The Internet provides massive amounts of information making it
essential to understand how it's organized. We know how to evaluate a book, magazine or other
familiar print items. The Internet has a basic grammar and we need to understand
it so we won't be manipulated by those who do.
To evaluate information on the Internet you need to know:
- Meta-Web information, URLs and links.
- Who the author of the site is.
- What the purpose of the site is.
- How to site a web site using MLA format.
- How to spot a hoax site or email
message
Anatomy of a Web Address
This is the web address of Arthur Butz, a
chemical engineering professor at Northwestern University. His site Arthur
Butz - http://pubweb.acns.nwu.edu/~abutz/di/dc/camps.html
presents a revised version of the Nazi Death Camps.
©Alan November-2003
Digital Threads, Links in and Links Out
Scan the links within a site (drag your mouse
over the link) to see where the sites links go. By using your knowledge of web
grammar you can get an idea of the author's purpose. A pattern of all internal
links should be a red flag. Next find out who links into the site. Copy the URL
of the site you are evaluating by selecting it and choosing copy from the edit
menu.
- Go to www.altavista.com. or www.google.com
- Click in the
search box and type link: (do not forget the colon).
- Paste the web address after
the colon and click the search button.
Check it out, AltaVista and Google give you a list
of sites that are linked into the site you are evaluating. Tip: if you get no
results using the link command try shortening the web address. Look for the
types of groups that link into your site. Decide if you trust them or have
your doubts about their motives. Remember, you must evaluate the
information you chose to use on the Internet, no one else will do it for
you!
Author, Author
The second step
is to identify the author and investigate their credentials. Why would
I want to know who owns a web site? You may want to know who publishes
the information you are reading or identify the group that pays for the
site. Remember, anyone can publish on the web, there are no Web Police
to check on the content or if the authors are lying. Go to http://notmartinlutherking.org.
Who is the author or group that created this site? Ownership of
a web site can be found at Network
Solutions- http://www.networksolutions.com/en_US/whois/index.jhtml Type the domain name in the search box and this
web site gives you information about who, when and where the site was
registered.
Purpose
Get in the habit of asking what the purpose of
the web site is. Many sites try to do several things at once.
Who is the author? Is he/she an authority you can trust on
the subject?
When was the site last updated? Is it current?
Why is the site on the Internet? Information? Entertainment?
Sales? Persuade/Manipulate?
Hoax Sites and Urban
Legends
You can check your ideas about hoax sites and questionable email messages at http://www.snopes.com/ and http://www.truthorfiction.com
Questionable (hoax?) sites to check out:
