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evaluating information on the web
Tefko SaracevicSchool of Communication,
Information and Library StudiesRutgers University
http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~tefko
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evaluating internet resources
• impossible? not really• hard? very• help? exists if you persist• LECTURE TOPICS:
– how to go about it?– what are the main criteria?– where to verify?
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the web
• fastest growing technology in history• explosive growth of WWW provided
– ubiquity of information and access– but also information chaos & anarchy
•growing difficulty in identifying, searching, retrieving and EVALUATING
•metaphors: ‘lost in an ocean’ ‘finding pearls in garbage dumps’ ‘needle in haystack’
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web is value neutral
• all kinds of information can be found– misinformation
•deliberate, just plain wrong or plain stupid
– disinformation, censored– hate information– propaganda, spin doctored information– questionable, inaccurate, – harmful, objectionable, insulting
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value neutral ...• but information that is also
– valid, reliable, useful, relevant, accurate, factual, timely, credible … •to a high degree• appropriate to many problems & tasks
– otherwise hard or impossible to find, retrieve & access
– from sources that are trustworthy
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prerequisite knowledge
• to evaluate web information needed knowledge about – web structure & mode of operandi of
the internet & domain name system– notion & characteristics of cognitive
authority– criteria adapted for the web
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evaluated
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cognitive authority
“influence on one’s thoughts that one would consciously recognize as proper”
Patrick Wilson
• related to assignment of credibility– two components:
competence & trustworthiness
• ascribed to particular individual, institution, organization, action
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problems
• on the web– traditional authority indicators
difficult to attribute - often absent•authorship? title? version? place of
origin?•author qualification? credentials?
– no filtering– vanity publishing
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problems ...
– sometimes even attribution difficult•identity? reputation? qualifications?•can be published by anyone•anyone can claim to be somebody
else
• assigning credibility to Web information a BIG problem
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solutions
• rigorous evaluation– more detailed than print sources
• depending on known authority sites, authors, organizations
• following many sites that did evaluation already
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evaluation criteria
• many traditional criteria remain but with new interpretations
• a number of new criteria have emerged specific to digital nature of resources & access
•many are stated & can be found on the Web e.g. library sites
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web & cognitive authority
need to carefully asses (always, web or no web):
document, author, institution & affiliation
on criteria of: authorityaccuracy currencyobjectivitycoverage
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specific evaluation criteria
•what & why? - documents, objects
– content? purpose? scope? viewpoint?
•by whom? - creators, authors, institutions
– identity? authority? credibility? reputation? qualification? refereeing?
•where? - affiliation, connections
– identity? overt? covert? authority? credibility? reputation?
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criteria ...• for whom? - orientation
– intended audience? needs satisfied? fit with user community?
•when? - timeliness
– currency? up-to-date? revisions? persistence estimate?
•how? - treatment, coverage
– accuracy? credibility? objectivity? style? clarity? organization? usability?
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criteria ...• in what way? - presentation
– format? layout? interface? search capabilities? access?
• how much? - economics
– effort? price? cost-benefits? license?
• in comparison to? - competition
– other similar resources?
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model for evaluating information on the
web• INPUT: filter & assessment for
– document– author– institution– affiliation
• OUTPUT: combined assessment & ascription of cognitive authority
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model ...
input from the web
ascription of cognitive authority
assess document
assess author
assess institution
assess affiliation
filter
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examples
• newspapers– New York Times; many others
• governments– in the US: Census Bureau; State
Department; Nat. Inst. of Standards
• organizations– www consortium (w3c)
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examples ...
• international– UN, European Union agencies
• professional– Assoc. for Computing Machinery
• health– Mayo Clinic; Rx list for
pharmaceuticals
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examples ...
• science– national academies of many countries
• commercial– encyclopedias, reference sources– Britannica has evaluated web sites
• publishers– evaluated sites e.g. Choice
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libraries & web authority
• emerged as an important sourceemerged as an important source– many provide evaluated sites & linksmany provide evaluated sites & links
• judicial judicial & trusted selection: trusted selection: – a ka key value-added contribution by
libraries internationally – trust extends to digital collections– makes all the difference between a
library & other collections
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library examples
• national libraries: many links– Library of Congress; UKOLN (UK)
• academic libraries: great many– U of Michigan: law– U of California Berkeley: many domains– Virtual Library (Switzerland)– etc. etc. etc. GREAT sources!
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reference, journals
• elaborate online reference sites– Martindale’s reference desk– some commercial e.g. Ask Jeeves– reference questions answered online
• pathways, guides• publications - some free other
licensed - licensing now a big deal
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specialized
• digital libraries emerged in great many domains, fields– history, national memories– arts, museums, music, poetry ...– science, technology– geography, climate, weather– cooking, stamp collecting, sports ...
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conclusions
• web sources HAVE to be evaluated• many evaluations follow traditional
criteria e.g. as for news accounts• many new criteria evolved• many tools already there• hard but possible!
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sources
• URLs for the mentioned & many other sites can be found on:
http://scils.rutgers.edu/~tefko/D-Lib_Edu/
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