How can I know which page is best for me? Is it the one at the top of the list? You need to consider who is the author or publisher, is it regularly updated, is it biased or objective.
DETERMINING PAGE AUTHORSHIP |
You can tell a lot about the authenticity of a page by finding out all you can about its author/publisher. This information can often be found in the header or footer of the first page or in the website address.
Ask yourself this: Who is responsible for the page you are accessing? Is it a governmental agency or other official source? A university? A business, corporation or other commercial interest? An individual? As a rule of thumb, you can generally rely on the GOV and EDU hostnames to present accurate information. The NET, ORG, MIL, and COM domains are more likely to host pages with their own personal or organizational agendas and might require additional verification.
CHECKING THE VITAL INFORMATION
A reputable Web page will usually provide you with the following information:
CHECKING THE CONTENT
On the Web, each individual can be his/her own publisher, and many are. Don't accept everything you read just because it's printed on a web page. Unlike scholarly books and journal articles, web sites are seldom reviewed or refereed. It's up to you to check for bias and to determine objectivity. Who sponsors the page? The Flat Earth Society? Really ...... Who is linking to the page, and what links to other pages does the page itself maintain?
Look to see if the page owner tells you when the page was last updated. Is the information current? Can it be verified at other, similar sites?
Try to distinguish between promotion, advertising, and serious content. This is getting to be more difficult, as an increasing number of pages must look to commercial support for their continuance.
Watch out for deliberate frauds and hoaxes.
Ask yourself this: Who is responsible for the page you are accessing? Is it a governmental agency or other official source? A university? A business, corporation or other commercial interest? An individual? As a rule of thumb, you can generally rely on the GOV and EDU hostnames to present accurate information. The NET, ORG, MIL, and COM domains are more likely to host pages with their own personal or organizational agendas and might require additional verification.
CHECKING THE VITAL INFORMATION
A reputable Web page will usually provide you with the following information:
- Last date page updated
- Mail-to link for questions, comments
- Name, address, telephone number, and email address of page owner
CHECKING THE CONTENT
On the Web, each individual can be his/her own publisher, and many are. Don't accept everything you read just because it's printed on a web page. Unlike scholarly books and journal articles, web sites are seldom reviewed or refereed. It's up to you to check for bias and to determine objectivity. Who sponsors the page? The Flat Earth Society? Really ...... Who is linking to the page, and what links to other pages does the page itself maintain?
Look to see if the page owner tells you when the page was last updated. Is the information current? Can it be verified at other, similar sites?
Try to distinguish between promotion, advertising, and serious content. This is getting to be more difficult, as an increasing number of pages must look to commercial support for their continuance.
Watch out for deliberate frauds and hoaxes.
Activity Time |
Download 'Who wrote the Website' and save it in your class folder. Copy the web addresses into your browser and for the first five questions, find and type the author and/or the publisher of each website in the table. For the second five questions, find and type the update date (or copyright date) of each website in the table. Save and print the page when you are finished.
s2-who-wrote-the-website.docx | |
File Size: | 123 kb |
File Type: | docx |
Search Engines
Grouping Key: White = Kids search engines; Yellow = Metadata search engines; Orange = General search engines; Red = Visual-relational search engines; Purple = Subject search engines; Pink = Australian search engines; Black = Dictionaries with a difference; Teal = Search help