The Validity Of A Website

The Validity Of A Website - Transcript

The Validity of A
Website
GLE 0701.4.3 Make
distinctions about the
credibility, reliability,
consistency, strengths,
and limitations of
resources, including
information gathered
from Web sites.
Website Validity
• A seemingly innocent web site related to Dr. Martin
Luther King looks innocent enough, but the
information on the site itself is definitely not.
• A student who conducts a search for Martin Luther
King in Google will generally find this site in the top
five results, claiming it is a "valuable resource for
students and teachers."
• Since research suggests students are most likely to
choose results on or near the top of a list of results,
many students are likely to click on this site.
The site
contains
inappropriate
content.
How can you prevent yourself
from being fooled by invalid
sites?
Learning how to read a web
address will help you identify its
validity.
• Do you recognize the domain name?
The domain name is found after the http://
and www. to the first forward slash /. For
example in the URL, jc-schools.net is
the domain name.
A domain name can sometimes provide
clues about the quality of information of a
site or tell you what a site is about.
Reading a URL
How to Read a Web Address
• What is the extension in the domain name?
.com and .net are examples of extensions. Extensions are an
important part of domain names. You probably know quite a
few already. Extensions are intended to show the type of
establishment that owns and publishes the domain. Here is a
list to look for:
COMMON EXTENSIONS.edu Educational organization (most US universities).k12 US school site (not all US schools use this).ac Academic institution (outside of US).sch School site (some schools outside of the US use
this).com Company (usually .co in the UK).org Any organization.gov Government agency.net Network.mil Military institution
New extensions to look for are .biz, .name, .pro, .info. All are
used for commercial purposes.
Who has published this site and
how do we find out?
• If you are ever unsure about the
information on a web page and want to
know who owns the site or has published
the material, go to www.easywhois.com.
Enter the
URL
easyWho?
S
Who owns it?
Stormfront.org
The publishers of this
site also host the Martin
Luther King site. These
sites are blocked by an
Internet filter at school
for good reason.
Find the Publisher of a
Website
• Researching web site owner information
may not be something you do all the time,
but it may be revealing if you are at all
concerned about the quality of information
on a site and want to know more about it.
• Another good source for website
ownership is an “About Us” link found at
the bottom of some webpages.
Who is
this? Click
Link
A
CLUE
More
CLUES
Ph.D.? Scroll to the
bottom
of the
page to
see if
there
are
more
clues.
Valid?
What is the History of a
Website?
• The Wayback Machine: www.archive.org
allows you to browse through 30 billion
web pages archived from 1996 to a few
months ago. To use this site type in the
URL of a site or page of which you would
like to research, and click the Take Me
Back button. Once you have conducted
your search, select from the archived
dates available.
URL
Let’s check out
the website on
Dr. King.
Click a date to see how
this site use to look.
Contact
April
1999
Jan.
2002
Contact
No
Contact
?
Jan.
2005
Check the External Links
What
kind of
flyer is
this?
Check Your Sources
• Researching a web site owner’s
information may not be something
you do all the time, but it may be
revealing if you are at all
concerned about the quality and
validity of information on a site and
want to know more about it.