Evaluating Internet Information

franblo — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:09:02 +0000

Have you wanted to use internet resources, but weren’t sure if these were right for you, or for your students? Have you wondered how to tell if websites are useful? How to pick through the results of a Google search to find the gold? Though there’s no substitute for just plain sitting down at the computer and practicing searching – experience is the best teacher – here are some ideas to help.

Who published the website?

Look at the domain name (web address). http://www.blah.blah.blah.com Look at the very end (called the “extension”); this will tell you much about the owner of the website:

.com – company or commercial (can be other organizations, as well, like www.saint-bernard.com …)

.net – same as .com

.edu – college or university

.gov – government

.K12 – public school district

.org – organization, often non-profit or trade organization.

If the address doesn’t tell you much, try finding out about the publisher of the website. Often this is in “About Us,” or “Contact,” or down at the bottom of the main page (though this may include the company that was paid to create the webpage). Some organizations are sneaky: www.ANWR.org sounds like it would be for keeping the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge as a wildlife refuge; in fact, it’s run by commercial oil interests who want to drill in the park. Similarly, the website www.martinlutherking.org is published by people who hate Dr. King and everything he stands for.

Another way to tell is to go to http://www.easywhois.com. If you enter the domain name (www.blahblahblah.com, for example), you will find out who actually published the website. If you use this to check out martinlutherking.org, you’ll find it’s published by Stormfront Inc; when you Google Stormfront Inc, you quickly find that it’s a white nationalist hate group.

How current is the website?

Look for a copyright date or “last updated” date. If it says 1999, you know the information isn’t current. For some subjects this won’t matter much, but for others it will matter a great deal.

How well-put-together is the website?

If it’s full of typos and links to nowhere, or generally looks messy, this may reflect a casual attitude toward the contents, too.

What’s the purpose for the website?

Is this for open dissemination of information, persuasion to a particular point of view, advertising? Answering this question will help you evaluate the contents.

Does the information appear accurate, based on your background knowledge?

If you see information you clearly know is inaccurate or wildly biased, it’s time to question the website’s veracity.