCs of Web Evaluation
• Evaluation Criteria (http://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/evalcrit.html): a checklist on accuracy, authority, objectivity, currency, and coverage with links to examples
• CyberGuides (Karen McLachlan)
• Hoax? Scholarly Research? Personal Opinion? You Decide?
• Thinking Critically about World Wide Web Resources
• Evaluating Internet Information
• Bogus web pages (use to demonstrate critical evaluation of web resources)
1. AIDS Facts
2. Feline Reactions to Bearded Men
3. California's Velcro Crop Under Challenge
4. Ban Dihydrogen Monoxide
5. RealAroma