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When I have to search something on the Web for academic purposes, such as writing an essay or similar, I'm usually a bit sceptical about what I find because on the Internet there are too many things, to many authors, too many articles, too many ideas! The problem - but also the beautiful aspect of the Internet - is that anyone can publish or write something and the reader cannot easily understand if the information is trustworthy or not. If one day someone want to frighten all the world with an invented information, he/she has just to write something on a Web site!!! The same is for the information we search: are they serious or not?
Usually, when I look for information on the Web I check the author of the site: if it is an association, a well known personality or just someone unknown. I admit that the look of the site influences my idea about its seriousness. If I see a well structured site and, on the other hand, a simple and not accurate page, I choose the first one. I don't usually loom if the author is clearly shown or if there is his e-mail. Sometimes I look at the last up-date of the page, but not always.
The sites which I visited on this topic gave me some interesting points on which I should think the next time I'm looking for something on the Web.
For example, I had never thought to the possibility of looking at the Document Uniform Resource Locator (URL), including an institutional identifier. Moreover, I had never looked if there is a bibliography or if there is the indication of the source of the information. Another interesting point I had never thought about is what the purpose of the site is, or who the audience intended is. I think these are important things because we have to have a critical eye before to accept everything from the Web.
I found this site http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Evaluate.html which I think interesting and it contains, on its URL ".edu" so it indicates that it is an educational institution. Try to have a look at it!!
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5 commenti:
Hi Elisa!
You said that you never paid much attention to who the audience of a site was; I had neither, actually! But it's quite importnat, isn't it? I think we don't think of this things because they seem obvious to us. For example, not long ago I wanted to find a good site on English culture. I went searching and I found a site whose description suggested it was suitable for those who wanted to learn more on GB. As it seemed promising I visited it and realized that it was intended for children. I could understand it from the layout, syntax etc. Obviously, I left the page and carried on with serching. I did it automatically, without much thinking. Similarly, when I find a very scientific text. In short, I think that in fact we are aware of who the audience is, it's just that it's something we do automatically. Do you agree?
Ok, have a nice day!
Byebye!
Hey Elisa!
Well, you're right: Internet can also be very dangerous. People are free to write whatever comes to their minds and sometimes this attitude becomes maniacal, which is no good at all. What makes me reflect is the purpose of this. You'll never know if they are serious about what they wrote or if they published those things just to see our reactions or to bring confusion to the net (maybe they think it is too reliable!).
I agree with the criteria you chose and I think that if I had to choose one to improve, I should focus more on the "purpose" of the site. Actually, I seldom ask myself who the intended audience is. Anyway, I noticed that we all focused on the same criteria, so this means that we have a critical eye while doing our research.
Finally, I want to thank you for suggesting the website you found. I think it is very useful to improve our knowledge on URLs, author and other stuff concerning evaluation, in order to be sure while judging online sources.
Hugs,
Fred
hey girl!
How r u?!
You are right when u say that Internet can be a dangerous source of information..if u don't pay attention at many details -such as url or who the author is- the risk is to find unreliable information which can only cause u troubles..and that's not good!So it's good to be aware of the power of the web..but it's better to be aware of the fact that it can be unsafe!
See u!
Dear Elisa,
I appreciate that you pointed out both the positive and the negative aspects of the Web. The Internet is an overwhelming context and there is a lot of information so we should always be careful with online sources. Sometimes it’s difficult to understand if a website is trustworthy, but some criteria can help us choosing useful and interesting sources. I saw that your criteria are very similar to mine. Like you, I concentrate on the author (I check whether there’s an author, whether he/she is famous, and I search for his/her biography or previous writings), on the layout, on the updates. I also check the domain of the websites. I learnt that the domain ‘.com’ means that the site wants to promote or sell something. That's interesting! I also think that having the author’s contact (email address) can be useful because we can communicate with him/her if we want. As you pointed out, the audience of the site it’s very important. We can indeed understand what the aim of the site is.
I had a look at the site you suggested. It’s very interesting and helpful because it’s well-structured and advises different criteria to evaluate web pages. And now, I’ll ask you the same question I asked Eva. Do you prefer doing research online or in the library? Let me know!
Here are some mistakes I found:
-‘to many authors’ --> ‘too many authors’
-‘someone want' --> ‘someone wants’
-‘before to accept’ --> ‘before accepting’
I hope you’ll appreciate my corrections!
See you!
Giovanna
Hi Elisa,
as Eva pointed out on her comment, you highlighted an important aspect of websites: the kind of audience to which the page is referred to. It is usually easy to understand if a page is thought for children, adults or students... sometimes it is not, especially when information is presented in an efficient way while the content misleads the expectations. I think this the crucial principle which is exploited by advertisements on the internet, for example! A lot of times it happens to me to find links, which appear to be relevant, whereas when you open up the page you discover they are not... I believe this is a real problem nowadays for people who try to use internet for academic or not only for pleasure purposes... You waste a lot of times to find what you really are looking for! And the reason why is that often a lot of websites try to catch the visitors' attenction, showing that the page is intented for them, while in truth it is not because it only contains advertisemnts or similar things...
Bye!
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