Hoax Webpage

The following is a sample of my ability to analyze and evaluate websites.  The assignment was to verify whether the following website was a valid website or a hoax.  The evaluation wizard found at the 21st Century Information Fluency site provided a basis for a thorough analysis. This assignment hammered home the need to check the facts before accepting the information given via the internet.

JACOPO di POGGIBONSI

Review of a website

Carolyn Loney, River Falls

Author

1.     There is no “about us” or credible author’s information in the entire site. 

2.     On the Analysis page, a phrase says, "Contributed by Professor Patrizia Simondo, University of Michigan.” Cross referencing the author’s name and the title of the book she is supposedly writing using Google Search offers a wiki page that decries the page as a hoax. 

3.     A link to one of the University of Michigan sites agrees that the site is also a fake.  This umich.edu page identifies the creators by name, and offers a purpose of the fake website. 

4.     Googling the subject “Jacopo di Poggibonsi” resulted in many websites that claimed he is a fictious character.  A few websites treated him as a serious person, such as at freemanart.ca; however when queried what exactly made him a fake, the ‘best answer’ from Yahoo connects us again to the umich.edu website.

Thus, so far, we have an unknown artist, written about on a site that is widely believed to be a fake, with no credible sites citing that it could be true.

Publisher

1.     www.umich.edu is a valid website for the University of Michigan (as the .edu implies.) However there is a tilde in the specific url for the Poggibonsi website, indicating that it is a private homepage rather than a university sponsored homepage.

2.     E-mailing the address on the home page of the website led to a bounced-back e-mail citing “Members only group conditions not met”.  This e-mail could have been for a group project, which supports the claims at the umich.edu website claiming that the fake website is the result of a group project.

Again, while the University website exists, the tilde and information from the University itself leads one to think this is not a credible website.

Objectivity

1.     Much of the information given about Renaissance artists had credibility.  For example, Georgio Vasari  is a writer in Renaissance times, as verified by the two highlighted links. In addition, the people who claim to have written the website also site the information about the Renaissance to be true.

2.     The information about Jacobo is written in a scholarly manner; however, there is no information to back up the claims.

It is important to keep the goal of the analysis in sight.  Checking to see if the forest is a safe place to play isn't effective if you only look at the perimeter.  

Links To and Links Within

1.     Most links cited the document itself, though in my version there were several question marks after text.

2.     In the Supplimenti, many external links to Renaissance times and artists are available – however, no titles support a person by the name of Jacopo di Poggibonsi – just that there is a place called Poggibonsi.

3.     Some obvious links (such as for further information for Cennini and Vasari) are omitted entirely, yet there is a plethora of links in the ‘forgery’ section of the website. Several links, though not working within the document, even link to the possibilities of forgeries in the Internet and the need to critically evaluate websites.

4.     According to this, even "[t]he one “direct” link to Jacopo is a fake.” A hint by the author of the website points to the misspelled website name of Britannica, identifying the source as a forgery within a forgery.

5.  This site and this site are both website evaluations.  Others, though inaccessible, point to school district use for the same purpose.

Forgery, forgery, forgery…it seems a perpetual theme.

Date

The only date listed was on the supplimenti page and stated, "All links valid as of November 30, 2000".  Since the information is historical, the date of publication is not as essential as the veracity and cross-referencing of the information.

Accuracy

Again, having been to Italy and having taught coursework in the Italian fine arts, I can verify that there are several truths on this website with regard to the Renaissance era.  However, the information offered online about Jacopo di Poggibonsi himself is not able to be verified as accurate.  In fact, there is not one website that can, without doubt, support the subject of Jacopo di Poggibonsi as a Renaissance artist.   

Conclusion:

I’m sorry, Jacopo.  You don’t exist, and this website’s value is only in the critical thinking skills it helps others to practice.