An Educators' Guide to

Credibility and Web Evaluation

The Internet is a virtual library, consisting of an unlimited amount of information. Anyone is allowed to publish and access this information. Furthermore, the sites are created for a variety of purposes to inform, persuade, sell, and change an attitude or belief. The sites are not monitored, edited, regulated, or approved. All of these factors remind us of the fact that information that has been published on the Web, is no indication of its believability or accuracy.

In January, 1994, there were approximately 900 World Wide Web sites in the entire Internet, mostly serving the federal government and universities. By June, 1996, this number had increased to an estimated 320,000 sites. Late 2000, the search engine Google (google.com) claims that it searches 1,326,920,000 web pages.

Furthermore, it has grown from being a source of scholarly information to a mass medium of all kinds of communication. Although the size of the Internet can be viewed as both a positive and negative factor, with such a vast amount of information available on the Web, it seems impossible that all of the sites can be considered credible. Therefore, it is important to differentiate between sites that are credible and those that are not.

Should we question the credibility of material found on the Web? Should we evaluate electronic

Lack of Guidelines. The World Wide Web is a lot like a flea market: there's a vast selection of sites. Indeed, it was designed to provide for unrestricted exchange of information. There are no rules or standards governing the type or quality of information; web sites may contain factual information, opinions, data, ideas, propaganda, self-promotion and/or commercialism. Those who can create web pages or pay someone to do so can put information on the Internet.

An example of the lack of guidelines which exists on the Internet is the Global Encyclopedia, written by volunteer authors and editors. A person need only choose a topic from the list of 1,300 possibilities, write an article about the chosen topic and email it to the unnamed "editors." The article is written without standards or guidelines describing structure, content, or reading level. (www.2ask.com/is_a/fast_and/easy/tool/for/getting/info/on/Global_Encyclopedia)

Note: For another "volunteer encycopedia, " have your elementary students loolk at the Vose Kidopedia written by and for kids. http://www.beavton.k12.or.us/vose/kidopedia.html

While there are several online encyclopedias, such as Britannica Online (http://www.eb.com/), which adhere to strict standards, the lack of guidelines makes it necessary for those of us who use the Internet to constantly evaluate the quality and accuracy of the information we are reading.

Lack of Monitoring. When instructional materials are added to your curriculum, they have been screened using reviewing mechanisms which have been in place for many years.

Internet sites are not subjected to this type or any type of monitoring. The United States government and other organizations (often representing distinct points of view) are struggling to create ways to monitor access to Internet sites. There are also many attempts to insure that users view quality, appropriate sites. However, none of these groups have the power to make people remove or correct web information, nor do these groups have the power to limit access to sites deemed inappropriate.

There are currently no laws in effect which govern the material which is placed on the Internet. The United States government sought to regulate the access to sexually explicit expression on the Internet through The Communications Decency Act (1996); however , it was found to be unconstitutional in June, 1997 because it violated the rights established by the First Amendment to the U. S. Constitution.

Even if the United States were successful in eliminating certain web sites or access, our laws would not extend to other countries which also have people designing web sites. In addition, restrictions of Web use in one country are quickly countered by the appearance of new Web sites in another.

Although there are many online monitoring services available, none of these have the power to make people remove or replace incorrect and/or bias information or materials which most people would deem objectionable. Nor do these services have the power to limit access to any sites. These services can only suggest which sites are credible and valuable to use in research.

A Few Sites that Monitor

700+ Great Sites for Children by the Children and Technology Committee of the Association for Library Service to Children (ALA). This site lists outstanding web sites reviewed for use with children from preschool to age 14--http://www.ala.org/parentspage/greatsites/criteria.html

ED's Oasis Evaluation Center--a collection of resources designed to help teachers use the Internet for their own purposes and with students. Each site included in ED's Oasis has been evaluated by a team of educators and editors for quality---www.classroom.com/edsoasis/guide2.html.

The Argus Clearinghouse was originally started as the University of Michigan ClearingHouse project. Students of and holders of Masters Degrees in Information and Library Science make up the Clearinghouse staff. The main goal of the service is to find information on a topic written by an expert. Guides containing several Internet sites are submitted and rated using a system of one to five checks---http://www.clearinghouse.net/index.html.

Filters

Another common attempt made to monitor sites on the Internet are web based programs called filters. These program scan web sites for certain objectionable words and phrases. The objectionable material usually falls into the following categories: drugs, alcohol, tobacco, gambling, hate speech, sexually explicit material, criminal activities and violence. The problem with using filter programs is that software, not people, are reviewing web material and are identifying words and phrases that would be acceptable in certain content.

Here is a white paper on filtering and censorship---http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/wp/censorship/index.html

Chat rooms and Newsgroups

Other aspects of the Internet which educators should be aware of are chat rooms and newsgroups. In some schools, such as the Springfield Public Schools, access to these sections of the Internet are denied.

According to the Springfield Schools' Director of Technology, Michael Holinga, "this portion of the Internet is not made available to our schools because there is a low likelihood that they would contain any information useful to the K-12 environment." While it is possible to engage in intelligent, productive communication within these arena, there is no monitoring available for the exchanges which occur here.

Immediate mobility of information and the spread of disinformation

The most wonderful and useful aspect of the Internet is that a person can find the most up-to-date information immediately from almost anywhere in the world on almost any topic with the just the click of a mouse.

Where else can one find the population of the world updated to the minute or news articles about today's headlines which change hourly or an interview with a military leader from an opposing country while the two countries are in the midst of a conflict?

However, while we value the immediacy of the Internet we must also critically evaluate the information we receive through it.

Examples of bogus news

--January 9, 1996 the rumor of a hostile takeover of Apple Computer by Sony Corporation circulated the Internet and appeared so official that Apple received 25 inquiries about its legitimacy in the next few days.

April, 1999--an email chain letter was circulated stating that the reason gasoline prices in the United States were too high was because the United States government has millions of gallons of gasoline in storage which it will not release it to the American public. The letter called for all recipients of the message to refrain from buying gas on April 30, 1999 in order to force our government to release this gasoline being held in storage to bring the gas prices down. When questioned about the accuracy of the information the response received was that it made good sense and it couldn't be sent out on the Internet if it were not true.

Lack of Representation

The one billion web sites present today represent only the minority of the world's people. There is an absence of representation by many groups, such as poor, minorities, women and other ethnic groups. Furthermore, there are entire countries not represented on the Web due to a lack of access.

Closer to home, we are experiencing a race gap in Internet use. African-Americans are far less likely to have access to computers than whites. Within homes, only 29.0% of African-Americans own computers, while 44.2% of whites have home computers Furthermore, African-American access in the workplace is less, although the differences are not as significant as home access.

The Bias of Commercial Search Engines

A person must be a critical evaluator even when using search engines because the results of these searches can be manipulated. Oftentimes, the web master gets paid by the number of "hits" on each site he/she has designed.

The search engine, Alta Vista has incorporated the "Real Name" search system into each one of its searches and works this way: A company purchases Alta Vista service, who assigns the company a set of key descriptors Anytime those key are used to search for information using Alta Vista, the company's site will appear at the top of the search results. For example, a person might type in the phrase "beetle" and find sites on the new Volkswagen at the top of the result list instead of having to look through information about insects. Volkswagen has paid Alta Vista a fee to have their company site at the top of the web possibilities for that particular keyword.

Bias/Objectivity of Information--News services

Obtaining unbiased news from any media source has always been a difficult task. News reporters on television provide an example of such a common problem. The world wide resources of the Internet have at least given us another avenue for acquiring information from other perspectives and other voices. But this is also becoming a place for this information to be biased, as service providers are now trading their reputations for dollars. Be aware that organizations, businesses, and individuals represent their own viewpoints. If organizations have a particular mission, they may publish only information that supports their point of view. Businesses may only publish positive reviews of their products. Finally, personal Web sites many times reflect strong political, religious, or social opinions of that individual.

Propaganda

There are, typically, at least three views presented for any given topic, which can be quite evident when examining controversial issues/news articles. The trend usually follows that of the rightist views, the leftist views, and centrist views.

In foreign coverage, the key signature of centrist propaganda is to portray the U. S. as a mediator or peacemaker. In other words, they depict the U. S. going around the world doing good, mediating in the cause of peace.

Rightist propaganda would convey this as the U. S. caving in to Communism and terrorism around the world.

Leftist propaganda would report this as the U. S. subverting governments and Third World movements in the interests of a corporate elite and blind anti-Communism.

Centrist propaganda would report this would report this as the U. S. doing good, mediating in the cause of peace.

All three issues reported on the same topic, but, notice, we were given three very different viewpoints. This happens quite often when interacting with any piece of information, so we need to be aware of the use propaganda in delivering information and become critical readers and discerners.

Commercialism

The Internet was originally seen as a place to go and gather information for research or used in other educational manners, or used for military interests. However, more recently, the Internet has become a place for commercial activity.

Commercialization of the Internet, applies to three issues: making money, saving money, and maintaining a competitive edge. There are also misuses of the system because of a desire to promote an idea or product--including "velveeta," "spam," and "cookies." (Please see original white paper for discussion of this section--lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/wp/credibility/page1.htm

Spam and Velveeta

One of the most obvious and easily corrected abuses of the system is posting an advertisement or political discourse to unrelated news and discussion groups. This abuse is sometimes called "velveeta." A more problematic abuse is the "spamming" of these news groups. This involves sending a message separately to many unrelated news groups, which causes multiple copies of the posting to be stored on every news server.

Cookies

One of the most common uses of the information contained in the cookie is to produce customized advertisements and banners for user accessing particular web sites. For example, if the user has accessed web sites looking for information about vacations the cookie which resides on the users computer can be used by other web site operators to send banners or other web site advertisements about vacation opportunities.

The teacher should be aware that the user can disable the cookie on the computer or ask to be warned when data is being sent by changing the "cookie" setting in the preferences of their Internet browser.

The Bottom Line

Information is out there in abundance. But all of it is probably suspect in one way or the other. The bottom line is that you and your students need to develop critical thinking skills and constant questioning about the validity and quality of the information you see out there.

Because of the lack of guidelines and monitoring, and the issues related to information (excessive amounts, absence of representation, mobility, and retrieval), and bias and objectivity matters, we must have strategies to evaluate the information found on the World Wide Web. There are a variety of methods of criteria to consider, ranging from personal, informal methods to the more educational, formal techniques. There is no one perfect method.

External/Internal Criteria

External: Who wrote the article and from where did it come?

When we cannot evaluate the information itself, we can evaluate where it's coming from, and hope that those sources are credible. For example, if the author has a Ph.D. in his/her title, does this increase or decrease his/her credibility? Does this title increase your belief in their information provided, or does it decrease it? Did they include this title because otherwise they had no substantial proof of knowledge in that area/topic? These are just some of the questions you should ask yourself.

Internal: Where this source discusses facts or ideas I already know something about, does the source agree or harmonize or does it conflict, exaggerate, or distort?"

If a source is faulty where it discusses something you know, it is likely to be faulty in areas where you do not yet know, and you should therefore be cautious and skeptical about trusting it.

Credibility Indicators

Authorship: What authority does this person have on this topic?

Evaluating credentials of an author involves analyzing the educational background, past writings, expertise, and responsibility he/she has for the information. One should check the knowledge base, skills, or standards employed by the author in gathering and communicating the data. The most effective means of discovering the credibility of an author is to ask yourself the following questions:

•Has the content been reviewed, critiqued, or verified in any way?

•Is the author a well-known and well-regarded name you recognize?

•Have you seen the author's name cited in other sources or bibliographies? Do authoritative sites link to the page?

•What biographical information is available--author's position, address, and institutional or organizational affiliations? What are the basic values and goals of the institution or organization?

Links to and from a resource: Who links to this site? (And for what apparent purpose?)

Web links are part of a vast network of relations of credibility: the people who establish active links to reliable information, and whose information or viewpoints are in turn identified and recommended by others, gain credibility both as users of information and as providers of it. If you know who links to the subject site, you might be able to tell if it is credible.

Here's how to find out who links to the target site. Go to a search engine and type the word link before the http://…., then hit Return.

Publisher: Who published this?

Unlike print materials, Web pages do not have to go through a screening process in order to verify that it has met the standards or aims of the organization that serves as publisher. On the contrary, the publisher of Internet materials may simply be the server (computer) where the document lives.

• Is the name of any organization given on the document you are reading? Can you contact the Webmaster from this document?

• Is this organization recognized in the field in which you are studying?

• Is this organization suitable to address the topic at hand?

• Can you ascertain the relationship of the author and the publisher/server? • Can you verify the identity of the server where the document resides?

• Does the Web page actually reside in an individual's personal Internet account, rather than being part of an official Web site?

Date of Publication/Currency: Determining when the source was published is a necessary step in discerning a site's accuracy. It can usually be found at the bottom of the home page, and sometimes every page.

• The article includes the date on which information was gathered.

• The document refers to clearly dated information.

• Where there is a need to add data or update it on a constant basis, the document includes information of the regularity of updates.

• The document includes a publication date or a "last updated" date.

• The document includes a date of copyright.

• If no date is given in an electronic document, you can view the directory in which it resides and read the date of latest modification.

Domain Types: This involves examining the end of the URL. For example, if the following domain types were found in the URL, you would be able to determine where the information came from:

• .gov is a U.S. government site

• .mil is a U.S. military site

• .edu is an accredited post-secondary educational institution

• .com is a commercial, for-profit entity

• .org is a noncommercial, not-for-profit entity

• .net is a computer network, particularly an Internet-related network

• .int is an international organization

• .jp, .ru, .ca, .au, etc. are country identifiers

Site Format/Overall Design

The information should be easy to find and use.

The design should be appealing to its audience.

The text should be easy to read, not muddled with distracting graphics, fonts, and backgrounds.

The site should be well organized and easy to get around. The page should load in a reasonable amount of time and consistently be available.

In addition, recognizing spelling errors, grammatical errors, and profanity will assist in evaluating Web site design

Purpose

Another method of evaluating information is to consider the viewer's purpose for using the site. For instance, a viewer's purpose might be for their personal interest or for professional or educational reasons. A person viewing a site about another country, for example, may be looking at that site to plan a vacation. The purpose of locating and evaluating the information is personal. On the other hand, if the viewer is using the site for educational reasons, such as researching the government, economy, natural resources, etc. of this country, their purpose is quite different, and a different type of site would be necessary.

 

Reasons to Teach

It is necessary to teach students to critically analyze the information found on the Internet. In light of the vast amount of information found on the Internet, students tend to take Internet information at face value and are not innately aware of the need to question the information they are exposed to. In other words, students are being allowed to use the Internet without actually knowing how to use and evaluate the information they are finding. Teachers may be spending time teaching students to use various search engines, but are they teaching students to analyze the information they are finding? Teachers need to be spending almost 10 times more time teaching students how to interpret the information they have found.

Our job as teachers is to teach the user synthesis, finding the useful out of a plethora of what is available.

Here are several suggestions that you may follow in order to determine what type of curriculum would be appropriate for your classroom.

Begin with a Subject

In order to begin the process of teaching web evaluation, it is a good idea to decide what subject area would be best to cover the majority of the instruction. Preferably, the instruction should take place within the subject area where the majority of research is being conducted.

Age Appropriateness

Another issue that will need to be determined is the age at which students should begin to learn how to analyze and evaluate the information they are finding.

For example, if students are expected to conduct research using the Internet for the first time in junior high, then part of the junior high curriculum should include instruction that would allow students to properly consider and use the information they locate via the Internet. This is not to say Internet use should be limited to these grades only.

Students in the elementary grades can be using the Internet through the use of book marked sites. Students should start becoming familiar with the uses of the Internet as early as possible.

Ways to Teach

In order to address web evaluation in the classroom it is necessary to develop a plan of instruction. This plan should incorporate four areas that would be helpful in allowing students to become critical thinkers about web information.

Show or Explain Why Web Evaluation is Necessary

The first part would be to inform the students of the necessity to evaluate the information. This step would include educating students about the many issues related to web evaluation.

Most students do not realize that some of the information which they may encounter is inaccurate.

They need to be aware that there are no real monitors of the information that is placed on the Internet, therefore anyone is allowed to post anything about anyone.

Show students several examples of Internet sites that contain information that may not be accurate. This may include having students compare research they have found in print to research they found on the Internet. For example, a site located at the homepage of Arthur R. Butz at (http://pubweb.acns.nwu.edu/~abutz/index.html) gives reasons why the Holocaust did not happen. This type of site should allow students to use prior learning and knowledge to realize that this may not be accurate information. Although a bit extreme, at least students would understand that false information is out there and they do need to be aware of what they are finding.

Teaching Techniques

The second step would be to teach techniques students can use to evaluate information. This would include educating students about the indicators and methods which they can use when evaluating Internet information.

1. Have students actually compare the information they found in many different sites about the same topic. For example, if they research the Holocaust on the Internet they are likely to find hundreds of different sources regarding this subject. Once students begin to compare the information on each of the various sites, they are likely to find discrepancies in the information as they look from site to site.

2. Expose students to the various reasons individuals or companies publish material for the Internet. This would include exposing students to issues such as propaganda, advertising, advocacy, recreational, and education and scholarly information.

Students should also be made aware of the fact that they can see examples of many of these issues in books and magazines, as well as on the Internet. The difference between printed information and the Internet information is that printed information does have sources such as editors and publishers to monitor the information and content.

Practicing Evaluation Techniques

Once students have been made aware of the issues that demand them to be active evaluators of Internet information, they need to be supplied with tools to aid them in the evaluation process.

Modeling

A critical tool to teaching the evaluation process is to model the skills you, as an educator, would like for the students to be using. Modeling can be accomplished through the use of sites that have been previewed by the teacher. Through this method teachers can demonstrate to students what an acceptable or credible site would look like.

Author credibility

Students can be made aware that a site is more credible if it contains the author's name and a way to contact the author, such as an Email address. Also, sites are more credible if the author's credentials are listed, and the credentials entitle them to be an expert of the given topic or qualify the author to publish information about the subject. For example, a professor of history does not have the background necessary to publish an article on cancer research. Students should be informed that just because an article is published by a professor or someone who can put "Dr." in front his/her name, does not always mean that he/she is a credible source of information.

Author or site's purpose for publishing the information

It is important to determine the site's purpose to be able to accurately determine if the information it contains is relevant for your needs. A site's purpose may not always be obvious, so it will be necessary to teach students the skills needed to determine purpose

Students should look at a site and ask the questions such as:

• What is the site trying to do?,
• Why was the site created?,
• Was the site created to sell a product or promote a particular idea?
• Was the site created solely for the purpose of entertainment?

These questions will help students determine if the information is consistent with their intended use. For example, an author would provide different information if he/she were trying to attract someone to vacation on the Puerto Rican islands than if he was trying to publish a documentary about the island itself. Although both sites are on Puerto Rico, they have been published for different reasons.

Web Suffixes

Another useful technique would be to teach students the method of using a web address, or URL, to determine the credibility of a site. Students can look at an URL and determine several important pieces of information. Students should be taught the basics in determining domain association. It would be useful to teach them the following domain types:

* .gov is a U.S. government site

* .edu denotes an accredited or reputable college or university

* .com is a commercial site that is created for a profit or to make money.

* .org is a non-for-profit organization

These are some of the basic domain names. These domain names would be easy for students to recognize and to use to determine the purpose for the creation of a site.

A good FYI for teachers: The "Alternative" White House vs. the real White House--confusing these three sites may be a real surprise. The real White House URL is http://www.whitehouse.gov, which takes the viewer to the actual site. The "alternative" White House's URL is http://www.whitehouse.net, which is a satirical view of the White House. Finally, a third site that displays pornographic material is found at http://www.whitehouse.com. This illustrates a very good reason why teachers should preview sites prior to using them in their classrooms.

Date of publication and the currency of a site

Students can also be taught to recognize the date of publication and the currency of a site. Students can be taught to look at the currency of a site in order to determine if the information it contains will be accurate.

Students should be taught that the date of publication of a site is usually at the bottom of the page. This date should reflect both when the sire was published and the date of last revision. This will be an area easy for students to detect, and can give useful information regarding the accuracy of the information.

Overall Design Of A Site

Finally, students can begin to look at the overall design of a site. They can look at a site and determine its accuracy by checking the publication for errors. These errors might including spelling, grammatical errors, and profanity which students should detect while reading through the information. In addition, the information should be easy to find, and the background should be created so it is easily read.

Evaluate Web Information

Students have usually been exposed to critical thinking skills throughout the curriculum, now it is necessary to teach students to apply these skills when thinking about web evaluation. The skills that are necessary for students to posses are:

• analyzing material
• judging information
• summarizing
• questioning.

Tools for Web Site Evaluation

Another important component of web evaluation would be to educate students about the various tools that are available to evaluate web sites. Students can use some of these tools to help them with the evaluation process.

The following recommended sites contain checklists that can be useful to students.:

Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/eval.html This site contains a critical evaluation rubric useful to the middle school level. It asks a series of questions related to the site. The questions allow the evaluator to critically consider the contents of the site.

Web Evaluation for Intermediate Grades - http://www.siec.k12.in.us/~west/edu/rubric2.htm This is a rubric, developed by Tammy Payton, allows the user to rate the site's details on a scale of 1 to 5. Once each area has been rated an overall score is used to help determine the usefulness of a site. The user bases the score out of a total of 50 possible points.

Web Page Evaluation Worksheet http://www.duke.edu/~de1/evaluate.html This is a worksheet designed by Dr. Nancy Everhart, which asks the users to allot points for various categories such as currency, content, authority, and access based on one's own judgment. This site requires you to figure an overall score. Scores are then ranked into categories from excellent to unacceptable.

Finally, students should be assessed on the evaluation skills. This will allow the educator to be certain that the students understand how to use the information that they have uncovered. Once students have been through a curriculum similar to this, they should have the skills they need to become defensive users of the Internet. However, as teachers, it is still our job to carefully monitor the information students are obtaining. Teachers should also remind students of the need to evaluate by periodically reviewing the skills necessary to evaluate Internet information.

Once students have had the opportunity to evaluate web pages with the help of the teacher and fellow classmates, they will need to practice these skills independently. There are several good sites that can be used as independent practice sites for students. These sites allow students to look at web pages that portray examples of the various issues discussed above. Below is an annotated listing of these sites:

Ed's Oasis (http://www.classroom.com/edsoasis/guide2.html) - This is an online instructional resource that provides examples of each issue that is discussed. Teachers or students can become informed about the guidelines, and then click to visit sites that are examples of each.

The following are links to sites that are useful examples of numerous topics.

Example of authority and accuracy issues.

Tobacco Control Archives - http://www.library.ucsf.edu/tobacco/index.html

Example for checking links and evaluating transfer of credibility.

Feline Reactions to Bearded Men - http://www.improbable.com/airchives/classical/cat/cat.html

Example to demonstrate, and have students use the critical evaluation skills.

The True but Little Known Facts About Women with AIDS--http://147.129.1.10/library/research/AIDSFACTS.htm

Example of currency. The page updates itself automatically.

USA Today - http://www.usatoday.com/

Example web site designed for the purpose of advocacy

American Smoker's Alliance - http://www.smokers.org/

The Final Bottom Line

The final test will come when the students are allowed to become independent navigators. They will use these skills to become active discerners of information.