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Why should we evaluate websites?
Why should we evaluate websites?
Have you ever seen a promotion ad for some product that directs you to a site that seems too good to be true? If so, welcome to the new world of uncertainty. Today there exist many sites that seek to mislead, misinform, misdirect and occasionally scam web users. These sites mimic legitimate ones down to the look and feel, increasing the difficulty involved with identifying them. Unlike research papers and multiple other means of publication that were available in the past, websites do not have to go through the verification process to release content to the public. For these reasons, it is essential we have a means of evaluating websites to guarantee we are consuming legitimate and trustworthy information.
Video of Deep Fake Ukrainian President Zelenskyy ordering troops to Surrender
Video of Deep Fake Ukrainian President Zelenskyy ordering troops to Surrender
Categories of Websites
Categories of Websites
In order to properly evaluate websites, it is important skill to be able to know the main categories by which sites can be sorted into. Below are a list of the main site categories that can help you rapidly identify the main objectives of a site.
Evaluation Criteria
Evaluation Criteria
To determine the legitimacy or credibility of any thing, there must be some criteria against which that particular thing is evaluated - Websites are no exception. University of California, Berkeley has put together a set of standards by which sites can be evaluated. Below is a brief summary of these criteria:
Authority
Authority
This involves determining who the author is and any other related work to validate the content of the site. This can help an evaluator determine what contexts the author has credibility in and a ranking can be generated accordingly.
Purpose
Purpose
This identifies why the content was created. With this information, an evaluator may determine if there is some economic value to the author or what the target audience is.
Publication
Publication
Where a site is published can speak volumes on it's credibility. For instance, articles from scholarly publications are viewed as more credible than blogs. More so, based on the publication information, an evaluator can determine if there were relevant barriers like editors, reviewers or peer review processes to validate the content of the site.
Relevance & Date of Publication
Relevance & Date of Publication
When we browse the internet, we usually have a goal in mind and will prefer that the sites we sift through are relevant for our needs. For this reason, evaluators need to determine how relevant a given site is in accordance to its proclaimed purpose. Is it misleading? Does it have false advertising? Is its content related to the title?
More so, knowing when a site was published can help determine how relevant a site is. If you are on a news site and the most recent update was 5 years ago - it is obvious that that site is not very relevant. Publication date on a site can give you relevant information especially if you the information you require is time sensitive.
Documentation
Documentation
As the internet is made up of a web of sites, it is impossible to have site that will be completely unique of others. There is always relevant information that can be accessed from other sites, and when leveraging the content of others, it is crucial that they are cited correctly. Evaluators can take caution to ensure that the sites they evaluate are adequately cited to allow users to determine how valid or authentic the information on the publication is.
Quick Guide to Evaluating Websites
Quick Guide to Evaluating Websites
By Oklahoma City Community College
Test Your knowledge on Evaluating Sites
Test Your knowledge on Evaluating Sites
Answer Guide to Test Questions
Answer Guide to Test Questions
This website belongs to the News Category
This site does not appear credible since there were no listing of credible sources on the "About Us" page. A deep scrutiny of the site shows it's fictional with the purpose of entertainment. Although the dates on the site seems recent, the contents are not verifiable on any other site. All citations are self references which does not help anyone confirm its content.
The website belongs to the Entertainment Category
This site appears credible since we can confirm it's authority by merely searching it's name and finding other sites validating its authenticity. It has a clear purpose of entertainment through video streaming. The contents of the website are relevant in accordance to its proclaimed entertainment purposes and the organization can be contacted via its detailed contact information at the footer of the page. Although the site doesn't have much references to other sites - since it seeks to promote it's own products, its content is clear and objectives do not seem suspicious.
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